FAQ
What's this all about again?
OK, basically TwitterHawk is here to help you.
Setup auto replies (see below) and we'll periodically send responses for you to fellow twitter users that match your criteria so you don't have to.
For those that want control, you can have the replies not send out unless they are confirmed by you, or you can let the system take care of it all and just send replies when it finds matches.
Finally (but wait there's more!) you can send any match in your found list immediately, and send them a more personalised response to get a great first impression.
What does it cost to use
New users receive 10 free credits on signup. After that each credit must be purchased in advance in packs at the tidy sum of 5 cents per tweet.
Something we see as a tiny fee to pay to get that next follower or lead.
NB. Your credits are only used when you send a tweet from TwitterHawk. i.e., not for unconfirmed matches found.
'Auto send' or 'confirm first' which is right for me?
We recommend using the 'confirm first' option for your searches to start with so you can get a feel of the results that TwitterHawk will find for you.
Once you have refined your search to be targetted enough that it only brings back results that are perfect for you, then you should change it to 'auto send' and let us do the leg work for you.
Do you really need to store my twitter account password?
Sorry, but yes. We need to store it so that we can reply on your behalf when we find the right matches for you.
That said your password is encrypted before it is stored so that it can only be used by TwitterHawk even if it falls into the wrong hands (not that it will!).
I think someone is sending SPAM, can you stop them?
If you think someone is sending out SPAM from TwitterHawk, please do report them with their twitter account name, and we'll investigate.
Coupled with this, twitter.com is quite active in punishing spammers. TwitterHawk is also serious about prohibiting SPAM.
How many replies are sent at a time?
To keep it from being a bombardment of replies, only one reply is sent out at a time, however we check fairly often. For any given auto reply setup you can send out one per 6 hours at the most, or as low as one per month.
Any given twitter user will only ever get one response from you, no matter how many times they match your search. This way they don't get sick of you, and you get to spread your resonses out.
Why is my match list empty?
You will only have items in your match list after we have done a search for you that was successful, if you remove the matches you will need to wait until we search again for you.
If you never seem to have any items in your queue, perhaps it's just that your search isn't finding any responses on twitter.
If you think there is some sort of issue, please contact us.
NB. Items will only show in your queue if you have set your search to 'confirm first' rather than 'auto send'.
One other reason may be that your search is too long, Twitter places a restriction that the search can also only be 140 characters in length.
How many auto replies can I setup?
You can setup as many as you like, with up to 6 being active at any given time. However since the twitter API has a limitation of how many calls can be made within an hour period your most recently created auto replies may not achieve their full potential.
Can't I send more frequently?
No. While we'd like to see TwitterHawk everywhere, we still don't want to see it get flooded with generic responses.
Additional to that, allowing you to send auto replies more often brings in the very real risk of twitter closing your account for breaking their terms and conditions.
We are though looking into ways to increase the frequency, and may allow some approved users (i.e., people who benefit those they reply to, not heavily pushing marketing or breaking the rules of twitter etc) send more frequently.
What sort of searches can I do?
There are a lot of ways to really target the right audience for you, this list teaches you all the advanced search techniques you can use with TwitterHawk.
How come I am following you?
As part of the signup you agreed to follow us. We need a way to get the word out there, and since we are helping you get your word out there, we think it's fair you help us!
Can the auto replies be private?
No. Twitter does not allow direct messaging unless the given user is following your account.
How do I add a new search?
Once you are logged in, on your 'My Account' page, simply click on the 'Add search' and a form will be displayed.
Enter the words you want to match against, the reply you want to send to any matches, the frequency you want us to search for you, and if you want to add the user as a friend of yours automatically.
Finally, you set if you want us to send the response automatically for you, or if you want to confirm all matches before they are sent
Done, it's that easy!
How do I edit / remove a search?
When viewing your account page, just click on the 'Delete' link the corresponds to the search you want to remove.
You can edit your search simply by clicking on any dashed underlined text (such as the search term, or your responses) and it will be converted into a mini form for you to edit in real time without having to go to a whole new page. You can also edit if you want to auto follow or not.
My search wont add because of certain words... why?
Searching for words like 'the' or 'and' will bring back results that are very generic, and send your response to pretty much everyone. i.e., SPAM
TwitterHawk doesn't support spamming in any way, and in a hope to combat this, you can only use words that will actually find people related to your cause. As such, the words on this page cannot be used in your search.
Is TwitterHawk associated with Twitter.com?
No. In no way is TwitterHawk associated with Twitter, we simply make use of their public API which can be found here to create an alternative way of posting. We'll be keeping our secrets closely guarded though!
