AutoDM is a method of sending a new twitter follower a direct message as soon as they follow you, usually along the lines of “hi, thanks for following me. check out my site/product/ebook/software” (delete as appropriate). You usually have to give your username and password to a 3rd party site so they can monitor your follower list and send out your message when a new one gets added.

As you can probably guess, I am not a fan! To me, using a bot to send a direct message is the height (or low) of insincerity. If someone wants to pitch me their product (and yes, giving away something you wrote is a pitch) then wouldn’t it be polite to actually message me first? Why get a bot to do it for you, sure it’s easy and it never forgets but would you send a robot with a card about your gift shop to every new person that sends you a Christmas card? I wouldn’t but, I don’t get Christmas cards (…long story!)

Now, most people get an email when they receive a DM. If I got an email from someone I don’t really know asking me to visit their site or download their ebook or buy their home made fluffy balls (really!) then I would consider it spam. It’s unsolicited, it’s sent to mass numbers of people, it benefits the sender and the receiver didn’t ask or qualify themselves to read/use/buy/play with it!

Here are some examples of what I consider to be an autoDM spam..

I used to do a straight unfollow for these but recently I have been replying with my own DM asking why they think an autoDM is a good idea when so many people say it isn’t. I have yet to receive a reply, except, from @CoachDeb.

She (her bot) sent this..

I may have been a teensy weensy bit annoyed or perhaps feeling too big for my boots because I had just pipped over 1000 followers a little earlier so I replied with ..

.. in the public timeline (for shame!) and gawd bless her, she responded less violently than I think I would have if someone had ‘forshame’d me on their public timeline…

Suffice to say, no-one thanked me Fair play to her though, she’s got over 11,000 followers and she coulda moidered me with her army of loyal fans!

I think I can see that those that use autoDM think it’s a great feature and tool to use but those that don’t use them, think they’re spam and not needed. Horses for courses!

I don’t hate ALL dm’s, just those that, before even a “hello, how are you”, are sent by a robot without the knowledge of the person being followed. Look at this one from @lorelleonwp, it’s the kind of DM I can receive all day long! it makes me want to visit their profile and see their bio description and what their site is like..

Isn’t that a MUCH nicer DM to receive? I got it part way through writing this post and it restored my faith in twitter and the people that use it again.

The problem for me though is, there are so many people that have a massive following that are using these tools and all their new followers think it’s perfectly acceptable to do it themselves and so the fad continues. It reminds me of MLM marketers who say, “the LIST is EVERYTHING”. They send a gazillion emails out multiple times a week (sometimes multiple times a day) and any network marketer that’s just starting in the biz, thinks that’s what they should do too.

It becomes more about building a list for how much they can make and nought about how much they can help. I think the worth of a follower reduces to zero if all you want is more of them. What for? is it a secret way to riches? does having a gazillion followers make you right?

What do you think? is giving something away for free a pitch? (like CoachDeb’s twitterhandbook) or do you need a bit of gentle tweetplay (like foreplay but with a blue bird watching) before you’ll follow any links or download any software?

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on using bots to build your twitter following or send messages that you can’t/don’t want to make yourself..I could be completely wrong and alone in my opinion. Let me know!

I managed to catch the Monday night elottery broadcast today and although I’ve heard the business presentation a squillion times, I actually got excited about elottery again!

I’ve been involved with it for a few years now and even though I continue to bring in new members here and there, they are mostly from my total leads orders and my automated sites and autoresponders. I rarely get the chance to do a face to face presentation these days which is probably due to most face to face meetings I have are talking about 10k+ commercial contracts and it seems a little bit out of place to be mentioning something that costs a fiver to join!

My mistake! I used to do it before and successfully signed up a professional football club who have just recently been promoted up a league and will soon have television coverage (and lucky me has a big grab a grand banner behind the goal!) so I think it’s time to start back on the elottery trail again. I did really well last time I was active with elottery and my team hasn’t depleted much in the months and months of neglect that I have inflicted on them, combine this with the new payplan and structure that has come about because of… COMPLIANCE… and I’m 100% positive that I’ll be earning more than ever (I’ve earned literally tens of thousands of pounds in commission from elottery so far)

What is this compliance thing?
It’s due to new European law coming in to force about networking and other commission based opportunities..

This is the best news I have heard for elottery since I joined because…

• no longer is it necessary for an affiliate to be a player
• the opening up of commission levels is no longer dependent on how many affiliates you sign up
• getting bonus payments has been made much much easier
• no more freeloaders

These are just some of the benefits of the new rules coming and I will be expanding on these over the next few weeks, for now, get yourself over to my elottery site and take a look around. Now is the time to join elottery, it’ll be even easier to make a success of yourself! (with my help of course!)

I got in the good books today after posting an anonymous message on a new website called 1 million love messages. My missus got all warm and fluffy when she saw my message.

It’s a great idea, that being to have one place to do one thing, spread the love and make a difference to peoples lives with 3 simple words.

I saw the reaction to my message and I can confirm that love does mean a lot even if it’s as an anonymous message that only the recipient would realize is about them.

Give it a go yourself and tell someone what everyone needs to hear now and then..