Update Your Settings on Tweet Old Post

86 Comments / Blogging Tutorials, Social Media / By /

Warning, Warning! Fix the Settings on Tweet Old Post Plugin!

Bloggers, if you use the WordPress plugin called Tweet Old Post you must update your settings after the recent update!

Tweet Old Post Settings

Most of you guys know that I'm a Twitter-holic and last week I noticed a few tweets going out from my friends that were very strange. The tweets included nothing more than a link – without a description or any additional text to indicate where the link was going. Typically when I see a link like this on Twitter it looks very spammy and I would block anyone doing this. Imagine how I felt when I saw this type of link going out from my very own Twitter account!! Initially, I thought my account was hacked 🙁 but I was quickly able to determine that was not the case and figure out that the real culprit was the Tweet Old Post Plugin for WordPress.

HootSuite indicated the source as Tweet Old Post

If you use HootSuite to monitor your Twitter streams, you'll notice that HootSuite displays the source of the Tweet right next to the time stamp. In this case, HootSuite gave me a clear indication that the tweet was generated by Tweet Old Post. I got additional clues on Twitter since I can preview any URL with the Parrot Fish Chrome extension from Embedly.

Here's a video tutorial to walk you through the Tweet Old Post Plugin settings panel along with my recommended configurations.

I received a question on YouTube from my friend Evelyn Parham about creating a Su.pr link. This plugin will generate the Su.pr link for you “automagically” when you have the option checked off. See the screenshot below.

Adding URL shortener

After I recorded this screencast I realized you need select YES to the question: Include link. You'll see these options for URL shorteners

  • is.gd
  • su.pr
  • bit.ly
  • tr.im
  • 3.ly
  • u.nu
  • 1click.art
  • tinyurl

Su.pr is my first choice and bit.ly is my second. I've never tried the others (and some of them I never even heard of).

Update Tweet Old Post Now

I made quite a few recommendations in the video, and some of them you agree with and some of them you might not. Please let me know what settings you're using and why you think they are more effective. But most importantly my friends: Update your Tweet Old Post settings right now!

 

 

86 thoughts on “Update Your Settings on Tweet Old Post”

  1. Suresh Khanal

    I update plugins whenever update is available. I noticed that there were a couple of tweets fired as you’ve mentioned – only the link. It must be before I hit the update button.

    1. Ileane

      Hi Suresh,
      You need to go back into your dashboard and update the settings, even after you update the plugin!

    2. TrafficColeman

      Suresh..have you ever had any trouble with the software because sometimes it just don’t work that well..

      “Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”

  2. DiTesco

    Hi Ileane. This is a timely post and thanks for the warning. I did notice that some tweets this week where nothing but just links (including mine), and I thought it was just a bug of some sort. Went over to my setting and I found out that it was at its original state. Weird because normally when plugins are update the settings are maintained. Anyway, got it all fix now and tested it, so I’m good to go. Thanks again for the warning, I would have done nothing if it weren’t for you… You Twitter star, lol

    1. Ileane

      DiTesco, I think the developer should put up a warning in the dashboard that says the plugin needs to be reset. Oh well, live and learn my friend. Please spread the word! LOL!
      I know you did already, I was just kidding. 🙂

      1. DiTesco

        Yeah! Most developers do that.. every time a plugin is updated, there is a “red” warning message saying to update settings, but who needs them, when we got you to remind us of these things, lol. You are always of top of stuff my friend.. will continue to spread the word 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your weekend..

    2. Alex

      Brilliant Ileane!

      Thank you thank you thankyou.

      Now hopefully my awesome readers will stop reminding me that my tweets are linkless LOL

  3. Evelyn

    Hi Ileane,

    I didn’t discover the problem until yesterday when Mitch from “I’m Just Sharing” brought it to my attention. I need to pay more attention to my twitter stream.

    Thank you for keeping us informed and I appreciate the mention!

    Take care,

    Evelyn

  4. Evelyn

    I’m using su.pr, but I was using bit.ly. I use SU a lot so with your recommendation I changed to su.pr.

    I use to have the time posts are tweeted for every 4 hours. I think that is a bit much, so I changed it to 12 hours. I’ll be monitoring it to see if my twitter traffic decreases or remains the same.

    I was so happy to have the plugin fixed that I forgot to answer your question. 🙂

    Thanks again!

    1. Ileane

      LOL! I’m glad you made the tweaks I recommended. I saw one person with 6 links tweeted in a row!! Come to think of it, maybe that’s when I first realized that Tweet Old Post was the culprit. 🙂
      StumbleUpon is a great tool for you Evelyn. Health, fitness, beauty and natural products appeal to everyone, so there’s no limit to the amount of traffic you’ll get. Don’t forget that I’m accepting your shares in my toolbar and you can send them to me from the toolbar anytime.
      Sharing from the toolbar to Twitter is another way to generate the Su.pr link – just be careful because sometime it will make that same mistake of sending the link without the text. If that happens, don’t worry, you get a preview before you send the tweet and you can make the adjustment then. I cover this in another video tutorial – if you need it let me know.

  5. Tuan

    I checked on my Twitter account and fortunately there are no spammy tweets like you had. It seems like my site isn’t affected although I haven’t updated it yet. Btw, how did you add the su.pr to the URL shortener list?

    1. Ileane

      Hi Tuan, when was the last time you updated this plugin? Su.pr was added to the list awhile back. I always update plugins as they become available, but this one gave me a little scare 🙂

      1. Tuan

        Oh yeah, I’ve seen the su.pr after updating this plugin. Maybe the version is too old so it didn’t have any problem like you mentioned. I’ve just moved to TechWalls and forgot to update plugins. 😀
        Thanks Ileane.

  7. Ivin

    I’m with DiTesco. With you around, who need to read the superstar blog – they don’t care enough to give you this updated info anyway. You’re on your way to being a star yourself.

    1. Ileane

      Ivin, Don’t worry, if I ever reach “star” status I won’t forget you. Just kidding buddy. Thanks for your comment.

  8. Sheila Atwood

    Thanks Ileane,

    One of my Tweet buddies gave me the heads up that my tweets from Tweet Old Posts was weird. I just went and deactivated until I had time to figure it out. I appreciate the work you put into figuring it out for me.

    1. Ileane

      Hi Sheila, I did the same thing! I deactivated it on Thursday or Friday when I figured out what was happening. Then I kept seeing it happen to my friends, so I figured I reactive it and make the video at the same time – that’s a two-fer.

      Now we can Tweet old Posts again with making people think we’re spamming them.

      1. Sheila Atwood

        Ileane,

        I have been sending fellow Tweeters to your post so they can get the fix. I know I was not aware until some one pointed it out to me…now I can point out the error and send them the solution…Thanks.

  9. Donna

    Hi Ileane,
    I tripped over this post while I was reading a paper.li (which I ALSO learned about from you!) and boy am I glad I saw it. I love Tweet Old Post and I forgot to put it back on my blog when I lost all those plug-ins a while ago. Thanks for the reminder – and the new info. You rock!

    1. Ileane

      Ahh! Paper.li is a beautiful thing isn’t it?
      I’m always happy to show up and the day I’m not showing up on someone’s Paper.li somewhere in the Twitter Galaxy – it’s going to a bad day for me. *lol*

      Thanks for coming by Donna. I’ll look forward to those old post tweets.

      1. Salman

        I am not using it on my blog (but plan to do so) …. A friend of mine is using it !! So your tips will of great help to him 😀

  11. Mark

    Don’t you hate it when your plugins go rogue. They just get a mind of their own and can damage your site in the blink of an eye.

    Thanks for the warning, Ileane…:)

    Mark

    1. Ileane

      Hi Mark, it’s kind of annoying but since most of the ones I use are free (like Tweet Old Post) it’s not like we can get a refund 🙂

      I use the BackupBuddy plugin which is premium, but I think that thing has been updated at least twice a week (or MORE) in the last few months ~ but it performs beautifully…

  12. Priya

    I’m not using this plugin for my twitter update but my few friends are using so will let them know about it. They might also facing same issue. Thanks for sharing such useful solution.

  13. Argie Monroy

    Aha ! Now I know.. thanks a lot for bringing this up Ileane. I wasnt been able to get through the lines with this one. Been wondering why are links only the ones showing up in my twitter feed with no title in it. Okie dokie ! 😀

  14. Argie Monroy

    By the way Ileane, there is still one thing which I dont really understand at all whenever I updates the plugin. Once I click on the “update tweet old post now” button, my account would be redirected again to the login page and I’m gonna have to login again. What’s sad is that the changes I’ve made werent actually saved. Please help 🙁

      1. Argie Monroy

        Yes I am using my own domain. I dont know what’s really the issue with that thing. It happens everytime I hit the updated button.

        1. Ileane

          Argie, you can try to uninstall the plugin and then reinstall it again and that might clear up the issue.
          To be honest with you, after all of this, last night I decided to remove the plugin and tweet my old posts by hand from now on!

          1. Argie Monroy

            I’ve already done that thing Ileane. I guess I’m gonna have to remove it then.. Looks like the plugin dont have any taste for me LOL..

    1. Ileane

      Glad you got here before you did the update. Have a great day Sherryl and thanks for spreading the news on Twitter.

  16. Paul Salmon

    Thanks for the information, Ileane. The fact that my tweets were coming up with only links was brought to my attention yesterday. I fixed the issue, but it is annoying when a plugin doesn’t keep my settings.

    Thanks for the video. I have gone back and re-applied my previous settings so the plugin should be working properly with my blog from now on….or until the next update.

  17. Ricardus

    I’ve been using Tweetdeck and whenever there’s update, I’ll update it and same goes to the twitter itself. Thanks for sharing. Might just tweet to some of my followers for this comprehensive article

  18. Kimberly

    the video really good giving us an idea how to finish my work.thanks for sharing…i would love to comeback and read back new post.

  19. John

    Whoa! That was a close one. I had been looking at that nagging update warning for about 2 weeks and I never updated it.

    Now I’m going to change my url shortener to StumbleUpon and then update. Hopefully it sticks.

    Thanks much for the warning, I think you averted calamity, catastrophe and plain ol’ tragedy this time 🙂

  20. Gera

    Hi Ileane,

    I’ve seen that this plugin sent only links also, all (by su.pr in my case) since few days ago.
    I thought it was a problem with the su.pr shortener, because I see correct tweets with bit.ly, but no, it’s the plugin.

    I’ve updated the settings, pressing update and I’ll see. If it continues sending only links, then I’ll need to deactivate.

    Best for you!

    Gera

    1. Ileane

      Gera, are you finding it fun dealing with plugins now that you migrated from Blogger to WordPress?
      In this case there’s always a down side.
      I tried to contact the developer of Tweet Old Post on Twitter but he hasn’t responded. If I hear anything else, I’ll let you know.

      1. Gera

        Ileane, plugins are really great, you can do all with them. The downside, about 15 days ago a bad plugin went down my site completely….

        Today, I’ve disabled the Tweet Old Post plugin, still working bad, will wait till the developer makes a fix.

        All the best,

        Gera

  21. Stella

    Guess what? I didn’t even realize my old posts had been out with links only.

    I saw this post tweeted by Vernessa (@coachnotesblog) – watched you explain and scanned my Hootsuite Twitter stream – Lo and behold! Some lone links. I also saw some links of a couple of other bloggers – tweeted them your post as fix.

    Thanks Ileane, as always – you always bring up useful solutions fast:)

    1. Ileane

      Stella, as soon as I figured out what was happening I started recording that video to let everyone know they need to look over their stream. My thanks goes out to Vernessa and a few other friends for helping spread the word.

  22. sunny

    Thanks for your tips, very useful and pratical with your video. Twitterdeck is a cool toool to keep up it with twitter. Thanks.

  23. Ingrid Abboud

    Hey Ileane,
    Just wanted to thank you for this helpful tutorial. I noticed that crazy loner link today on my Hootsuite and luckily for me a Twitter friend (Stella) had also tweeted me the link to your article here to get instructions on how to fix things.

    I also took your advice and I used a su.pr link instead of my usual bit.ly that I used to use before. Thanks for that tip :).

    Have a great day.
    Cheers

  25. Cristian Balau

    Tweet Old Post seems like a useful plugin, I use wordpress but I don’t use twitter anymore (yeah I know, I live under a rock), hope this plugin gets fixed soon.

    1. Ileane

      Hi Christian, If you’re not using Twitter, you should think about using Google + You can get benefits there without the constant updates that most people do on Twitter. Thanks for the comment!

  26. Dave Clements

    Thank you! It’s not that I’ve been having problems with this plugin, but I just have been looking for something that Tweet Old Posts does for AAAAGES! I’ve already got it installed and configured and I can relax a little more now, knowing that it will promote my posts for me.

    Thanks Ileane, very useful information as always.

  28. Hesham

    Hi Ileane,

    Many thanks for the great help, I didn’t realize that till you contacted me, I am really grateful I have a friend like you.

    I’ve updated my plugin settings now, and things went back to the right track 🙂

    Thanks again, and have a wonderful day

    1. Ileane

      Hesham, I’m not sure what’s going on with the developer of this plugin, but he should warn us that we need to update our settings whenever he makes an update. A few friends have mentioned that their host suspended their accounts because of this issue with tweeting “spammy looking” links. To be on the safe side I got rid of the plugin altogether until I hear back from the developer.

      Keep an eye on this one OK?

      Have a great weekend!

  30. Karen

    It only goes to show the importance of checking your plugins when they get updated or even when you re-activate them, I’ve see several tweets lately with just the URL.

    I’ve always made it my first rule to check settings after an update, even after a WordPress update as some plugins may have some rather strange side effects 😉

  31. unimaginativeguy

    i too feel those messages spammy …. well cant help it . everybody wants to market on facebook and twitter .. i just ignore them ..

    i loved the details about the youtube url .. i totally appreciate ur effort.

  32. Ileane

    Wise move Karen. I’m following in your footsteps from now on. No more plugin or WordPress updates without a thorough of the settings! Thanks Dear.

  34. Kharim Tomlinson

    Thanks for this post Ileane. My Tweet Old Post plugin wasn’t showing the title, only the link and I didn’t realize it until someone referred me to this article 🙂

    1. Ileane

      Hey Kharim, It’s nice to see that someone was looking out for you. What URL shortener are you using with this plugin?

  35. Laurie

    Ileane – so glad your Twitter wasn’t hacked after all, that’s one of my biggest fears so I know how scary that must have been even if you only thought it for a minute! Thanks for the tip, I’m going to run off and update mine right now! 🙂

    Laurie

    1. Ileane

      Hey Laurie, that is a scary thought, thank goodness I was wrong about that! Laurie, what URL shortener are you using with Tweet Old Post? I’m curious to see if you’re using bit.ly or su.pr

  36. Gera

    Hi Ileane,

    This plugin has been updated but be very careful with it. I visited the WP repository and everybody is saying that the plugin is broken 🙁
    I’ll not update it till is fixed.

    Cheers,

    Gera

      1. Gera

        No I haven’t by the moment. I can shorten directly on SU but not sending old posts like this plugin.

  37. Stacy

    Just uploaded this plugin and ran into a glitch…while the settings are set to repost older posts, it tends to repost the same two over and over again rather than moving on to other posts…Whats that about?

  38. Ileane

    LOL! @mediacastguy I hear you loud and clear. Thanks for coming by and sharing your point of view. You’re welcome here anytime. And just for the record – I got rid of the plugin. 🙂

  39. weight loss reviews

    I’ve been using a plugin for several months and I think it’s fantastic! It really increases the traffic. But I don’t know what other plugin I added in my blog and since then my “tweet old post” stopped working. It just gives me the follow message when I try to update and tweet “No post found to tweet. Please check your settings and try again.” I already removed everything new I could but still it doesn’t work…

  41. Andy Nathan

    Ileane,

    I have been using Tweet Old Post for the past year. I am not sure if you have seen this and posted it on Ajay’s site. Do you have problems with the url shortener now coming up as an error, even when you remove it as an option?

    Andy

    1. Ileane

      Andy, I disabled the Tweet Old Post plugin, but I don’t think I understand your questions. Where are you seeing an error – on Twitter or in your WordPress dashboard?

      1. Andy Nathan

        This is happening on WordPress. It is giving an error that the URL shortener is not working, no matter if I click use URL shortener or not in the settings. Since you turned yours off, however, that is an indication that it is not me, but Tweet Old Post. Thanks!

  42. SEO Journalist

    I was won of the few who lucked out on the spammy tweets and didn’t have any. Thanks for the heads up though, I would have never thought to look until you mentioned it here.
    Thanks!

  45. Jim

    I just installed it. At first it didn’t work, I was using Firefox, but when I switched to Chrome it worked.

    Thanks for the tips

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