Scheduled Tweets: Cheating the System?

It was only a few months ago that I was elated by the magic of the scheduled tweet. I could sit down at any time and plan out my Tweets for the next few hours, days, even weeks, and I was good to go. At the gym working out? On an airplane? Sleeping? No problem, I'm still tweeting. I'm engaged. I'm connected. I am the ultimate social media-user. Always talking, and seemingly, always listening. But recently I've started to wonder if, like many other things in life, we're beginning to over-schedule our Twitterselves to the point of uselessness.

Twitter was created to facilitate the sharing of information in real time. Avid social media users have told us that part of Twitter's magic is not only this idea of real-time sharing, but also the ability for unmatched transparency and authenticity in short bursts--the perfect way to show a little personality without sharing your life story.

This idea of keeping it real was what drew me to Twitter initially. But as social media has involved, it seems we've inevitably found a way to screw with Twitter's intended simplicity. The scheduled Tweet--and the motivations behind such an invention--may threaten the very truths that Twitter was built on.

This was a realization that screamed to me on the day of Steve Job's death. As expected, the Twittersphere blew up with Apple-related news, RIP wishes, and all things Steve Jobs. Sitting alone in my office I felt the camaraderie of my followers as we paused to mourn his loss. But then, suddenly, among well wishes and thoughts of sadness in my Twitterfeed, I saw it: "Have you checked out our Jeans sale? Only 30 minutes left! (link)."

I was thrown off. Weren't they paying attention? Hadn't they heard the news? But there it was again, from another user, embedded between Tweets of Steve Jobs-this, and RIP visionary-that: "8 ways to increase your ROI on Facebook: (link)."

It was then that I began to temporarily loathe the scheduled Tweet. It's not that the world should literally stop for the death of Steve Jobs, but there was something that seems almost sac-religious about Tweeting frivolities when the death of an icon is seemingly the only thing on everyone's mind.

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but when I schedule a Tweet it is generally for one or both of the following reasons:

1. The quest for perfect timing. I admit I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Naturally, then, I'm tickled by the fact I can perfectly space out the timing of my Tweets each day. This makes it appear as if i'm innately able to find the perfect balance between tweeting too much and not enough; too often as opposed to sporadically, and so on. In the quest for perfect timing I hope to walk the line between constant engagement and overwhelming the Twitterverse with my opinions. And there's nothing inherently wrong with this. But...

2. Maintaining and raising my Klout score. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, klout.com is a website that helps keep track of influence and reach on Twitter. For the social media-savvy, I'd wager to say it has become a legitimate means of not only verifying one's own status in the Twittersphere, but also for helping to analyze the most effective Tweeting strategies for both personal and business accounts. Klout started as a bit of a game for me, and I've used it to fuel some healthy inter-office competition. But as I've come to rely on social media not only for personal branding but also as a means for corporate interaction (and effectively, as a way to earn my pay check), I've started to take it much more seriously. What I've learned is that unless (or until) I become a celebrity, or until I'm able to spend 20 perfectly-spaced hours of my 24 hour day attached to my Twitter feed (props to those who actually succeed at this), maintaining and/or raising my Klout score is a difficult and frustrating task. The worst part? I actually care. I want a higher Klout score. I want to see that number go up each day. And so I  vacillate, but ultimately still schedule Tweets--albeit not often, but just enough to stay somewhat omnipresent.

I've started to wonder (as a good friend @jfurie brought to my attention) if Klout will catch onto Tweet-scheduling and other score-raising trends and be forced to change their algorithm, making it more difficult to cheat the system (much like Google has done with their adjustments to the SEO algorithm).

Ultimately, it comes down to authenticity. If content is authentic but timing is predetermined, how does this effect our over-all self-presentation? By postponing the conversation, do we lose meaning? What do you think?