7 Social Media Pet Peeves and Their Fixes

Like many bloggers, I use (and love) social media a lot. It’s great for sharing, awareness, new finds and more.

But, like many bloggers that use social media, I also have pet peeves about it.

Now, I definitely have way more than 7 pet peeves when it comes to social media, but these will be quick fixes for anyone doing them, so let’s get to work.

Authorizing Twitter to RT your post

When I want to retweet a post of yours and see your social media plugin asking me to authorize it to tweet, I click out and never RT any posts from your blog.

There are so many easy solutions for this, like using official Twitter button, plugins like Digg Digg or Sharebar so I see no reason why would I allow any type of application to mess with my account for you (no matter how safe the application is).

You have too many options

Adding plugins that display 15 and more different sharing options on your blog looks ugly, it is annoying and it won’t bring you anything, really.

People use a handful of social sites to share what they like and depending on your niche/location/goals, you can probably pick 3 or 4 that work the best. Keep a limited number of buttons on your posts because that way you give people less options and focus on sites that matter.

There is no conversation

No matter which site you use, it is still called social media, stress on Social! Don’t just keep feeding your blog RSS as the only updates to your profile. That is just so old school.

If you don’t have time for Twitter, delete your profile, what is the point of having it anyway!? It will only take you 5 minutes a day, if that much, to make your profile look friendly and professional by simply saying hi to someone or thanking someone for sharing your content.

No reply on Facebook

This is becoming my pet peeve #1. Example, one of the fitness girls I am a fan of. She has a Facebook page with thousands of fans, posts photos of her workouts or supplements she is taking and every such photo gets at least 20 comments, majority being “Can you tell us the breakdown of that workout” or “What is your experience with that supplement”.

But you can never see her reply to any of those questions nor can you see her having any reaction to anything going on on her page after posting a photo.

People are there because they like you and what you (or your company) is doing. Answer their questions!

Find us on social media

I can not remember how many times have I seen a Twitter or Facebook button on a TV commercial or printed ad, where it says “Find us on Twitter/Facebook”. However, that would be all. No username, no shortened link, no link, nothing at all.

I can understand Starbucks doing such thing (not sure they are, but this is just an example), but if you are “Joe exterminator”, do you really think that is going to be effective!?

Same thing with random people, for example a friend of mine posting on Facebook the other day, “If you are using Instagram, follow me”… ummmm, OK, and you are “Thyj98″ or “Friend543″ or “momsgirl”?

Add your usernames or links when you are inviting people to follow you!

Same message all over the place

Please stop scheduling same updates, to go out at the same time, to your Twitter, Facebook page and Facebook profile. That is annoying and you are not giving people a reason to follow you on more than one of those sites.

If you are thinking: “But I can’t do all of those social media sites, I am short of time”, I am calling BS. Do them right, or don’t do them at all! It is your business and reputation in stake, not mine.

Not following your own advice

I will just give you one example. A big Twitter user (great tweets by the way) tweets about how your message should be much shorter than 140 characters to allow space for retweeting. Great advice, I hit retweet and guess what – too long to retweet…

If you are giving advice to people, at least try it, so it doesn’t look funny.

So here are my 7 social media pet peeves of the top of my head… what are yours?

Buffer

http://www.linkedin.com/in/annelizhannan annelizhannan

I am with you Brankica on all of the pet peeves except I can’t do any of it in less than 5 minutes a day. It takes me that long to read the blog and then manually RT or post if I feel it would be of interest to my social network. I admire those that can and enjoy reading just how I can improve my time allocation. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.bobwp.com/ bobWP

Wow, great minds must think alike, as I’m with you on all of these : )I have tried to figure out of these which is my number 1. I think it might be the “Same Message All Over the Place”. This drives me nuts. Often I hear the excuse, “but my networks are all different, and I want to be able to share them with everyone”. Usually not true. If I follow you on Twitter, I’m like to connect with you on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google +.What most people don’t realize is some of use take portions of our day to visit all those platforms. And that’s when we see the same freakin’ message over and over. Ugh!
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

bobWP I absolutely agree. I understand we may have the same target market on all sites, but that doesn’t mean we need to send the same message on each. I try to use only a few sites and that is one of the reasons, so on Twitter I will tweet everything good I read and chat with people, on FB I will have a couple of updates a day, mostly telling people about a new post or something interesting they can use and so on. I always start with myself – would I like to read what I am posting lol
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

annelizhannan if I get into a reading frenzy, I can’t do it either But there are times where I can read a post fast and RT it or write a quick update. A year ago, I was on Twitter 20 hrs a day, it was always open in my browser but got so overwhelmed that I had to start logging out. I do see slight difference in interactions but not significant that would make me do it more than 15 minutes a day for example, lol. But hey, as long as it is working, 5 minutes or 55 minutes, that is what we need to do!! Thanks so much for the comment
http://goteamduncan.com/ BrandonPDuncan

Yup. You nailed it. I can’t say I’m not guilty of a few of these, though. I definitely need to tailor my messages to the platform, for one. (i’m really bad at Facebook…)
http://www.vidyasury.com/ Vidya Sury

Yes, My pet peeve is the non-interaction and the lo-oo-oo-ong stream of updates, so it is so tempting to let it flow and watch it end. I hate the “authorize application” too. I once did that on a site and the next morning, a friend asked me if I had started working with the company – because they were flooding my account with their tweets on my behalf. I ran on the double to kill it. Eesh!Great read, Branicka! And points very well taken
lindaw

Good afternoon Branika!I think I can safely say you aren’t a happy bunny about this social networking stuff. Not a problem! Just confirms my suspicions that these places are not where I want to go. I’m just about OK with Google+, where it seems there is more of an effort being made to actually say something different whenever people log in – but in truth I don’t go there very often either, so perhaps that’s why it seems different!Yep, I’m one of the most unsociable bloggers about…..
http://www.thewordchef.com tsilvestre

Having to authorize Twitter (or any other channel) before I can share is definitely a big one for me. In fact, if you have that kinda thing going on, I will either click away or just copy the link and paste it into my own screen (but ONLY if it’s really, really, REALLY good…and that doesn’t happen that often).I have a peeve too that I’m kind of embarrassed about…and I’m wondering if it bothers anyone else…#FF shout outs? Do they make a difference? Does anyone ever really follow anyone from those? And what if you have someone who graces you with a #FF honor every single Friday. I’m thanking folks for the mentions right now, but it only seems to encourage the behavior and then I feel like I’m stuck in a #FF loop.
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

tsilvestre you read my mind about both pasting that link and the #ff. I don’t do #ff mostly because I never know what day it is and I don’t think people really care. I really don’t. I always thank people but feel bad for not returning the favor but if I do a #ff it is once in a hundred years with a special message about one person not that mass tweet. OMG, I feel so bad for saying that
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

lindaw I am actually as social as social media gets. I think social media is amazing, from connecting with people to actually creating leads. But of course spending so much time there is bound to create some peeves…
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

Vidya Sury OMG, that is terrible. I do often go through my Twitter account to make sure to turn off all applications I am not using any more. I don’t really trust most of those companies anyway, lol. Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment!
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

BrandonPDuncan hey at least you know where the mistake is You know, for some reason, I think Facebook is the hardest to “beat”, must be the fact that people take it so personally and not as much of a marketing thing as Twitter for example…
http://topcoatreview.com/ BloggingPainter

Brankica I am so glad you said that! I always feel bad not doing #ff, now i can tweet guilt free!
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

BloggingPainter lol, that is why I am here
http://goteamduncan.com/ BrandonPDuncan

Brankica Agreed. I don’t think G+ is much better. The tone is less personal (to me, anyway) but the folks there are very protective.
http://whatisfinancialfreedom.com/ Sean A

Thank you for helping to share some of these common mistakes. I agree, especially about the “follow us” without more information. It is not about just letting people know you are on social media, it is about engaging with them there.
- http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica
  
  Sean A exactly but hey, where would we be if we didn’t have someone to make us laugh all the time
  - http://whatisfinancialfreedom.com/ Sean A
    
    Brankica And laughter is the best medicine after all
lashaugh

@tsilvestre I use the #FF s/os about once a month, but I use them only to connect people who might not otherwise know about each other. I”ll mix in up and comers’ handles with handles of people I’ve been interacting with for awhile.

I do look at most of the #FF s/os in my stream to find new people who I’d like to follow or connect with. It’s hit or miss, but there have been some terrific people I probably wouldn’t have found out about otherwise.

Like anything else, it can be overused. But used right and strategically #FFs can help connect people and expand your network.
MarkWalker

What drives me crazy, is the same people constantly posting what they are eating, where they are going, who they are doing… I don’t want to ready your journal or your diary. WHY are you telling me these things? Give me real info, and a conversation to join… not what you need to get done before the kids get home from school today.
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http://mattsouthern.com mattsouthern

I couldn’t agree more these, in fact I touched on a lot of them on a similar post I wrote in my own blog. I’d also like to add a pet peeve of mine, which is when people stray way off topic on social media. For example, when I’m following a local restaurant on Twitter and they’re retweeting quips from celebrities. I’m not saying this restaurant should talk about themselves all the time, but they should at least try to keep the activity on their profile related to food in some way. Staying on topic is important
http://hajrakvetches.com/ Hajra

I was definitely going to mention the authorizations. Its not that I don’t trust these application (yes,sometimes I don’t trust them) but I am not letting anyone have access to update my tweets. Also, I follow you, you follow me nonsense. Just a few days back someone followed me on twitter and asked me to “return the favor”. Never heard of the user, never have been to their website and now you feel like you have done me a favor. Really, if its too much of a trouble following me, then please don’t endow me with the honor; I will follow people only if I want to listen to what they have to say. I ain’t indebted to anybody on twitter!And whats with people not doing what they are telling the world to do. I read a blog post about “keeping the advertisements” to a minimum and guess what, their home page has over ten advertisements! Its difficult to search for the post! Practice what you preach!
- http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica
  
  Hajra hahah return the favor. what a big favor is he doing to you, following you. omg, you should send him a hand written thank you note! urgh!!! It’s like all those people are taking the same social media classes in the school of hard knocks
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

mattsouthern agreed! The only way I can imagine putting celebrities in their tweets is if Vin Diesel ate there and tweeted it was teh best steak ever. Sure, they should RT that tweet, but don’t see how anything else should be tweeted, lol
http://onlineincomestar.com/ Brankica

MarkWalker yeah, some people are weird like that. I mean it really needs to “go along” with your profile. On the profile I use as a blogger, I RT the posts I like, give a tip or two and the only unrelated tweets are once in a while I will ask something about a sport even happening at the moment, or share a photo of my dog every few months. But I keep it at the very minimum. I understand how the profile is set up and what people expect there so I don’t see the point of telling everyone what I ate in my 6 meals every day…
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LisaEirene

Another one that bothers me is people on Twitter who never respond to questions/comments. Or they post a link on Twitter 5x a day. 1-2x a day is enough.