You’ve probably noticed that Twitter have recently upgraded their email notification options, expanding them to include email alerts when:

• you get mentioned or reply
• your tweet marked as a favourite
• your tweet is RTd the Twitter.com way

I got pretty excited about this because it means users get new ways to track engagement and it encourages more interaction, especially for those who don’t use applications like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to manage their Twitter accounts.

So, I asked my Twitter friends if they thought it was useful or annoying – to my surprise 99% replied saying it was annoying and they had turned the notifications off!

But hang on guys, don’t be so hasty – there are some excellent reasons to check your notification settings again even if you’re an experienced user. Here are some reasons why along with ideas on managing notification overkill.

When someone direct messages (DM) you. People can only DM you if you are following them, so you’ll only get a DM from someone you know and probably want to hear from. Getting the notification by email is useful so you can reply straight away. KEEP!

When your message is RT’d using the Twitter.com way. Original RTs are displayed in your stream, but when someone uses Twitter’s built in RT function, they don’t show up in Hootsuite or Tweetdeck etc. You can dive into the Twitter dashboard and check your stream but seriously, how often does that happen? KEEP!

When you’re followed by someone new. This should be a given even if you’re Lady Gaga with 11 million followers. If someone follows you, you’ll want to check out their profile and maybe follow them back. You may also want to say hello, thanks for the follow or have a conversation, but not an automated one. Please turn those automated response messages off! KEEP!

When your tweet is favourited. I love favourites. And I love it when someone favourites my tweets. Previously, there was no way to track this but now you can! It’s very cool – opening up a whole new way of measuring how engaged your followers are, who they are, what messages they respond to, and gives you the opportunity to strike up a conversation about your favourited tweet. How great is that?! KEEP!

When you’re sent a reply or mentioned in a tweet. This is the only notification I’ve turned off because I use Hootsuite and can see when someone is replying to or mentioning me. If you’re new to Twitter, using the Twitter.com dashboard and not using mobile twitter, you may want to keep this switched on – it will help you stay connected with your Twitter friends and possibly initiate interaction as many new users forget to check their stream for mentions.

So, of the five notification settings now available I only have one switched off and that gives me two new ways to interact on Twitter and track engagement!

If you’re worried about Twitter emails clogging your inbox and effecting your productivity, you can easily set up a rule for messages to be syphoned off into folders before they hit your inbox. Try separating them into a main Twitter folder with sub folders for DMs/Favourites/Follows/RTs and check them a couple of times a day.

And, If you do want to change your notification settings in Twitter, it’s really easy. You just jump in to Twitter.com, go to the settings area (the drop down menu to the right of your screen) and select ‘Notifications’. If you make any changes remember to save them!