How To Handle Twitter Direct Messages

In your Twitter marketing, you may be wondering how to handle Twitter Direct Messages, or "DM's"

Well, DM can also stand for the following:

Delete Me!

Dumb Message!

Dismiss Me!

Deceptive Mirage...?

OK, now it's getting silly. But you get the idea. Direct Messages, at least for marketers who are aggressively using Twitter, are a waste of time. Remember, 90% of them are automatically generated, and those that aren't are rarely replied to anyway.

So what's the best way to handle Direct Messages? Delete! If you are getting a ton of them to your e-mail box, just set up a rule that when you receive a DM, it goes straight to your trash box.

Twitter is best used as a "One To Many" application. As a one to one it sucks. It's not designed to be a text messaging service, it's a micro-blog. So think of your Twitter efforts as a broadcast, and don't waste your time either sending or responding to Direct Messages, unless it's a purely personal account where people you actually know are trying to get your attention. Otherwise, it's just a time waster.

It doesn't hurt to occasionally scan your DM's to see if there's anything of value, but other than that, Direct Messages are simply Digitally Meaningless. (Sorry, couldn't help throwing in just one more ;-)