Fequently Asked Questions

How can I check that my automation is working?

If you are sending auto direct messages, log in to your Twitter web interface, go to Direct Messages, and click the Sent tab. All DMs sent by TweetLater will be listed there. If you're sending auto public tweets or auto welcome digests, you will see those in your public Twitter stream.

Isn't automation a little impersonal?

Some folks are bound to see it that way. Others don't see it that way. The automation features of TweetLater are intended as time-savers for you, enabling you to be polite to your new followers without it consuming a lot of your time. You can't please all the people all the time, and that's true for any kind of automation, not only the TweetLater automation.

Should I send DMs or public tweets as welcome messages?

Our recommendation is to always send DMs. You will annoy your followers if you constantly have auto welcome public tweets in your timeline.

When should I not use the auto welcome digest feature?

Don't use it if you're getting a lot of new followers on a daily basis. With large numbers of new followers, your timeline will be cluttered with several digest tweets, which could annoy your existing followers.

Can I use an email account on Yahoo! or Hotmail for automation?

No, as far as we know, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail do not have the ability to auto-forward emails.

What does it mean when I get error messages from TweetLater that say, "Twitter said: Could not authenticate you"?

It means the Twitter username or password that you entered on your Twitter account entry in TweetLater is incorrect. The username and password must be the username and password that you use to log in to Twitter. We use those credentials to perform your selected actions in Twitter on your behalf. Please edit your Twitter account entry in TweetLater, and save it. Look below the password field if it says, "Can't log in to this Twitter account. Please check your Twitter user id and password." If it does say that, then you need to correct either the Twitter username or password. The system will say "The Twitter account has been saved" if your Twitter username and password are valid.

How can I test the forwarding rule in my email program?

The simplest way is to set up your rule, but instead of forwarding the emails to twitterfollow@tweetlater.com, forward them to another email address of yours. Once you've established that the rule is working, change it to forward the emails to twitterfollow@tweetlater.com.

Can I forward emails from any email account?

No, for your automation to work, you must forward the Twitter new follower emails from the email account where you receive them, and the Twitter Email field on your account entry in TweetLater must contain that same email address. For example, if your Twitter new follower notification emails go to mycoolnickname@gmail.com, then you must forward the emails from that "mycoolnickname" Gmail account of yours, and on your Twitter account entry in TweetLater, the Twitter Email field must contain "mycoolnickname@gmail.com". That's the only way we can connect your forwarded emails with your TweetLater automation setup.

How do I forward emails in Gmail?

Dave Taylor has a good tutorial on forwarding emails in Gmail.

Why do my scheduled tweets show up a few hours later or earlier than I selected?

This only happens when you've selected the wrong timezone in your TweetLater configuration. Double-check the timezone you selected by clicking the Timezone link in the sidebar.

Why can't I schedule @replies or DMs?

That feature would make TweetLater a spammer's dream come true, don't you think? We can't think of any legitimate reason why folks would need to schedule @replies or DMs. The spamming risk is too great for us to enable those features.

Will people know that my tweets were scheduled with TweetLater?

Probably not. The scheduled tweets show up in your Twitter stream as "from web". There's no indication that they originated from TweetLater.

Everything seems to be working, except that TweetLater isn't auto-following more people on my behalf -- what's up?

If you've turned auto follow on, and suddenly you're not following more people, it probably means that you've reached Twitter's limit on how many people they allow you to follow. There's nothing we can do about it, it's a limit that's enforced by Twitter.

Do you add anything or change anything in my scheduled tweets?

No, we don't. We publish your scheduled tweets exactly as you entered them in TweetLater with zero additions or modifications.

Why did my automation stop working in late October 2008?

Twitter changed the email address from where they were sending out their follower notification emails. It used to be "noreply@twitter.com". They changed it to "twitter-follow-XXXX@postmaster.twitter.com" where XXXX represents your email address. If your automation is not working anymore, please check your email forwarding rule and modify it to select emails with "@postmaster.twitter.com" or just "twitter.com" in the sender address.

What do I do when I see a red "Invalid Twitter Credentials" underneath the scheduled date in my list of scheduled tweets?

It means Twitter said your Twitter username and password were invalid when we tried to publish your tweet. You need to edit your Twitter account entry in TweetLater, and correct the username or password. Then, edit the tweet and reschedule it -- it won't be republished until you've edited it and rescheduled it.