Art & Inspiration Blog

Dear Jerry,

This continues my answers and letter to you about Twitter. It covers Following and Unfollowing and Direct Messages (DMs). I post it publicly as I believe it can help others also, plus it is always fun to eavesdrop, which explains some of Twitter’s popularity.

This blog covers and hopefully answers how to follow people and direct messages, which can only be sent by the people you follow.

Unless you are only going to follow people on Twitter who you absolutely know and trust – and below you will discover why this may not be a good idea—before you follow almost anyone else you need to take a step to ensure you do not become swamped with real email from people who follow you.

Go to your Twitter Account. If you use Old Twitter, at the top of your profile page click on “Settings”. This takes you to the “Settings” page. If you use New Twitter click on “Edit your profile à ” , which is found directly under your avatar on your profile page.

Next, click on the “Notices” tab. UnCheck: “New Follower Emails” or you will be emailed every time someone new follows you. Receiving such email is unnecessary. You can see all of the new followers who have followed you directly by clicking your follower list on your profile page. They appear in an order that begins with the most recent follower and ends with the last. If you wish to follow anyone back, this is where you are going to accomplish it, so the email notification is somewhat superfluous.

Also at the “Notices” page UnCheck: “Email when I receive a direct message.” It is faster and simpler to simply check and delete your DM while on Twitter, plus they can only be deleted while on Twitter.

How to Follow People

We can follow people from their Profile page or when their Twitter ID and avatar appear on “Followers” or “Follows” list.

1. Generally we follow people from their Profile page. When logged into Twitter, to navigate to a person’s profile page simply click on their Avatar or @ ID, such as yours, @jerrysaltz . In both new and old Twitter you will see a button that says: “Follow”. If you click on the button, you will immediately start following this ID and their Tweets will show up in your Timeline, which is the stream of public Tweets you see.

For example, Walter Robinson at @Artnet.com Tweets a message with a link to one of your articles there. You and you decide to follow them back. Simply click on either their avatar or name, then at the profile page click “follow” and you are following their art news stream.

2. We find identities who we wish to follow but to not know their Twitter @ ID name by using “Find People”, which can be found near the “Settings” tab we used previously on Old Twitter and you arrive at a Search box.. If you use New Twitter, in the far right hand column click on the words “Who to follow”, which is also a link. . Now in the left column at the very top is a Search box.

Type the name of the Identity into the Search box. Twitter provides you with a list that resembles Tweets in layout of Twitter members who may be who you are looking for. For example, you might type in “ Museum of Modern Art ” Then a list would appear with possible candidates that fit your criteria. The top one will be @MuseumModernArt , which we otherwise know as MoMA.

To follow you just need to click “follow” on New Twitter, which is hard to miss. On Old Twitter click on the head and shoulders, or pawn like symbol’s button found to the left of the name.

3. We can also follow the @ ID’s who follow other people, or who our friends follow from those lists.

For example, let’s say that you decide that since everyone who MoMA follows is probably interested in Art, you would like to follow them to see what they Tweet. [More about why maybe this is a really good way to expand your influence and understanding in Part 3 of these blogs for you.]

Go to the Profile page of @MuseumModernArt. At the top of the left hand column in both versions of Twitter you will find the words “Following” and “Followers”. Click on “Following.”

This takes you to a page that is very similar to the list you saw thanks to your search, for either Old or New Twitter. You can select from the list of people who @MuseumModernArt , (headed up by Victor Samra) has selected to follow by using the same kinds of buttons found in the search.

4. If you know what a person’s Twitter ID is? For example, as you know @nytimesarts Tweets links to your wife, Roberta Smith’s articles. Simply type the Twitter URL into your browser followed by a forward slash and the twitter ID without the @ sign. In our example the URL is this: http://twitter.com/ @nytimesarts

5. Some people have chosen to Lock their Twitter account. This means that they are selective as to who can see their tweets. Often these are people who basically want to communicate with the people they are already close to, such as family and friends, but may follow others, such as you and me, because we Tweet information of interest. To follow or follow back such a person means a request is sent to them to allow (or not) you to follow them. I have followed back all such people who follow me and find that their tweets and our relationship can be quite rewarding as they tend to be very genuine.

How to UnFollow Anyone

Unfollowing is as easy as following and much the same, except for the tab or button you select.

For both Old and New Twitter you need to navigate to the person’s Profile page or unfollow the Twitter @ ID from your Following list.

1. From their Profile page in Old Twitter click on the little button that resembles a gear or circle with spokes. That opens to a box that gives you four items to select from, one is unfollow. Click that. If you not only wish to block this person but prevent them from seeing your Tweets too or ever refollowing you, then also use Block. Use Block sparingly for people who are really repeatedly spammers or foul, and never just because the person does not interest you.

On New Twitter there is a big green tab that says “Following” that absolutely cannot be missed by anyone who can read a regular tweet. Hover over it and it turns Red and says: “Unfollow”. Also, to the left of that you will find the little gears tab described above with the same choices.

2. To Unfollow from your “Following” list just use the now familiar gears button found to the right of each @ ID on your list. Simple.

Direct Messages

Whenever we follow someone this gives them permission to send us Direct Messages. You can send a Direct Message (DM) to anyone who follows you.

Direct messages allow us to send a private aside, a kind of personal whisper. This can be especially rewarding when you are in the middle of a Twitter public conversation, for example when we all watch #Workofart and Tweet about it, but you wish to say something personal to one follower about the conversation.

I can go for many days, even weeks without sending a DM. This is because a tweet that thanks someone for something really special, or includes a link to an appropriate blog or image can usually be shared with everyone for the good of all. Social Media is about being social so the more people who can be included in the conversation the better. Of course, some things are really private.

Never open a DM from anyone that is sent in a DM, and most especially never open a shortened link. Phishers can and have used them previously. Unless someone tells me that they are sending a link, or more likely an email address via the Twitter timeline, an email, I never open one sent in a DM. or a phone conversation, etc. It may not be safe and again, what is private about a link that it needs to hide in a DM?

Both Facebook and Twitter have experienced phishing attacks. Phishers are wily people who use links – especially shortened links to infect PCs and devices and steal passwords in an attempt to gain access to people’s Social Media identities and also financial information. Good people, our friends can fall prey to phishers who create phony websites that look like sites we know and trust, including apps, which ask for passwords. Once phishers get someone’s password to a Social Media site they log on as that individual and send email with links to their phishing site to the people who follow that Twitter or Facebook identity. Social Media sites are not responsible for their members online safety, although both Twitter and Facebook do a good job policing their sites, #%& happens.

So, I urge you to do what I do and never open links, especially any shortened ones, even from artists who ask you to look at their art, if they are sent in DMs. Not even one from me, unless I tell you beforehand and not in a DM that I will be sending you one (but don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen as there are better ways to reach any well known person than through a DM).

Spammers use DMs to send links with messages about the stuff they are hawking, which is often some affiliate product that they hope will gain them a commission. Basically this group has promoted and even convinced some sweet and polite people that it is Twitterquette to send a thank you to everyone who follows you. Nonsense. I never do.

None of the people who I respect and learned from about Social Media send a thank you when we follow them. Twitter is like a party and a follow is a simple “Hello”, like when we meet someone at a party.

I never respond in any way to a DMed message thanking me for a follow or follow back that includes a link. Everyone who has a web site should include it on their Twitter profile so sending such a link smacks of the over eager salesperson at a non-business social gathering. I just delete these DMs. Most of the thanks you’s are sent by bot (short for robots, meaning automated), and are some standard message, which I also simply delete. Ever now and then an authentic thank you is sent by someone who is familiar with my art and mentions something specific. Generally, I reply kindly to that if it lacks a self promoting link.

Next we will deal with the pro’s and cons of following people back, plus Lists. If you have more questions, please either add them as comments at the bottom of this blog or send me an email or post them on my Facebook profile or send a message @judyrey message to me on Twitter.

OK. Now I’m going to apply a coat of clear glaze to the bottom watercolor pencil layer of a study for a Genesis: Sunset/Sunrise painting.  I’m trying to create a Post Conceptual Art sunset over water that is inspired the feelings Rothko evokes for me.

–JR

[Note: Jerry Saltz is the Art Critic for New York Magazine and also one of the three art judges on Bravo's popular reality show, Work of Art. Here is a link to an archive of his articles at New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/nymag/jerry-saltz/
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Judy Rey Wasserman is an artist and the founder of Post Conceptual Art theory and also the branch known as UnGraven Image Art. Download a free copy click: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Art-- A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in its Stroke.
Check out the limited and open edition prints in the estore.
Follow her on Twitter at @judyrey .]

This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Art & Inspiration, Art Theory and Show Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.