Are you linked up to Twitter?

[Former_Member]

I was considering doing it today, but found this sooooo ominous:

Authorize Etsy to use your account?

This application will be able to:

Read Tweets from your timeline.
See who you follow, and follow new people.
Update your profile.
Post Tweets for you.


Why would etsy want to tweet for me? and add people to my account? Makes me wonder what the point of the app is? Free advertising for etsy... not for me?
I don't get it.

Do you use twitter connected to your etsy shop? How does it work? Do you like it? Should I go ahead? Please let me know what your experiences are.

Cheers!

[Former_Member]

What app are you referring to?

I have my twitter account linked to etsy, and the only time they would help you tweet something is when you click "tweet" next to a listing, I think.

Those wordings about authorization happen with any third party software you use on Twitter.

[Former_Member]

I'm referring to what they say just before you add the app. I did notice that it said the same thing when I wanted to link with pinterest.

Is it normal that they would say the following (as in first post - copy and pasted from twitter)?

Authorize Etsy to use your account?

This application will be able to:

Read Tweets from your timeline.
See who you follow, and follow new people.
Update your profile.
Post Tweets for you.


Doesn't anyone find that a bit worrying? Or am I being a bit paranoid?! Just because this message appears anytime you try to authorise third party software, it is there for a reason.

Has anyone had experiences of etsy tweeting with their account on their behalf? or adding following people with your account?

Am I the only one that finds this a bit weird?

[MythOfTheWild]

I agree that it sounds ominous, at first I was put off, but then I remembered any app I've ever used on facebook that said the same thing. It doesn't let them hack the account or get any personal info from you, it just integrates your account into their system. That's all it does.

Have no fear! Most people with twitter have linked up and it's all fine. I have, and I've had no problems. It's in your best interest to go ahead with it! People get to know you as a person. I'm certainly more inclined to buy from people when I know who they are. Since I joined twitter, I've gotten to know 2 people more and for that reason I'm buying from them, when before I might not have. I know them more, I know their products better, and I can see that it really is an extension of who they are.

It'll help, and it's worth the ominous-sounding-but-actually-perfectly-safe message you get prior to authorising it.

And all the "post tweets for you" and stuff just means you can enable a feature to automatically tweet if you list or renew an item (though I wouldn't use that feature if I were you, it seems a little spammy to your followers, especially if you renew frequently). And it doesn't actually add new people for you to follow, it just suggests them based on other Etsy users who have enabled it.

Hope this helped.