The popularity of competitions of Twitter hasn’t gone unnoticed at the micro blogging network and news reaches Loquax that they are going to be introducing new restrictions that will effect compers. At the moment compers can retweet and enter competitions via Twitter with few penalties (with twitjail the only threat for over zealous users). However, under new guidelines compers will only be able to tweet or retweet a maximum of ten competitions a day. Any more than ten and Twitter will filter out the additional tweets from search. This will have a massive impact on Twitter competitions and compers. The issue effects Loquax – on our @loquax feed we regularly retweet competition messages, but we’ll now be restricted to mentioning just a handful of the giveaways.
Be More Considerate With Entries
Compers will have to start being more considerate with their entries. Instead of RTing multiple times for smaller prizes (like Jason Donovan CDs) or even prizes they’re not that keen on (like Jason Donovan CDs), selectivity will be the name of the game. They’ll also need to pace themselves with their tweeting, perhaps waiting until later in the day to pick the best competitions to enter. Promoters on Twitter will benefit from the new limits as they’ll attract more finely tuned entries. However, they may be disappointed by the number of entries they may receive and will have to think carefully about what kind of prize they offer and when (a late in the day competition may get less entries as many compers may have used up their limits whilst a Friday has loads of competitions so another day may be better). Another issue for promoters is that they may face the wrath of compers who wonder why their entries have gone AWOL.
Reduce The Competition Noise
Twitter’s aim of course is to to reduce the noise that competitions produce. A lot of RTs to win, especially on FollowFriday causes other Twitter uses to switch off! However, the reduction could also pave the way for Twitter to generate revenue by selling extra competition entry tweets to users or allowing promoters to see all entries for a price. No doubt these restrictions will be met with annoyance and disappointment by compers. We’re especially concerned that the new rule may result in multiple accounts being created and/or people finding ways to circumvent the rules (e.g. by using different tweeting platforms). Unfortunately Twitter are in charge and are looking at ways to improve things. This decision won’t mean the end of competitions via this medium, but a lot of compers and promoters may now look towards Facebook and other means in the future. What do you think? Do you think the 10 competition tweets a day rule is fair? Would you pay for extra tweets? Let us know by commenting below.