I feel like this has been coming for some time now, and I originally was going to put it in a tweet, but there’s only so many things you can convey in a tiny message. I’m going to begin by saying if you do take part in Twitter lists or ‘drop you shot’ tweets then all the more power to you. Twitter is a great community and you have to do what suits you and what you enjoy. But they’re not for me, and I thought I would take the time to explain why.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been tagged in a few ‘drop your shots’ posts, and while I love being included, considered and generally thought of when these things are happening, I have issues with them. Now bear in mind I’m no Twitter saint, I’ve done some very stupid things in the past in the name of marketing myself, and I may have even tried to start a few ‘drop you shots’ tweets in my own naivety. But no more.

So what’s the deal? I’ve said Twitter is a community to me. ‘Drop your shots’ should be the perfect thing for this right? But I think wrong. Sure, there’s a community feel for the people participating, but the instigators of these tweets I believe have ulterior motives. Using your hard work and effort they’re driving higher engagement to their own profile. I’ve seen this happen multiple times. One such account was asking for ‘drop your shots’ on a daily basis with a different subject matter. They might have been trying to drive a good community but they hardly got involved beyond retweeting posts under the ‘drop your shots’ and barely posted any original content.

So who holds the baton to this? Is there a group out there deciding who gets to go next? Who will be the next person to farm this engagement to feed Twitter’s ever hungry algorithm?

Throw in that there’s a lot of noise and notifications. Personally I prefer to interact with people who find and see my posts rather than trying to force it through a list. Not to mention it’s a little tiring sometimes trying to pull out 4 images on the spot and then keep up.

Apologies if this is a rant. I didn’t want to call it that, but it really is. Like I said though, if you enjoy this type of community, there’s nothing wrong with that, and I’m more than happy to be proven wrong on this. But next time you’re tagged in one of these things take some time to look at the original poster and ask yourself why they want you to ‘drop your shots’.

Categories: Uncategorized

2 Comments

David · November 16, 2021 at 10:17 pm

I’m afraid I included you on a list, so apologies for that. If I had known your preference then I would have respected that.

I have posted on many of these lists, chains etc but I am moving away quite a bit from that myself now. The ‘retweeting all’ is a bold claim, but when mine gets retweeted say 20% of the time I do start to wonder why? Are the images not good enough, which I could probably acept, but at least tell me why or offer some advice.

I would agree with you that the interaction on such threads is very limited, the comments are minimal if you recieve any all.

I’m not the best at social media, and sometimes I have to remind myself what I want to get out of it.

I

    Scott Lyons · November 16, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    No apology needed David. It’s not like I’ve made my disapproval of them too public before and I really appreciate that you thought of me when tagging someone.

    I think everyone posting on the lists goes in with the best intentions and I can see it being disappointing when you don’t get the expected reward for helping drive engagement to the list starter. One more reason why I’m not too keen on them.

    Personally I think I’ve found my happy place on Twitter right now after many years of doing very stupid things to try and garner attention (which looking back was very naive and silly of me). So I can’t really say I know what’s best, just what works for me in this moment.

    I would say keep at it. You’ve posted some absolutely stunning pictures and I love seeing your work. And thank you for taking the time to comment 😉

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