I get self-promotion, really, I do.  I do it myself.  You have to put yourself out there to find your niche and to make fans and friends.  What I don’t get is annoying your potential fans/friends, first thing, right out the gate.

My biggest peeve at the moment is probably this:

I am on Twitter.  There is this method that some on the social network employ.  Namely, they follow you in hopes of a follow back.  Cool, you scratched my back, I’ll scratch yours.  I mean, I know they aren’t actually going to ever download my song Don’t Poop In Your Pants.  But maybe their +1 gives a little boost to my image and others will think I am important enough to follow if my number is “big enough”.

So I follow them back, thinking that our transacted business is complete.  And then I get the DM, yes the Direct Message that boldly presents the sender’s song, or service, or website, as if it’s something that I was searching for.  Like it’s the answer to a question burning in my heart.

Really?  To me, this falls somewhere in between “Why, the nerve!” and “How dare you?!”

And sometimes it’s not just a quick Copy and Pasted message inviting me to “check out this cool” whateveritis, sometimes this message assumes that I am so genuinely interested in the sender’s cause that I want to champion it.  I’m sorry, I am not going to “tweet (my) favorite youtube video” of yours.  If I like an artist and their work, I will share it and you won’t have to ask me.  But if you come messaging me, commanding me to be your street team, you’ve got the wrong idea.  I have my own wares to peddle.  I can’t imagine approaching strangers and asking them to share my stuff.  If you like it, you’ll share it, right?