I'm facing my second Twitter 3-day suspension in two weeks, so rather than whine and cry about it, I'm putting my User Experience hat on and coming up with solutions. Whether they get implemented is out of my control. But I choose to effectively use my energy.

The suspension has to do with how I am introducing my positive writing by following. Anyone on social media knows there are many tactics to grow your audience. Every platform is different and there are different methods. 

Social Media in many ways is like being back in grade school, where the bullies and attention seekers gets the whole class in trouble and we can't go out on the playground and have fun with our friends. For every rule that is put in place that makes our social media lives harder, you can thank those who abused the system until people were exhausted and put these rules in place.

Think of the overworked exhausted teacher who just wants their students to sit quietly in class, listen, and do their homework. We've all been there. No more recess because there were those who fought during recess. Piles of homework as a punishment for one or two individuals in the class who misbehaved. Sadly, though we wear the adult tag, we're still back in grade school level social antics. No matter how high the degree or position in society, we're still grade schoolers trying to learn how to engage with each other.

Instead of watching the fight in the playground, we're on social media clicking away at all the click baits. Content creators now clap in glee as they post and share click baits and watch the Algorithm Teacher pat them on the head as they see their views, likes, and retweets rise.  

Those who were ignored before quickly can learn the game. Emotional overload gets rewarded.  

It's why in 2020 I shut all my social media accounts down. In one click, several years of hard work went poof. Both Twitter and IG had 20k followers. 40k followers went poof with a tap of the button. In 2021 I decided to come back. 

This suspension issue caused me to laugh. I mean, you suspend me without telling me what I did wrong so I won't get suspended again. The suspension notice was like an invite into a chess game with the computer system. Well the system won, give it a high five and a round of applause. 

I pay for Twitter Blue. I personally feel Elon Musk is doing a good job. But, if you alienate your paying customers trying to help you rebuild Twitter, how is that going to help increase your profits?

Believe it or not, not every end user is trying to game the system. Most just need more information to work within the system's guidelines. 

Help the user be successful!

Where all social media platforms fail the user, is in helping them avoid users errors and helping them to recover from a user error. The platform which first solves that user experience, will be king.

My Recommendation

1. If a user is suspended, they should be provided with the exact reason for the suspension. Afterall, the user triggered something to cause the system to suspend and send the notification. Whatever that trigger was, should be included. E.g. On [date] at [time] it was noticed you [action] which resulted in a [timeframe] suspension. Please see our rules [link] to help you avoid further suspensions.

Without knowing what I did to trigger the suspension, I am not able to avoid repeating the action. Every parent has this experience before their child learns to talk. The child is screaming the lungs out wanting something and the parent is going around holding up different things and saying, "Is it this you want?" The child then will either scream or start laughing. That's how I'm feeling right now with Twitter and this suspension. I'm clueless as to what is causing the Algorithm to have a temper tantrum. Except with the Algorithm, I can't ask, "Is it this that made you mad?" 

Now we're talking about being in a toxic relationship where you get punished without understanding why. Sadly, we've all been there before as well. Being punished without telling you what you did wrong and how to improve. Parents, partners, bosses, and now algorithms all fail in conflict resolution and communication.

I take great effort to abide by the rules. I just work that way. Tell me the rules of your game and I'll play nicely within those rules. If I break a rule, explain what I did so I don't repeat the unintended offense. Help me be successful on your platform. 

My Process

1. I only follow around 300 accounts a day. Twitter says you can follow 400, but that is 400 within a down to the microsecond 24 hour window. Twitter suspensions can occur if you go over 400. I keep it safe by following around 300 a day. Lesson learned from the last suspension. I accidently went over that 24 hour window because I was following 400/day. 
1. UX/UI Solution: Since you're tracking how many people follow within any given period of time, give the user information. Help the user avoid penalties.
1. Provide a counter.
2. Provide a timer.
3. Provide a warning pop up. 
2. I have multiple follow sessions throughout the day. I limit my follows to 50 at a time.
3. I first look at the follow/following ratios. I have to do this because Twitter will penalize me if I am following too many individuals and not being followed back. This is one of the reasons that the follow/unfollow game began amongst users. It also shows me if the content creator is an engager or is just an advertising billboard for their own Tweets. 
4. I will click on the user profile.
1. VET 1 Criteria is to view their bio, banner, profile image, and pinned tweet. 
2. VET 2 Criteria is to scroll down and read a few of their Tweets. This shows the algorithm I'm a real person. Plus, I get a feel for what will show up in my timeline. 
5. It takes me about 30 minutes to follow around 50 people. That is following a 1 user about every 30 seconds. I excel at time management, so I plug in this time during time wasting activities like standing in line at the grocery store. My following activity begins as part of my early morning routine while I'm still in bed. It ends as one of my last nightly routines in bed. 
6. I track my activity. I use my Notes on my phone to keep track. My 24/hr begins and ends at the beginning of the day. I am consistent and I average about a 40% follow back. I count as I follow, to make sure I don't go over 55 in my session. 
   
    
1. Begin Followers
2. End Followers
3. Followed
4. Followed Back
5. Followed Back Percentage
7. Quality content and consistency is my top priority. I create one quarters worth of content at a time and I use a scheduler to Tweet it. I've tested many schedulers and have finally settle on Social Jukebox. I chose this one because it helps me organize my content into categories and select how often I want it published in a 24/hr period. I can state share x amount of this category within 24 hours and it will auto schedule those tweets to be sent out.

My Pain Points

1. LIKE TAB 
   The like tab is what I use to like my own content I want easily accessible to my content readers.
   
   
   
1. I use it for my book and product promotions. It makes it easier for my content readers to go to one place to see my promotions. Therefore, I don't like other people's Tweets or comments on my Tweets. I engage with them through text and emoji's.
   
   Since both tweets and comments show up in timelines, seeing an emoji isn't the best user experience for the reader. If you comment on others posts to much, that can get you suspended. You have to consciously be aware that everything you do on Twitter goes into the timeline. If you engage to much, you can appear spammy.
2. TWEETS & REPLIES TAB
   The Tweets and Replies tab is basically a duplicate user experience as the notification tab, except it won't notify the user.
1. Since we already have a tab for Tweets, there is no reason to duplicate that content in the Tweets & Replies tab. Let this tab be just for Replies. If you want to know everything the content creator has replied on, then you have one quick resource to find it.
3. PORN
   Because I vet 300 accounts a day and due to my lists, I unfortunately get exposed to porn accounts, hard corn porn.
1. If someone on my list retweets or likes porn, I see it. Remember, Twitter has no privacy in what you're doing. It shows everything you do to everyone.
2. I will unfollow and block the re-tweeter account and will also block the porn account. 
3. I tried to report porn once, since it is against Twitter rules, but the process was so cumbersome, that I didn't finish it. I now just block. It lead me to believe that while Twitter doesn't mind having porn on their site. Who knows, maybe Twitter employees are blocked from viewing porn sites at work, but if it's on Twitter... 
4. NOTIFICATION BELL 
   The notification bell shows you both the content creator tweets and comments. I have tested it again and was pretty excited at first with M LeMont's account as it was only showing me his tweets. When I tested it out on a second account, I was shown both the second accounts Tweets and comments.  
   
   Showing both Tweets and Comments, to those who click on an account's notification bell, can be a discouragement for using this feature.
1. As a content creator, if your strategy is to get people to click that bell, you need to be mindful of how much your are tweeting and how much you are commenting. Quality over quantity is key.
2. Getting content readers to click the notification bell helps you avoid the algorithms. Your content readers get notified in their notifications tab when you've posted, rather than just hoping your tweet will show up in their feed.
3. M LeMont is my Twitter Mentor. I wouldn't have made it this far in rebuilding my page without his guidance. Even he was confused as to why I was suspended again. Here's the exercise we go through to try to learn from the experience.
1. Walk back everything you've done.
2. What did you do differently?
3. Find what actions you varied and don't duplicate them.
4. If you're still confused, use this suspension time wisely. 

 

My Work Arounds

1. LISTS 
   Lists is an incredible feature I use heavily. Many don't like to be on lists, so it's important to respect their bio request or you can get blocked. Lists allow you to take control of your timeline and what you want to view. 
   
   
1. If I come across a content creator which has consistent Tweets I enjoy but their follow/follow ratio shows they are a billboard account, I put them in Next Level Influencers. 
2. If an account follows me and has consistent Tweets, they go in my #ConnectionRetweet list.
3. Accounts which follow me and have beautiful writing goes into my #LoveLinesRetweet list.
4. Account which follow me and Tweet consistent beautiful photography goes into my #NatureRetweet list.
5. Accounts which are billboard accounts and consistently beautiful photography go into my Photography List
6. Lists should only notify the Content Creator IF the list is public. If the list is private, there is no need to have the content creator notified. 
7. Lists are much easier to help with your organization than Bookmarks, though they both are valuable. Lists tracks the account, Bookmarks tracks an individual Tweet.
2. BOOKMARKS
   Bookmarks is another feature I use heavily. It helps me to organize my content and content creators. It is private, so the content creator doesn't know they have been bookmarked.
   
   Bookmarks are used to keep track of a Tweet. I use them for the following.
1. My Pinned Tweets
2. Top Engagement Tweets
3. Books I want to buy
4. Shopping
5. Recipes
6. I have a LOT of bookmarks
7. Bookmarks Pain Points
1. Bookmarks are not organizable.
2. They are not listed alphabetically.
3. You can't search or filter.
4. You can't force organize them by using 01-Bookmark Name, 02-Bookmark Name.
5. If you use them heavily, they become a clutter point which creates user frustration.

New Improvements To Start Using

1. FOLLOWING and FOLLOWERS Tabs
   Another HUGE improvement Twitter has made, which will begin to compete with 3rd party apps. You can now quickly see who is following you.

1. If Third Party apps can track non-followers and inactive accounts, Twitter can. If the user has shown they are willing to pay for this information, then this is a lost revenue for Twitter. Twitter has now made it one step easier for you to see. 
2. I use unfollowerstats.com. This app gives me valuable insight which I can't find in Twitter's Analytics. 
3. When Twitter penalizes me because I am following too many individuals and my Following/Follower ratio is off, then I am forced to unfollow accounts which don't follow me. 
4. Why does Twitter penalize accounts which may just want to follow and read a variety of content? If the purpose of Twitter is to have content read, penalizing for following seems to be in conflict with that goal.
5. As you see below in the Followers tab, you already know these are your followers, so it is redundant to use that space to show 'Follows You." I better use case would be to show when they were last active.

What I do When I'm Suspended

Last week's three day suspension allowed me to focus on putting up my e-commerce on Shopify. My content extends what I write into a product. It contains my writing, photography, and art. I hope you'll take a look at the Shop tab and enjoy what I have created for you. 

This week I'll be creating my course content. I'll be posting when that is available. 

In the meantime, you're welcome to read how I am able to accomplish the goals I set and work through setbacks. I recommend you read STEPS to Success Workbook. You can find it on Amazon at author.to/STEPSWorkbook.

And that beautiful tracking URL 'author.to' vanity tracker that just caught your curiosity, I use GenuisLink.

 If you enjoyed the information I have shared in this blog, please sign up for my The Next Level Monthly Newsletter which is packed with tips and tricks to help you succeed.

And now, I'm back to focusing on creating my courses. So I guess, I need to thank Twitter for suspending me for three days to reset my focus. We'll both benefit from this 3-day Suspension.