To Schedule Tweets or Not?

by | 21 Comments

I was reading a blog post called Is Auto-Tweets A Dirty Word by Diana Adams aka  @adamsconsulting. Ask anyone on twitter and they will relate auto-tweets to spammers or bots etc…

However if you read the article you’ll find that there are a lot of benefits of using scheduled- tweets (auto tweets)

Here are a few by @adamsconsulting taken from her blog post

  1. My Twitter grade http://twitter.grader.com/ has gone up to 100
  2. My RTs have gone through the roof
  3. Best of all, when I wake up in the morning I have tweets from people I normally never get to talk to

I actually agreed with everything that she said. Living on a different timezone  +8GMT, my timezone is roughly 12 hours ahead of people from the United States. Therefore when it is 12am here. It will be 12pm for most of the people on twitter.

Most of the time I’ll leave twitter and head to bed when it’s “really hot” on twitter. Therefore I can’t really connect with much of people who are awake. Therefore limiting connection on twitter.

Guess some of you might be thinking “Why do you want to schedule tweets?” Alright here is my explanation:

1. Twitter doesn’t sleep, there are people from all over the world on twitter. If you noticed most of my tweets are links that are useful and beneficial to people who reads them. Sharing them at different hours gets different readers.

2. Since different readers to to read them, they will also reply to the tweets. Hence building new relationship on twitter.

Below are the some rules from twitter.

I am not sure where auto-tweets falls but you can click the image above and a new tab will open for the rules.

Up to today I’ve never used scheduled-tweets and if you notice most of my tweets are from the web at different time whenever I am online.

However if you want to know my opinion. I think scheduled-tweets are beneficial. Using it the right way of course.

This is how I see it.

Give GUNS to cops (real people on twitter) and they will use them to protect people. Give guns to criminals (spammers, bots.. etc) and they will use them to kill or rob people (spam people).

What Do You Think? To Schedule Tweets or Not?

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  • http://elainebiss.blogspot.com Elaine B.

    I love scheduling tweets! It helps expand my readership as well as create relationships that I would have otherwise not had time to create.

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  • http://twitter.com/Iconic88 @Iconic88

    Great post Aaron.

    All in moderation I say. If you do it too much, it may also decrease your level of engagement because will start to assume you’re not online. It’s like engaging someone who you think is online who actually isn’t. Who likes ringing someone and getting their engaged tone on their phone? You stop ringing after a while because they’re not picking up the phone. This is akin to autotweets when its used too much.

    Use it in moderation and it can benefit people.

    Now I’m thinking, should people add #auto or #offline to their tweets if they’re not online. what do you think Aaron? Now it’s like an answer service.

    all the best.

  • http://ModelSuppliesBlog.com Anita Nelson

    I used to think it was a cop-out to schedule tweets, but have since changed my perspective, too. I have met people all over the world this way and hopefully have helped some – even while I sleep =)

    Another benefit: helps me space my tweets when I have the urge to flood. Sometimes there is so much great content to share… but dumping it all down at once is not the way to go.
    Great post!
    x0x
    Anita @ModelSupplies

  • http://twitter.com/netocrat Boris Khodorkovsky a.k.a. netocrat

    I do agree with you, that wise scheduled tweets (not spam content, but a very valuable content to readers) are very beneficial. I use that technique sparingly.

    Thanks for bringing that question up.

    Sincerely yours,
    Boris @netocrat

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  • Carla Schlemminger

    Thanks for the post, Aaron. In my eyes, using scheduled tweets ideally supplements your live tweeting. I tend to get sucked into all the stellar content from my network so I use it to help me manage my time in these ways:

    1. Prep articles I find later in the day for posting the following day when the most people are on, space them out so as not to bombard my audience, and include any additional relevant links, commentary, hashtags, etc
    2. Allow me to stay more focused on writing deliverables which require more uninterrupted, less distracted time

    I do not believe you need to be online for every single tweet, or even note that! I DO believe that being reasonably responsive to @replies, RTs and mentions, etc is a best practice, as you would for any other medium. Unless you’re on primarily as a customer service channel for your company, most people understand you are juggling other work and conversations.

    @carlainsf

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  • Tim Gluth

    I agree with your article as well as the great points brought up in the comments. For the purists, the content that is being scheduled is no less genuine if I write it a day ahead of when I post it. It is another option to make Twitter work for (and with) youself, not something that should be looked down on because it didn’t get posted at the spur of the moment.

    @tiglu

  • Nancy Burke Barr

    Hi Aaron,
    Really great blog post! I have had the same dilemma and actually, TODAY, I scheduled posts for the first time. Here’s how I’m going to work it:

    1. Schedule Tweets throughout a 24 hour period, in order to reach and get to know a wider group.
    2. Go on Twitter throughout my day as usual to retweet, reply and DM
    3. Do additional Tweets as I deem necessary throughout my day.

    As I see it, this expands my ability to connect. Just because I know what I would like to say in advance, does not make it any less my Tweet.

    Good topic!

    Nancy
    “Mentor Mama”

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  • http://www.amazingfromafrica.com Barb Saker

    This was a good article with good points. I do schedule my tweets because my time is limited. When I have the time to research or I am researching for another reason, I schedule several tweets based on the research I have found or am reading. This way I am able to utilize Twitter for my business on a schedule I can work with.

    Barb
    Cape Aloe

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  • Aaron

    I’ve been playing around with schedule tweets in a test account. Lets see how it goes =)

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