Dumb as a post – How NOT to use Twitter

I was amused last week to gain another follower on Twitter.  What tickled my funnybone was the fact that this guy has followed (and very quickly unfollowed) me at least half a dozen times before.

Clearly, he loves Twitter as he follows about 62,000 people.  What astonishes me is that he has about 58,500 followers.

Why am I astonished?  Why do I want every other tweet to say “read my book”, “do you know I’ve written a book”, “have you seen this quote from my book” and so on?

Yeah, we get it – you’ve written a book.  Once you’ve told me that, you don’t need to tell me again – I can retain information quite well.  Now tell us something new or, at the very least, wait a couple of weeks before you tell me again about your book.

No, I don’t mean the other half of your tweets should be “have you read my blog”, “what do you think about this article on my blog”, “thanks for retweeting about my latest blog post”.  (Are you getting a feeling for why I’ve never followed this guy back?)

And, yes, I am fully aware of the irony of publicising this blog post on my Twitter stream!

Clearly, the guy is intelligent – he’s written a book – and, if his publicity is to be believed, he is or has been a pretty good salesman.  Why then is he getting this so wrong?

I understand the need to publicise the book, I understand the need to publicise the blog but, please, show me something beneath the surface – who inspires you, what articles have you read and enjoyed, what bugs you, anything but constantly banging on about you!  All you are doing is reducing your own credibility.

Have you encountered anyone like this?