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ViralTweets – an honest look!
I am writing this as I go along trying to figure out the story on ViralTweets… [Please note that this post has been updated! Please read the updates and comments to get the latest info!]
A few minutes ago I got the email that ViralTweets was live. I love Twitter so I checked it out.
The first thing I noticed was that to take even one step toward finding anything out you had to input your Twitter ID and password so that it could send out a tweet to all your followers saying: “RT Here’s The FREE Software I Used To Make Over $4,000 With One Tweet …” [Please note: the original misleading Tweet has been changed.]
Now there is no way I am going to send out a tweet like that because it is a total lie. [Please note: the original misleading Tweet has been changed.] I never made one red cent with it and I am not going to pretend that I made money with it if I didn’t.
I have an old Twitter account that I created once by mistake. It hardly has any followers so I used that account to make the required lie tweet. It might work to put in a non-existant account but I didn’t think of that until later.
After you let them tweet out the lie about the $4,000 to all of your followers, you are sent to a page where they ask for your name and email so the can “send you the software.”
But they don’t use that info to send you the software (at least, I haven’t gotten it yet.) You are then sent to a “One Time Offer” page where you can upgrade for only $49. This is insane, because at this point you have never seen the software, you have no idea what it does or how it works, you don’t know if you have the right hardware or operating system or if it fits in with anything else you are doing. You are just being asked to shell out $49 sight unseen.
I don’t know what happens if you accept the OTO because I certainly did not!
If you decline the OTO you are taken to a page where you can download the software and there is a video explaining how to install it.
At this point you learn that it is something that you must FTP to your webhosting account.
If you don’t have webhosting, you can’t use the software at all. I guess if you took the OTO you can try to get your money back! Even if you didn’t take the OTO you are still out all the time and energy you put into this. Plus, now you can go back and explain the lie about the $4,000 to all your followers!
The video on the download page explains NOTHING about how ViralTweets works. I am going to install it to see what it does and report back here with the results.
ViralTweets UPDATE:
Ryan Wade responded to my criticism by changing the Tweet that people must send in order to look at the software. (see the comments below)
I uploaded the ViralTweets software and, in itself it seems to be perfectly fine. It is very similar to the scripts that came out about a year ago for StumbleUpon (and maybe Digg) where webmasters gave prospects an automated way to bookmark a page in order to get a free gift.
ViralTweets allows webmasters to specify the tweet that will be made automatically and the page that the user will be directed to after the tweet to download the free gift.
So It would work like this… You would offer an ebook on your site. Your visitor could pay $14,95 for it or they could get it for free by filling out the form with their Twitter ID and password. The Tweet would say: “I’m downloading a hot $14.95 ebook for free at http://mysite.com”
You could set it up to advertise access to anything… The tweet could say: “I’m watching a hilarious video at…” or “I’m getting a free membership at…” or “I found the secret discount page for…”
There is nothing really wrong with this and I bet it is going to be very effective. Sure, some people will abuse it but you can say that about anything. I’ve seen worse tools advertised lately for spamming Twitter. I think this one is actually pretty benign. After all, it will only work if your gift is interesting or valuable!
Twitterers who are not involved in marketing are not going to like it, of course. But to be honest, it seems like marketers make up an increasingly large portion of the Twitter community so I guess marketers will have an increasing voice in setting the standards.
It is astounding to see how quickly each new venue is invaded by marketers. Remember when blogs were pure? Then comment spam software came out followed by all the methods to protect comments. The same thing happened with forums. Remember when Squidoo was pure? Then the marketers figured out how to put Iframes in their lenses, leading to the “Squidoo Slap.” Marketers will always follow the crowd and find a way to infiltrate and exploit communities. Advertising is ubiquitous on the internet just as in the real world and we should learn to expect it.
I admit that I was initially appalled by the marketing campaign for ViralTweets. But now it looks like Ryan Wade is working to give his prospects more information and to decrease the spamminess of his automated marketing Tweets.
The ViralTweets product is actually very good and will make it easy for people to get the word out about everything from fun videos to special offers. I give it 2 thumbs up!
See ViralTweets In Action! I have posted a simple example of how ViralTweets works here: http://margaretflanigan.com/02/02/viraltweets-example/
Watch the VrialTweets Movie here!
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10 Responses to ViralTweets – an honest look!
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Free Software… Something Different Every Day!
Check back tomorrow for another neat freebie!
Hi Margaret,
I guess we both got the same email blast.
I just uploaded it but before I am going to try it, I did a search and found you here.
Let’s see what happens to us…
Tom
Keep us informed, Margaret! I also sent out the “lie” tweet, and downloaded the software, but haven’t installed it yet so I also don’t have a clue how it works. Interesting marketing ploy, though, I have to admit!
Hey Margaret,
I appreciate the review of Viral Tweets, but I just want to mention a few things.
First off … the message is a “re-tweet”, and 100% true that I made that money promoting an affiliate program on Twitter.
I would post the link here, but I do not want to spam your blog … so those wanting to know … just click on my name, and search my blog for “4,000 tweet” … I actually log into my accounts and show the results … it really did happen.
Second off … I agree with you about the sales process. It does need to be a little more clear about how the software is used, and that you need access to an FTP account to use it.
We weren’t planning on selling this software, but because of the many questions I got about purchasing it … we decided to do so.
So, I welcome your feedback, and encourage you with the email that I used to post on your blog.
Have a good one,
Ryan
Be careful – I’d hate to see your machine get screwed up because of them.
Hey Margaret,
I also wanted to let you and your readers know that we have changed the “re-tweet” wording a little to make it clearer to everyone.
Although we did include the letters “RT” before the post … we understand that it may have been misleading to some people … So, we have changed the “re-tweet” text from …
RT Here’s The FREE Software I Used To Make Over $4,000 With One Tweet … LINK
To
RT Here’s The FREE Software @ryanwade Used To Make Over $4,000 With One Tweet … LINK
Changing the word “I” to “@ryanwade” … that should make it 100% clear to anyone that is reading it.
Thanks for pointing that out to me … we never intended the message to be misleading.
Have a good one,
Ryan
This type of thing doesn’t sit right with me. Pseudo-inflating popularity on a service that is as pure as Twitter is maddening.
I found this image from @chrisbrisson, along with this post of yours, on search.twitter.com, query=viraltweets.
http://twitpic.com/1b0bs
There were 137 new tweets found after I posted my tweet 2 hours ago.
http://twitter.com/Serengeti/statuses/1171225463
@Ryan Thanks for changing the message! The original message looked nothing like a retweet and was highly misleading!
I don’t dispute that you made the $4,000… I just didn’t think it was right to put other people in the position of appearing to claim to have made $4,000 just to find out the first thing about what you were offering.
And that is the crux of my complaint… You’ve got people spamming Twitter with a product they know nothing about. I realize that to you that may sound like a triumph but to the rest of us (especially those of us who love Twitter) it is just really sad.
@Tom Thanks for coming by to read my opinion!
@Robyn Good point! Most of us have little or no idea what’s in the code we are putting on our pages. I am not overly worried about that aspect though. I waited 10 hours before I uploaded it, figuring if there were problems they probably would have surfaced by now. But you are right to be cautious.
@ Jason Thanks for the flow chart link! That is the kind of information(and much much more!) that should have been on the ViralTweets site.
I am afraid that purity is a thing of the past for Twitter. ViralTweets is just one of many new marketing tools enabling internet marketers to spam the Twitter community.
I have yet to use twitter, but I can definitely see the value of this, and if I ever develop my own product I might use this one. Thanks for the post.
If you ever want to hear a reader’s feedback
, I rate this article for four from five. Detailed info, but I have to go to that damn msn to find the missed bits. Thanks, anyway!
I have tried a tial verson on my website, and planned to expand with a paid verson. Unfortunatly I got problems uploading it to my serverhost. It could mean the server did not have the right php (5 or more?). Anyway it got mixed up, and it seemes to me that my server now also forbids my trial viraltweets. With lack of good information both places – it seems to me that I have no choice but removing it again. I wonder if Google or Twitter react positive or negative to Viraltweets. The tool itself is powerful and I see the potential.