It really has been a while since I complained about any of the WordPress plugins that I use or have tested on the Extreme John blog, I actually believe my last one was my JSkit Echo WordPress Plugin Review. Even though it’s been a hot minute since the last time I had an issue with a plugin or something I didn’t care for , it’s time to reflect on another plugin that has been bugging me lately.
Tweetmeme WordPress Plugin allows users with an active Twitter username to retweet blog posts that they enjoy to their Twitter followers, there are other WordPress plugins for Twitter like the Twittley Button that also offer the same retweet functionality as Tweetmeme. I have written about the Tweetmeme WordPress plugin before in posts like “Fix Your Tweetmeme Button Settings” as well as a few of my Sunday Smash articles.
Before I get going on the things that are bugging me about the Tweetmeme plugin I would like to say that the button has really come a long way since it’s introduction into the Twitterverse and it is by far the most widely used WordPress Plugin for Twitter and retweeting blog posts. Ok., now that we have that out of the way let’s get down to it.
As many of you know we recently spent a decent amount of time installing the Thesis theme and customizing my Thesis Themes across a few of the blogs in my blog network. The Thesis Theme can now be seen on our indoor tanning blog, limousine blog and mixed martial arts blog MMA Punk. When I decided to implement Thesis on those blogs I also made a decision to go with the Tweetmeme button as the main option for users to retweet posts from those blogs.
After finishing the installs and setting up accounts for each of those specific blogs with Tweetmeme I figured everything was pretty much a go. After getting settled in I headed over to MMA Punk to see what James @mmapunk updated the blog with, James is the guy that operates MMA Punk on a daily basis for me and of course because he is a HUGE MMA fan.
Tweetmeme Issue #1
I finished reading James’ post “Brock Lesnar Out of UFC 108 with Mono” and figured I would share it with people that follow me on Twitter and also enjoy MMA, I scrolled down after leaving a comment and clicked the Tweetmeme Retweet button. Here’s the message that was returned from Tweetmeme.
Tweetmeme Retweet error message: URL points to the wrong story
I double checked and even copied the shortened URL into a new browser window, when I did it took me to the correct story. In fact the story did match the link. What gives?
Tweetmeme Issue #2
After I finished making some of my blog rounds my Feedly feed reader landed my on our indoor tanning blog, another blog of mine with the Tweetmeme plugin installed. I wanted to retweet our “5 Indoor Tanning Tips” post because I have plenty of Twitter followers that are actually Extreme Tan and Smoothies customers (tanning salon chain we own) that would appreciate the tanning tips.
When I scrolled down to retweet the post with the handy Tweetmeme button here is what the button looked like.
Tweetmeme Blacklist Button
When I clicked the button to see what the big fat question mark I was directed to the Tweetmeme Retweet Button Blacklist, the blacklist page had a link to the Tweetmeme support FAQ page. Long story short you need to contact Tweetmeme to inquire about the reason for the blacklist, problem is we posted a message in their forum last Thursday and still have no response. I am really curious as to the reason behind blacklisting the button there, I doubt the thing was even used.
Tweetmeme Button Issue #3
Earlier in the post I mentioned that I posted an article titled “Fix Your Tweetmeme Button Settings”, in that post I wanted to help webmasters to understand that without properly setting up your Tweetmeme you would be missing out on knowing WHO retweeted your posts. This of course because without updating settings your retweets will be sent as retweets @tweetmeme instead of your username, therefore causing you to lose out on potential networking opportunities and more.
It’s safe to say that if I wrote a post trying to help others set their Tweetmeme up proeperly, I most likely would have my settings correct as well. Surprise! Surprise! I have my Tweetmeme button set up properly and if you click on my Tweetmeme retweet button you will notice it still sets the retweet up as a retweet via @tweetmeme . Crazy huh? Why would this be the case. You can see based on my screen shot that I have the settings correct.
Screen shot of my Tweetmeme Source field
This should say RT @extremejohn not RT @tweetmeme
The retweet button on MMA Punk does the same thing, that is also set up properly.
It looks like I might just have to go back to using the Twittley WordPress Plugin if this little situation with Tweetmeme doesn’t get resolved soon, based on the amount of time it’s taking to hear back from them it’s not looking to promising.
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Oh yeah… Retweet it please 
UPDATE: 8:22am November 12, 2009
I received the following message on Twitter from @alexforrow
alexforrow @extremejohn We’re not sure why TweetMeme thought you were blacklisted (as we collect data from many sources) but its fixed now
Big thanks to Alexa for getting the issue with our tanning salon resolved.
Cole Stan (2)
KyAus @ Those.Tips (2)
SafariDave (2)
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
I have seen the ? instead of a number when the post is scheduled to be published but hasn’t been published yet. I guess it makes sense that the post needs to be live.
Steve´s last blog ..Netflix Free Trial Compared to the Blockbuster Free Trial
@Steve, yeah Steve the post needs to be published before it will display a “?” free button.
just wondering if it’s the button or it’s just tweetmeme,,, I’ve had the same issues, but they seem to vanish after a while; I guess it’s something about the info cached in the memory that leads to these errors
Car News and Reviews´s last blog ..New Volvo S 60 first official photos
@Car News and Reviews, that could be the case. I had it happen on one of the other blogs I visit yesterday too when I tried to retweet that bloggers post. Annoying at the least.
@Extreme John, another cause might be their servers getting stuck when trying to register the link. Too many retweets at the same time all over the world might get serious.
Anyway, who cares about the cause? I agree with you: IT SUCKS when it does like that.
I’ve been testing out the Twittley button over the Tweetmeme button lately to see if there is a noticeable change in the amount of retweets I get, so far it’s about the same, my main decision to favour Twittley was the problems that the Tweetmeme plugin was experiencing.
Karen @ Blazing Minds´s last blog ..Blogger Interviews, this week with Angelika
@Karen @ Blazing Minds, I have always loved Twittley but I quickly grew annoyed with the SQL errors, which is now fixed in the updated version.
If I were to take a stab in the dark and say something here, I would probably say don’t be surprised if you see me make the final move back to the Twittley button. It’s faster, cleaner, has the hastag ability and honestly I see traffic from it.
I have faced the same problems.. all the three. But they seem to be correct after some time. I heavily depend on tweetmeme.. but I guess I’ll have to start using Twittley button.
Nehh´s last blog ..Kristin Cavallari dating Audrina Patridge’s ex-boyfriend Tal Cooperman
@Nehh, the biggest problem I have is the blocked account for my tanning salon company. There is ZERO reason that should be like that, the button was installed on there for 5 minutes and never worked right from the start.
The even larger problem I have with it is the fact that you can’t get a response in the forum, I’ll be damned if I am going to chase you around so I can display your button on my blog. There’s options.
I’ve seen all of the problems at least once too. Might have to give Twittley a try.
Mike´s last blog ..Coffee Gifts – 2009 Holiday Guide
@Mike, best thing you have said in weeks it’s nice to see you finally gettin on my level
You and your dumb Tweetmeme button, it’s your fault I even went back to using this plugin hahaha.
@Extreme John, Hey John, I didn’t understand why you are using retweet buttons from two sites when only one can handle it.
Remove that Twittley button as it’s showing lesser RT count than tweetmeme
Typhoon´s last blog ..Human vs. Search Engines: Striking A Balance
@Mike, Twittley looks are not so good and also people see 504 Gateway Not Found error many times in which the button doesn’t appears.
I think you should give a try to topsy. It’s currently being used by TechCrunch. So, I think there would be something good in it.
Typhoon´s last blog ..Human vs. Search Engines: Striking A Balance
Hi John, sorry to hear about all your problems. I had used their plugin at one stage and then switched to using the source code they supply. I created a function for the thesis theme to add the button to my blog. If you want, I will share it with you. Let me know.
George Serradinho´s last blog ..Thesis Tutorial – Displaying Users Twitter link in the Comments Section
@George Serradinho, thank you George I appreciate it, I was able to get it working with some help from Alexa
Excellent post. Looks like you spent a couple of hours on this one. I’ll be referring back to it in the future because I use tweetmeme as well. Largely on your recommendation big boy.
Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend´s last blog ..I’ve Just Wasted $53 on Hosting and a Domain, s***, What Now? HELP!?
@Dave Doolin | Website In A Weekend, well thanks Dave I appreciate that
I can’t remember how long this really took, it couldn’t have been that bad.
I thought that perhaps it had something to do with the Thesis Theme, so I installed it on my Load Of Bullshit which is run on Thesis, and it worked fine. Previously I was using the Twittley button.
Sorry I couldn’t help you out on this one John. And thanks for the Alexa review.
Sire@WassupBlog´s last blog ..Giving Link Luv To Cool Blog Links Top 10 Members
I left tweetmeme months ago over some of the same issues and never looked back. I am much happier with Twittley
Tycoon blogger @promote your blog´s last blog ..Promote your blog- what are your top 3 ways?
@Tycoon blogger @promote your blog, if I don’t figure out what the deal is with Twittley assigning my Blog posts to other sites here mighty quick I will be losing Twittley even faster.
I have actually been thinking about trying this plugin. Thanks for the review. It was very helpful.
I don’t have TweetMeme active on my WP blog because I opt to use Tweet This which also gives me options for Facebook, Digg, etc. and because I thought too many ‘please tweet this’ buttons would just make me look desperate.
Anne´s last blog ..Tis the Season for Giving
@Anne, there’s really no sense in having a million of them. You need to pick which you feel is best for you and your community
Thank you for commenting.
Wish my experience with Tweetmeme, I have some problems to integrate the plugin with some of my Wordpress themes, but I didn’t got any of these error messages! Thanks for letting us know John!
Hesham @FamousBloggers´s last blog ..Famous Bloggers: It’s the time to update your blog to Wordpress 2.8.6
@Hesham @FamousBloggers, no problem
My only beef is that when I click on the Green button it now goes to twitter and doesn’t just add PLUS 1 to the number like I wish it would.
Other then that it’s been a great experience with my site down all week.
I wasted my money last month getting wasted it was embarrassing but one thing is when your down you get a good look at who your friends are
John Sullivan´s last blog ..Keywords that pay the best on Google adsense
@John Sullivan, very true man. It’s about the only time you really ever find out who the real ones are.
I have never experienced the issue #1 in which the shortened URL doesn’t links to original story, which I found really strange in your case.
.
I have faced that ‘?’ problem many times and I get really angry onto that as I have to wait around 1-2 minutes!,who have that much time to see it working
Great to see that it has been fixed for you..
Typhoon´s last blog ..Human vs. Search Engines: Striking A Balance
An excellent post for me to save. I haven’t used the plugin yet, but now I know what to look for.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..He/She Has Unsubscribed – Should You Ask Why?
Hi John,
I am the Founder of TweetMeme and this post was only just brought to my attention, we take support very seriously and wanted to make sure that everything you have found is resolved already or if not will get fixed in our next release.
We serve over 120 million buttons every day and so there always a few edge cases – but we strive to fix everything that gets reported.
I looked at http://www.mmapunk.com/brock-lesnar-out-of-ufc-108-with-mono/ – and I was able to retweet the story myself – do you know when this was a problem? I know when we first launched the new pop-up system we had an issue with it wrongly thinking the link was wrong.
The blacklist problem seems to have been resolved – we are not sure why it was blacklisted in the first place, but we do use Google Spam API – which may have inadvertently listed you? Please do tell us immediately if you see this again.
The last issue about the wrong @[name] was also a bug on our part some time ago – if this is still a problem please do send me an email.
I hope you continue to promote our button – we are still the only site that accurately keeps track of the retweets, that has full support for RSS feeds, we also have a Mobile version of our button for iPhone, Blackberry + Android.
Thanks,
Nick Halstead
CEO & Founder, TweetMeme
Nick Halstead´s last blog ..Site Speed, Google’s Next Ranking Factor
@Nick Halstead,
Personally Nick, i would (will) try this plugin solely based on this comment. My entire adult life has been direct sales/customer service, and you do a mighty fine job indeed.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I Want You To Review Me. Part 1
@Nick Halstead,
Nick i am having the same issue with my blog post
http://www.kylegriffith.com/how-to-blog-when-you%E2%80%99re-not-a-writer/
When I click the retweet button i get this error message.
URL points to the wrong story.
Any solutions?
Thank You
Kyle Griffith´s last blog ..How to Blog When You’re Not a Writer
“Big thanks to Alexa for getting the issue with our tanning salon resolved.”
For a moment I thought your retweeting problem connects with Alexa. But I think your really meant Alex, the guy who replied to your issue.
Anyways, retweeting now. I can see you are now back to Twittley.
MichaelR´s last blog ..OneSuite Has Canada Covered! Up to 50% Cheaper
That sucks. I think you and I should do a series of “weekly sucks”, lol to spread the word about this type of issues. The lack of feedback is what boggles me more as I think that they should be quick on responding to queries. To date, I still do not have any issues with TweetMeme and I have rectified the code as you suggested. We’ll see
DiTesco´s last blog ..Amazon’s Make Money With Twitter Program
@DiTesco, I don’t get half as annoyed as I use to about thins so it might be tough to do a weekly rant these days. I go through my bouts haha.
I’m not a tweeter. That whole spiel did nothing but confused the shit out of me. I get it, no tweetmeme use your name, but come on. Somewhere along the line I have to stop letting people into my world. Tweeter for me is an invasion of privacy brought on by ourselves and our own doing. I could be seriously wrong, but I doubt it. I’m being partially bias, given the fact that I’ve never took the time to read really anyones tweets aside from what’s expressed over the television networks. The thing is that every time I get one of those chance’s(viewing a tv shout out about a celebrity tweet) it’s always pointless jibber jabber. Who cares what you like to buy at Publix, or what your having for dinner. LMAO We’re all going selfishly bonkers and we won’t realize it until we’ve already been labled pre-madonnas. I used to think this was just a women thing, but like Bob Dylan used to say, ” The Times They Are A Changing.”
I just realized that I have no such tweet-this-post button since I removed my Sexy Bookmarks plugin long time ago. I got to find an alternative for it. Time to search on WP plugins directory. Thanks for reminding me with this post John.
Isaac | GoBlogger´s last blog ..How to Edit 404 Page in WordPress
Also running Thesis and using Tweetmeme. I consider dropping it mainly because of site performance issues as it takes down performance quite considerably.
Your reasons icing on that already bad cake for me, so I guess time has come to drop this plugin now.
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