As the title indicates, this post is going to outline why Twollow sucks. You can choose to use Twollow if you want. You shouldn’t be ashamed. I certainly use services that suck. But, just set your expectations from the beginning. If you would like to further investigate Twollow, you can do so at www.Twollow.com (nofollowed).

First, what is Twollow? It’s one of the first services that allowed automated Twitter following. At one time, it seemed all of the A-List Twitter bloggers were using it and promoting it. Apparently, a large number of Twitter users still employ the service today. In Twollow’s on words:

Find & Follow People On Twitter by Keywords. Gain targeted followers!

Oh and I bet they won’t include www.smoblogger.com on this list that appears on twollow.com:

As seen on Mashable, KillerStartups, and AskDaveTaylor!

I fell for the Twollow “Bronze” service which as you can see from the price points above, it’s the cheapest. I foolishly paid the annual price of 79.99 thinking I would be saving money. I just happily went along with all of the A-Listers and trusted them.

Quickly, I received about 2000 followers related to my keywords. I was loving it. Then, something happened and everything just went dead. I was stuck at 2000. Why could I no longer get followers? I contacted Twollow support over and over and over and received one response initially, but then radio silence afterwards.

I made this final plea:

Final request. Twollow has not been working for me on my account [removed for privacy]. The info was sent. The transfer has not been made. I’ve sent numerous requests to support asking for help. No response. Please let me know something by tomorrow or I’m out.

Normally, when I purchase a product or service that fails to deliver as advertised, I dispute it with my card company and usually get a refund. I kept holding out for Twollow because of those darn A-Listers, I guess. Still want to believe this product works. But, it doesn’t.

Here’s my satire of the Twollow features:

For reference:
Twollow Twitter page: @twollow (nofollowed)

Does Twollow suck for you too?

I guess that’s the question these days. Everyone I know a Twitter user. But… everyone I know is an Internet geek of some sort, a designer, marketer or social media type. Okay, maybe my Mom isn’t using Twitter but give her time.

I admit that I thought Twitter to be stupid when it first began for these reasons:

1. Why would anyone want to limit the number of characters that they can post? If you really have something important to say, often it’s more than the terse Twitter character limits.
2. Why give your content away to a third party which can ban or bury your work? Put your content on your blog, keep control and revenue and sit there and own it (feels good doesn’t it).
3. Why did we need yet another social network besides the big ones: MySpace, Facebook, Friendster? Been there, done that. I’m not one to indulge in a social media site just because it’s faddish.

I’ve begun to think more seriously about Twitter. Yes, I’ve become more involved–more tweets, retweets, selecting good friends interested in my favorite topics and removing non friends. Why? Let me answer each of the above objections to using Twitter by saying:

1. You don’t have to worry about the things that sometimes drag us down in life, namely committments. I don’t have to respond to a rant with a counter rant. I don’t have to explain anything, just tweet. So, the brevity of  Twitter becomes a positive instead of a limitation. Getting what I’m saying? Agree?
2. Using Twitter can complement my own blog content. It’s a way to get friends, subscribers and links (sorry web 1.0 folks, you’ll have to stay back in the 1990′s if you don’t get involved in SMO).
3. Yes, Twitter is another social network but yet, this social media tool is different. I’ll probably blog about this in more detail, but I think you know what I mean.

I use Twitter now because I’ve overcome the three objections above. If you sincerely think Twitter is stupid, don’t use it.