Category Archives: Twitter

Though Twitter announced that some changes were coming to its platform on the 25th of May, they’ve already changed some things that affect how often you can tweet on your own accounts, so I thought I’d let you know about them.#WritingTips pic.twitter.com/xzJHuXpdmM

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

I’ve been managing the Twitter @MigraineMantras for a month now, and it’s become dramatically evident that the more followers you have, the more lax Twitter’s rules are regarding some behaviors it deems “suspicious activity.”#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

I’ve never been locked out of my own personal account, nor out of my publisher’s account, but two weeks ago I was locked out of the MigraineMantras account, apparently for RTing too many posts within 1/2 hour. I was reading each post before sharing.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Yesterday I was sharing posts, not RTing them, but reading and then typing original tweets, and within half an hour, Twitter locked the account. They didn’t just want me to verify my phone and email, as they did two weeks ago. Last night, they wanted a CAPTCHA, too#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

When you get locked out, you cannot see your account or gain access to it. You are told it’s “locked” — not suspended — and you are asked to verify that you are human. Literally. Not to verify that you own the account, but that you are human.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

I had to fill out one of Google’s “I’m Not a Robot” CAPTCHA, which then allowed me to verify my email, which then allowed me to get a text to my phone to verify my phone… and then Twitter let me back into the account.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

And now, this morning, in this thread, which I do by replying to my previous tweet, I am sending out more tweets in a minute than I was sending out yesterday at the MigraineMantras account. The only reason for it that I can see is that this account has more followers#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If I get locked out, I’ll be sure to let you know, but since I do these threads every Friday (and do ArtSaturday threads each week, that are even longer), I don’t think it has to do with how often you tweet, but with how often you tweet/RT based on # of followers. #WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If you tweet too often within any hour, you get Twitter-Jailed, which just tells you that it won’t send the latest tweet and you should try again later. You have to jump through several hoops to prove you’re human when your account gets locked.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

I’m sending about 1 tweet per minute this morning on this thread, and so far, I’m not locked out. Twitter clearly has different “rules” for different accounts. If you’re not a celebrity (who seem to have no rules or limitations), your # of followers seems to be key.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

MigraineMantras is not a new account: it’s been open almost a year now. It had a couple hundred followers when I started managing it. Now it has about 800. MM had a few hundred tweets last month, and now it has over 5K. It has a lot fewer followers than this account #WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

So here are my best guesses, and some suggestions, based on my experiences with the other account. The fewer followers you have, the fewer times you can tweet or RT at any one time without proving you’re not a bot.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

The fewer followers you have, the fewer times you can RT in a short period. Spammers and bots tend to fill their TLs with RTs (one of the giveaways: no original tweets) so clearly Twitter is going after “aggressive” RTs. Be warned.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

On Monday Blogs, I RT a lot, a LOT!!! and I’ve never been flagged or asked to verify that I’m human. Also on Saturday Archive Day, and Sunday Blog Share. Never asked to verify. The fewer followers you have, the more breaks you should take between RTing other posts#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

You can get locked out for following too many people a day, and that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with your own number of followers, but still, I caution you: don’t follow more than 100 new accounts per day (that’s a 3rd-party app recommendation).#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Don’t UNfollow more than 100 people a day either. Even if you have a 3rd-party app (paid version) that allows you to UNfollow more, please be careful. Twitter has gotten crazy over all the real accounts while ignoring the spam/bot/phishing accounts.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Here’s my advice for all you writers and authors here on the Twitter: The fewer your own followers, the fewer tweets/RTs in any one sitting. RTs = tweets according to Twitter rules. There are no published numbers, but there seems to be a correlation with followers.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Twitter seems to make a distinction between actually conversing with peoples, making a Thread via replying to your own previous tweet, and just tweeting separate tweets. Talking “too much” gets you Twitter-jailed, not locked out.

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Tweeting too many separate, unrelated tweets, i.e., tweets not in a Thread, seems to be considered “aggressive” if you have fewer followers. That is apparently regarded as “aggressively RTing” and can get you locked out & asked to verify that you’re human.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Keep the phone number & email connected with your account current because Twitter has gone on a “verify that you’re human” rampage & is going after all of us that are active in a normal, social media kind of way. You need phone/email to verify & unlock your account.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If you do get locked out of your account (you won’t have to guess: Twitter locks it with a Lock Screen and tells you that you’re locked out), verify immediately. If you want even a few minutes, Twitter assumes you’re a bot and erases all your following#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Failing to verify you’re human within a few minutes after your account has been locked activates Twitter’s Unfollow Bug, which is not a “bug “but a way for Twitter to ostensibly go after bad accounts. It erases all the accounts that you follow, NOT your followers#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If your account does get locked, verify that you are human immediately, and then when the account is unlocked, STOP whatever you were doing before the account got locked. Get off the Twitter for a while. It’s a warning. Heed the warning, my peoples.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

This thread has been going on for almost 40 minutes, with a new tweet every 2 mins, and Twitter has not locked me out. I assume it’s because I have more followers here. I’m tweeting more right now than I was on the other account yesterday.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

So, while Twitter is cracking down on all of us who are, in fact, real humans and who are using social media the way it was designed to be used, by talking, sharing, etc., Twitter is ignoring the autoDMs offering $800K USD to “lucky profile”#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

I’ve come to the conclusion that the Unfollow Bug is not a bug at all: it is specifically designed to erase all the accounts you’re following if Twitter suspects you are not human and locks your account. If you get locked, verify yourself, and then take a dang break.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

The Unfollow “Bug” doesn’t immediately erase all the accounts you’re following: it happens after you have NOT shortly verified that you are human. No verification = Twitter’s stripping all the accounts you are following taking you to 0. This is NOT your followers.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If you verify within 24 hours, all the accounts you are following are automatically restored (2-3 hours later). Again, the Unfollow Bug doesn’t seem to be a “bug” in the way Twitter has been allowing us to use it for at least 7 years. It is in Twitter’s design. #WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If you verify within 24 hours, all the accounts you are following are automatically restored (2-3 hours later). Again, the Unfollow Bug doesn’t seem to be a “bug” in the way Twitter has been allowing us to use it for at least 7 years. It is in Twitter’s design. #WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

If you are following someone who suddenly unfollows you AND EVERYONE ELSE THEY WERE FOLLOWING, showing 0 FOLLOWING, it means they’ve been locked out and have not verified their account. Don’t unfollow. Wait a few days. They’ll “re-follow” you & everyone else.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

Use caution and restraint in following, unfollowing, tweeting, RTing until you have more followers. A lot more followers. Or until you get verified by the Twitter. Or until you are a celebrity. Then you can do whatever you want as far as I can tell. Happy weekend.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) May 25, 2018

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