Three months ago Pam Mandel (@nerdseyeview) tried the automated Twitter app Triberr, found it a soulless experience and quickly pulled out, considering it part of the wider “mechanized game for traffic” in a post she later wrote on the subject. Sixty comments later (including one from @dino_dogan, Triberr’s founder), the consensus was More People, Less Machines, Kthx.
Now – this.
If you think there’s too much spam, too much arbitrary link-sharing on Twitter, and you’re using a tool like Triberr to auto-tweet links yourself, then you’re being hypocritical. You’re part of the problem.
- Neicole Crepeau
Crepeau’s post has sparked a lively discussion on the 900-strong travel bloggers group set up by Gary Arndt on Facebook. Three months on, Triberr usage is rife – yet it seems most travel bloggers don’t just agree that Triberr is a bad idea…
I want to interact and only share content that I find amazing. How is sharing every single post from someone good?
…but that it also carries such a tarnished reputation that to be seen to be using it – the giveaway being the twrt.me tweet shortener – is detrimental to a blogger’s reputation. By using Triberr, you risk damaging your credibility.
So if Triberr use is devaluing shared content on Twitter, exactly where does the blame lie? Are we primarily judging the tool (the machine), or the way it’s being used (the people)? Is the problem here the actions of individuals using the service, or is it the service itself that is the threat – or does it just need a better official or unofficial code of conduct, the same way Twitter suffered spammy growing pains before it (arguably) grew up?
Furthermore, if we decide it’s the people but we can’t draw a line between the two in a practical sense – is it fair to Triberr if we warn people off using it?
A personal note: I’ve used Triberr (briefly), and I know it’s not fully automated. You don’t tweet things you haven’t chosen to approve, even if that “approval” is a half-heartedly ticked box. I’ve seen far, far spammier services at work on Twitter over the last couple of years. But I’ve never seen any of them do as well as Triberr has, in so quick a time. In terms of accumulating mass-shares, it clearly works (although I’d like to see if and how that translates into traffic and influence). And there’s my biggest beef, because mass shares should reflect mass appeal. Triberr clearly muddies that relationship – and frankly, it was murky enough already. There’s the worry.
Image: JD Hancock
Post Revisions:
- 13 December, 2011 @ 8:06 [Current Revision] by Mike Sowden
- 10 October, 2011 @ 8:00 by John O'Nolan
Triberr has the potential to be a great tool IF used right. I see far to many generic RT style tweets from everyone that use it to assume that while it has manual settings they straight up aren’t using it.
Nobody customises the tweet and you can see this by doing a simple search on someones twitter handle. It’s the same tweet sent out a zillion times, no added wow great photo or ooo I so want to go there as well. It’s being used in a soulless way as pam says.
Maybe it’s because they haven’t even read the post yet so have no idea but as I said on facebook, you might think your content is the holy grail and people should worship you but be honest nobody writes amazing posts every time so why share every single post they write? Unless of course your names Mike Sowden :)
I’ve never heard of Triberr before today, I can’t really understand why anyone would want to RT everything someone writes? Surely it diminishes the value of a person’s tweet, and pisses everyone off in the process. Retweets should be an acknowledgment you enjoyed someone’s work.
Mike, feel free to acknowlege every single post of mine…. Hahaha
But to get serious… Hard on a Monday… ;-) I haven’t used Triberr & wouldn’t go for it. I like to keep control of my tweets. It’s definitely more work, but worth it. On the other site, for travel bloggers who are on the road and don’t find the time to get online for 2-3 days, it could be an option for in between. Right now I would recommend a simple RSS tweet feature.
If I look at 3-4 blogger streams & I just see the same Triberr’ short links, it’s not really what I’m looking for. Why should a Twitter user follow 4 people, if he could just get the same tweets from one? ;-)
Melvin, keep providing good content and the retweets will come. ButI was serious in my point also – why would you retweet something you haven’t read? Maybe I have too much time on hands…
People retweet stuff they haven’t read because something is in it for them. If you share my stuff, I’ll share yours. It’s pretty simple, actually. It’s ultimately an act of self-promotion.
TWIW, Triberr is not, by default, evil. It’s how we chose to use it. That said…
A customized notice that describes what I’m reading and/or why you recommend it is what encourages me to click on a link. Triberr users who take the time to do that have lifted their postings out of the spam bucket. In order to make your shared link interesting, though, you need to be able to comment on it, and in order to comment on it, you need to have READ the post you are sharing.
I use Flipbook on my iPad, it’s got built in sharing functions. I also have a Share This plug-in on my posts on my site. I prefer this type of interaction because sharing is integrated with the act of READING. Triberr disconnects those two processes and associates sharing with the relationship you’ve got with your Tribe. It becomes focused on promotion (You! Look at this!) rather than curation (You might like this, I did.).
Without the human intervention of readers, link-sharing becomes advertising rather than an exchange of interesting ideas. Look at what the widely adored @marilyn_res posts to Twitter. Why do I love her? Because she picks that stuff by hand and thinks we’d like it. Sure, she pushes National Geographic stuff, that’s her employer, we all push our own stuff. But whenever she posts outsider her immediate realm, I think, “Whoa, fascinating!” and also, “Marilyn is so cool!” Compare and contrast with the auto-tweets.
Who do you want to follow?
Hi Mike,
There is nothing murky about it. My mission in life is to take the attention away from top 1% internet blogs and give it to you; and other smaller and medium sized bloggers like yourself (and myself for that matter).
The way that happens now is that someone who puts in a little work, makes the right connections, can get their mediocre content retweeted hundreds of times just like Huff Post’s and Mashable’s mediocre content gets retweeted hundreds of times.
And maybe, just maybe, someone with awesome, disruptive, original voice can actually get heard as well, regardless of when they started their blog and how many followers they have. As if the number of followers is an indicator of quality in any way, anyway.
If my plan works out, Triberr will be an essential tool for bloggers who create quality content. Did some members take advantage of it early on and get little spammy? Sure, but we’re not about that and have take measures to fight it (tribal size limits, zombie algorithm, etc).
We have some exciting things coming up in the next couple of months (comment tribes, facebook tribes, etc) that I am sure will make you reconsider :-) At least I hope.
On a personal note, I think your post was well balanced and it asks the right questions. After all, Triberr is only a platform and if used responsibly can be a great addition to your blogging toolbox.
Thnx for writing about us :-)
Dino
“We have some exciting things coming up in the next couple of months (comment tribes, facebook tribes, etc) that I am sure will make you reconsider :-)”
OMG. That is just making things worse.
You aren’t helping smaller sites get their message out if you have a small echo chamber of people talking to each other.
I don’t think it’s Triberr’s fault that they developed an effective tool for mass sharing and people seem to like it. But I do agree with Neicole’s article, and with Chris’ comment above, and this goes to the heart of how I see Twitter. If Twitter is a porous, interconnected RSS feed than Triberr is not what you want to see. You want personally curated links and information that helps you learn about what’s going on in the world or the interwebs. If Twitter is a mouthpiece for your own work and not much else, than Triberr is merely a louder megaphone. There’s nothing wrong with using it that way, but it’s not for me. As a result, I’ve stopped clicking through the “via triberr” links because I’d rather know someone has read the post first and thought it was worth resharing.
Yes, there are manual features on Triberr but I’m not sure how that differs from a basic RT or scheduling RSS feeds on Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. What the service offers seems to be a mechanism for mass sharing without having to read the posts first (though of course you can, and then modify tweets accordingly). Again, if your use for Twitter is to make sure you get content out to the widest group, than this is a good tool. Personally, I don’t find it compelling because what makes Twitter interesting is its wholly self-curative nature and the personal voices behind each feed.
Started using Triberr and had it set on Automatic but have since changed that to Manual. I like it as it gives me a chance to read my friends posts if I have not had a chance to yet, then I can post them if I like them. I think its a great little service. As long as it is not abused. Truth be told, I might set it up to automatic when I know we will be away from the net for more than a few days as well as this will keep things ticking along hopefully. Just my 2 bits anyway.
I considered dropping Triberr recently, but I’m going to stick with it for now. I have ditched the automatic tweeting, and only approve the tweets to go out after I’ve read (and usually commented on) the posts. It’s still helpful, because I have it set to only tweet once per hour. Which means I can read 5 or 6 posts at once, but tweet them over an afternoon while I’m in class or doing homework.
Used smartly, I think it can still be a decent tool. Sometimes, I forget to check all my favorite blogs regularly. So, this way, at least I’m reminded when I check my Triberr stream.