notify new receivers on Twitter via a twitter bot

[chadwhitacre]

No description provided.

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from @bbinkovitz: https://twitter.com/bbinkovitz/status/301721121684860928

+1 from @ironfroggy: https://twitter.com/ironfroggy/status/301721539903119362

[joealcorn]

Perhaps it'd be better to add a tweet button that the tipper can use themselves? It kind of flies in the face of the anonymity concept, but it seems far less spammy.

[rummik]

+1 from me as well

[clone1018]

I agree with the tweet button

[rummik]

@clone1018 Maybe, but a "You have money!" tweet could be fun to receive

[rummik]

Maybe it would be better to have it (optionally) be anonymously sent once by a gifter through a tweet bot?

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from @ceboudreaux via private email:

Do you have a means of alerting users (perhaps tweeting at them from @gittip) when someone is ready to give, thereby encouraging them to sign up and receive their tips?

We rely on you to notify people you tip and otherwise invite your friends. I think it'd be too spammy coming from @gittip, don't you?

Yes, I considered that. On one hand, offering people unsolicited money is usually spammy. On the other hand, it's legitimate money, and people might be grateful for the heads-up. Look at how many people love to hear from FavStar's bots...

I know that I could tweet at people to notify them, but that takes away from anonymity aspect. Most of these users are people I've never met and in some cases never interacted with. An alert from me would sound just as spammy and definitely more creepy.

Initially I was a little peeved I couldn't make a one time donation, but the weekly sustained tip is a far bigger draw for an unregistered user who receives an alert. It would look pretty badass, from a public relations perspective, to have:

@GittipAlerts: @user1, you have just received a new weekly $.25 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user2, you have just received a new weekly $10 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user3, you have just received a new weekly $.25 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user4, you have just received a new weekly $.25 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user5, you have just received a new weekly $.25 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user6, you have just received a new weekly $.25 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user7, you have just received a new weekly $10 tip from another user for being awesome!
@GittipAlerts: @user8, you have just received a new weekly $.25 tip from another user for being awesome!

You could automate it, for current and unregistered users alike. Some users would retweet their alerts, which would be great for PR. Unregistered users are likely going to click on the @GittipAlerts profile, where they would see a link that they could click for more information. I would avoid including any links in the tweet itself, to reduce spam reporting.

Yeah, I think that would totally work.

[chadwhitacre]

I'm warming to this idea, as @ceboudreaux has described it. Well-behaved bots like Favstar and iaminigomontoya are fun, quirky parts of the Twitter experience. I like not including a link in the tweet, but rather leading people in via the @GittipAlerts profile.

Background reading:

• http://muffinlabs.com/2012/06/04/the-current-state-of-bots-on-twitter/
• http://muffinlabs.com/content/twitter-bot-info.html
• https://github.com/muffinista/chatterbot

[bruceadams]

I really like @ceboudreaux's insight here. Thanks! I, too, have had the dilemma of setting up a tip for someone who is not yet on gittip and then struggling with how to let the recipient know that a tip was waiting, without being creepy about it.

[chadwhitacre]

I've reserved GittipAlerts on Twitter.

[chadwhitacre]

-2 from @igetgames and @joonas in IRC.

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from @jonathan-s on #1366.

[chadwhitacre]

IRC

[rummik]

One thing to note is that Twitter also has an ignore feature, so the (hopefully) tiny number of people that would have a problem can always use that.

[chadwhitacre]

I know I personally never use ignore, I always report as spam if anything is close to feeling spammy to me.

[seanlinsley]

It might be useful to know how many tweets such a bot might make on an average day. It should be a simple matter to derive that information for the past.

[ceboudreaux]

Excerpt regarding spam from https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311-the-twitter-rules:

Spam: You may not use the Twitter service for the purpose of spamming anyone. What constitutes “spamming” will evolve as we respond to new tricks and tactics by spammers. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming are:
-If you have followed and/or unfollowed large amounts of users in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive following or follower churn);
-If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
-If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;
-If a large number of people are blocking you;
-If a large number of spam complaints have been filed against you;
-If you post duplicate content over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account;
-If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #, trending or popular topic, or promoted trend;
-If you send large numbers of duplicate @replies or mentions;
-If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies or mentions in an aggressive attempt to bring attention to a service or link;
-If you add a large number of unrelated users to lists in an attempt to bring attention to an account, service or link;
-If you repeatedly create false or misleading content in an attempt to bring attention to an account, service or link;
-Randomly or aggressively favoriting Tweets through automation in an attempt to bring attention to an account, service or link;
-Randomly or aggressively Retweeting accounts through automation in an attempt to bring attention to an account, service or link;
-If you repeatedly post other users' account information as your own (bio, Tweets, url, etc.);
-If you post misleading links (e.g. affiliate links, links to malware/click jacking pages, etc.);
-Creating multiple misleading accounts in order to gain followers;
-Selling followers;
-Purchasing followers;
-Using or promoting third-party sites that claim to get you more followers (such as follower trains, sites promising "more followers fast," or any other site that offers to automatically add followers to your account);

See Also: Automation Rules and Best Practices
https://support.twitter.com/groups/56-policies-violations/topics/237-guidelines/articles/76915-automation-rules-and-best-practices

[mvdkleijn]

From that list it sounds like Twitter might easily block our bot as spam... perhaps it'd be a good idea to contact Twitter and ask them how they feel about using the platform as we'd like to use it? That way if they say it's ok and we're still treated as spammers, we'd at least have an official comment from Twitter that OK-ed our idea before hand so we can have them unblock the account. 😄

[seanlinsley]

That sounds like the best course of action @mvdkleijn

[mvdkleijn]

I've been reading up on this on http://support.twitter.com/articles/76915# The part that's particularly relevant to us:

Automated @replies and mentions

The @reply and Mention functions are intended to make communication between users easier, and automating these processes in order to reach many users is considered an abuse of the feature. If you are automatically sending @reply messages or Mentions to many users, the recipients must request or approve this action in advance. For example, sending automated @replies based on keyword searches is not permitted.

Users should also have an easy way to opt-out of your service (in addition to the requirement that all users must opt-in before receiving the messages). We review blocks and reports of spam, so you’ll need to provide a clear way for users to opt-out from your messages.

According to this rule, our plan would not be allowed since Gittip would have to have the user opt-in to the tweet first. Which kinda defeats the whole idea I guess.

We could still contact Twitter about this and hope for an exception to the rule if we add an opt-out link to each tweet?

(note: DM's are only possible if the user follows you, so that's out too)

[jonathan-s]

I made a quick search for twitter bots and found two articles: 8 twitter bots and 25 twitter bots. The twitter bots listed there certainly don't always fall in the guidelines stated by twitter. So I would say it's more about how you do it than anything else.

I myself would opt for trying it out and see what kind of feedback you get :). That's the best way to see what works or not.

[mvdkleijn]

I myself would opt for trying it out and see what kind of feedback you get :). That's the best way to see what works or not.

And the best way to get our account cancelled for spam... But since there's a precedent made by other bots, I guess it couldn't hurt too much. I would always include a short url that easily allows the Twitter user to opt-out though.

[chadwhitacre]

This just feels to me like playing with fire. There are plenty of others things we can do to encourage growth. It's not like we're struggling for ideas and this is our only option.

[mvdkleijn]

If this is about encouraging growth, then the biggest way (in my opinion) to do that is still to provide non-US payouts... I've been trying to get several UK and Netherlands based developers I know to use Gittip, but since it lacks non-US payouts, they just don't see the point.

I'm forced to agree with them myself.. Even if I'd be getting $ 400,- a week right now, its all moot if it doesn't get paid out. For me, Gittip is in limbo as it were.. a nice idea but not useful until it actually supports payouts.

[chadwhitacre]

@mvdkleijn There's a bit of FUD around that. Our biggest receiver is outside the U.S. He gets paid out every week.

[mvdkleijn]

hmmm... how does he get paid out if I can ask?

[chadwhitacre]

Manual PayPal. It's in the FAQ, under "How do I withdraw funds from Gittip?"

[mvdkleijn]

I'll point that out to them. Don't think it'll help though since most folks around here hate PayPal, especially since they've locked several FOSS accounts and not everyone in the EU can get an account. Sorry for hijacking the topic here BTW.

[chadwhitacre]

@mvdkleijn Yeah, let's move to #891 and #1374.

[chadwhitacre]

I'm rejecting the idea of notifications that aren't opted into (see also #228). In particular here: this is complicated to program. We have limited resources and it's going to be easy to screw this up and become spammy.

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from @bbinkovitz on Twitter.

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from Carl Levinson in private email and at the retreat.

[rummik]

If this ever comes up for thought again: I think the bot should only send a single tweet after a certain threshold, and only ever do it one time.

@user 10 @Gittip users want to give you money for being awesome! (Not a fan? This is the first and only message we send. :)

It seems to fit the longest username Twitter allows, but it would probably need more thought either way :P

[patcon]

implicit +1 from @honestbleeps in IRC

[rohitpaulk]

+1 for only one tweet per person.

[chadwhitacre]

Reopening in light of Growing Gratipay.

[rohitpaulk]

I've started this. We only have 8 unclaimed users who have more than 3 people ready to give, this can be done manually.

https://twitter.com/GratipayAlerts

[rohitpaulk]

This didn't work, none of the people notified end up joining. Moreover, we're not supporting pledging anymore, so I'm closing this.