TweetLater.com - set up auto-responses when people follow you?

I believe that tweeting is a form of short, instant communication that it should, due to it's nature and form be current, direct and personal.

It certainly doesn't make sense to set up a tweet for Christmas today and have it fire off automatically. I either remember to tweet it later, or not. If not, I'm sure no harm's been done, and if I do, so much better for me and my christian followers.

I tweet sparingly, when I have something to say. I believe that's the whole point.

I, for one, don't like automated tweeting. I tend to tweet interesting articles, links, quotes, and the occasional ramble, but one thing I don't do (and is frowned upon) is responding to people who start to follow you.

The service is certainly useful, just not the automated end of it.

Been using Twitter for two years and.. while I'm tolerant of these messages, ultimately I don't like them. DMs are typically used very sparingly on Twitter and getting one as soon as I follow someone reeks of automation and a lack of sincerity. If I get a specific, personal comment, awesome, but a totally obvious automatic message gets ignored.

Automated DMs to new followers can be a little off-putting. Because most of the ones I've received are self-promotional messages, some are even affiliate links. But I think it can be good way to say 'hello', some people don't like it though.

From what I've heard, some people schedule tweets for followers in another time-zone. I don't consider it spam at all. Twitter is opt-in anyway and scheduled tweeting is no different from 'normal' tweeting. As a user, you usually can't tell the difference.