Recurring Tweets and Duplicate Content
SocialOomph (formerly Tweetlater) had a major announcement today – and one that probably is causing panic among many Twitter users.
Essentially, they will be discontinuing the ability to set up ‘recurring posts’ and ones with ’spinnable text’ as this helps users violate Twitter’s Terms of Service with regards to posting duplicate content over the same or multiple accounts.
Now, when I first saw this I almost had a panic attack myself, but then I took the time to read many of the comments and questions on the blog. They included several answers back from Dewald Pretorius, the creator of SocialOomph, Tweetlater and a fellow Maritimer on Canada’s East Coast 
. The answers from Mr. Pretorius made me realize that the clients I work with will not be affected as they don’t use the recurring tweets function. Panic was premature and not necessary.
Primarily my clients use SocialOomph to setup posted dated tweets – but the majority of them are unique tweets that we do not repeat. They use SocialOomph to send an automated Direct Message to new followers – and this will not be affected by the new change either.
Looking at the comments, the change will affect people who use the system to setup updates of the same type over and over at recurring times. Some even mentioned every 5 minutes! Wow. Not how I use Twitter at all – nor what I recommend to my clients. I encourage my clients to get on Twitter directly and be real and authentic and to make connections and conversations with others. That is how you can reach more people in a way that creates a relationship. Sending the same message over and over is never anything I recommend or like to see.
So… for now my take on this big news is… I am okay with it, since it may help keep the spammers at bay and send them elsewhere to push their wares. Anything for reducing the spam in my twitterstream is fine by me!
