By Rebecca Maxwell of My Adventures in History – Follow her @rmaxwell142.
Call me old fashioned, but I am one of those people that value community and relationships with people. As a child of the 90’s, I’ve learned to adapt to our technological age where we can keep up-to-date with people without ever seeing them in person. While this is not my preferred method of contact, the last couple of years I have seen myself rely more and more on online interaction than face-to-face. Recently though, I’ve been frustrated with the alienation of social networking sites to the point of taking some extreme measures, especially regarding Twitter.
I originally signed up for Twitter as a way to keep in touch with those interested in my history blog and network with those who have blogs similar to mine. As more and more of my friends on Twitter found me, I found myself following and being followed by people I knew in real life. While this wasn’t bad at first, I soon found myself “unfollowed” by those I was following. People I knew in real life wouldn’t follow me. Then, of course, people who knew nothing about me or my blog began to follow me out of the blue. This might be a provocative statement, but I believe this is due to the fact that Twitter is becoming more of a popularity contest than a real way to connect with people. No big surprise there. Anyone on Twitter can relate to the obsession of getting more followers. While this may be “cool” to have 10,000 followers and only follow about 300, it is an immediate turn off when viewing someone’s profile. Obviously, someone like that doesn’t, or even can’t, interact with over 10,000 followers.
I soon found this game of following and unfollowing pretty exhausting and disheartening. It wasn’t creating any sort of networking or connections with people I wanted. So I decided to take actions that could be called pretty extreme:
The first thing I did was block those who did not seem interested in me or my blog at all. It is pretty obvious which tweeters were just following me to see if I would follow them back. I don’t want to be reduced to a statistic on their profile.
I unfollowed those who did not follow me back. If they are not interested in following me back, then fine. I allowed a few exceptions for those I really wanted to follow, of course. Overall, though, I’ve found many bigger name organizations and tweeters are more than happy to follow me in exchange.
I’m pickier about who I allow to follow me on Twitter. If someone is genuinely interested in me or my blog, then I have no problem letting them follow me or reciprocate by following them back.
My Twitter updates consist of many different things, from my blog updates to interesting links. It’s good a variety for all types of people, but I want my connections to actually mean something.
I realize that Twitter should really be about more than who follows who but this obsession with getting followers seems to be the trend right now. I see it my social circles, both online and offline. It might be a little childish to take some of the measures I have, but I desire something more out of Twitter. Here are a few suggestions I have to make your Twitter experience better:
- Be extremely picky about who you let follow you. Don’t just let people follow you just for the sake of doing so.
- Make sure that people who follow you and who you follow seem genuinely interested in interacting with you.
- Go through your followers and following list periodically. See if there are any tweeters you want to stop following or keep from following you. Make sure that you are still interested in those you follow.
- Make a sincere effort to interact with those you follow. Getting connected with others is what Twitter is all about, right?
What about you? How have you made your Twitter experience more meaningful?
dude, i feel the same about twitter now. it has become more of spot to publicize stuff than to actually interact with people. Every other tweet in my timeline is a LOL/ROFL/WTF followed by a link
@cvharquail
Rebecca,
I couldn’t agree with you more about ‘being picky’ w/ regard to whom you follow on Twitter. I think there are some *very* significant positive (and negative) psychological dynamics related to following and being followed. I’ve written about these some myself, http://www.AuthenticOrganizations.com, “Tweet Yourself Like The Person You Want To Be” /a>.
I’m going to look again at this post and incorporate some of your ideas in a ‘rethink’.
Thanks so much.
@thejared
I have also started to delete people that tweet things that just don’t interest me. I don’t follow everyone that follows me, way too many spammers out there. Great article!
@minanube
Nice tip and research.
Till now i am still not wondering who is follow me, because i am not share a secret thing on there
@snakecharmers
When I first dipped my toe into Twitter, I didn’t have a clue what it was about and the power it possessed. But having never succumbed to the “thousands and thousands of friends” mentality of MySpace, I was spared the struggle over followers on Twitter.
What good are a million followers if only a handful care anything about what you do? I love the very real connections I’ve made with Twitter.
Glad you’ve seen the light, Rebecca, and joined us on the bright side of the road.
@Aishaladon
While I have always been picky about who I follow I never have thought to block my tweets. I mean if someone is not interested in what I have to say than why would they follow me.
Periodically I change what tweets come to my phone or unfollow those I am no lo her interested in and or simply stopped tweeting.
I follow about 100 and have about 500 followers , but I have always wonder how people decided who they are and are not going to follow and why they choose to follow me specifically.
I am looking for some type of program that shows stats on my followers. I tried to do it manually, but I would like to know more about my followers.
But if it is a popularity contest about getting more unmeaningful followers , they will learn that I will not follow you simply because you follow me, unless you have some information of interests to me. So why block my tweets from them?
I may one day say something that really grabs their attention and than they become a tue follower.
Aisha LaDon
lifes a tweet
@Aishaladon
Sorry for typos. People say I should spell check my tweets
@donmak
I think blocking people who are following you is a waste of time. There are usually three types of followers:
Real Followers
These are the people that are truly interested in your Twitter stream and/or blog and will often respond to your tweets, retweet, etc. These are the followers you want.
Casual Followers
People who might be interested in what you have to say but want to follow for awhile and see if it is so. They may respond to your tweets and/or click through to your blog, or they may not. Why would you block these people when they’re a warm market or conversation that could lead to a mutually beneficial relationship?
Spammers/Bots & People Just Trying to Increase Their Follower Numbers
Worst case scenario is spammers and auto follow bots that monitor streams for keywords and then follow you. Even in this case you don’t need to block them because (1) they are never going to say anything to you anyways, and (2) they eventually get banned or blocked by Twitter anyways so there’s no use in spending time that could otherwise be productive going through and examining each follower and then banning them.
It just seems like a waste of time to go through the whole blocking ritual. People can FOLLOW all they want. Who cares? If, and only if they engage you in a conversation might you consider actually following them back.
Think of it like a big cocktail party. You don’t have to have a conversation with EACH person at the party. At the same time, just because somebody is there to sell something or increase their own network doesn’t mean you kick them out of the building. It’s just counter productive. Let them make an ass of themselves and they’ll fall off the radar (or leave the party early) anyways.
Don Makoviney
@cbigbites
AMEN!!!
SO fed up with random followers. If you like what I have to say or are interested in my content please follow me.
I DO NOT NEED ANOTHER SOCIAL MARKETING GENIUS TO FOLLOW ME!!!
I run a blog about family food and fun in the kitchen. The End. I have been so happy reading about some of the big tweeters reevaluating who they follow and who they allow to follow them. I think this will great improve Twitters status as a resource.
Thank you for writing this Rebecca and Darren for posting it!!!
@tanyabirch
The follow and unfollow game is quite common on twitter. I would not take “rejection” personally. It is not the same as stop being a friend on facebook. You probably know the famous quote “the medium is the message.” Well in the case of twitter, the way twitter is set up it encourages certain interactions and certain behaviour patterns, and it also gives them a different significance than in other social networks (myspace, facebook, newsletter list, real life friendships).
I don’t feel like I need to follow everyone back. I just assume that they have their own reason to follow or not to follow me, just as I have my own reasons why I would like to follow a certain individual. If I really like to see what they have to say, I will keep them on my list whether they follow me back or not.
The only thing that your followed list on twitter indicates, is who wants to hear what you have to say on TWITTER not what you have to say in real life or what they think of you as a person. I have unfollowed I few people that I absolutely love and respect, just because of the nature of their tweets- they tweeted about going to the dentist, making a pie, etc. I would rather follow some my favourite bloggers or news people, because their updates are educational to me and I cannot get their links or connect to them anywhere else.
summary: twitter is not personal it’s just a medium with it’s own rules and values.
@msdragonfly1
sometimes i feel the same way especially when i was fallowing people i thought were my online friends but they never interacted with me and sometimes unfollowed or just never followed to begin with. so i unfollowed some of them. but it doesn’t bother me as much when complete strangers follow me. it’s impersonal and no reason to feel hurt. i do block porn though
got one of those the other day! i want this to be both a way to keep up with online friends and to promote my blog.
Kulbir and CV,
Thanks for the positive feedback and I hope it will help in some way!
I’m not sure I fully grasp the potential of Twitter, but I know it makes me uneasy, even queasy. I accidentally called it Twitcher the other day. Now if that isn’t a Freudian slip?
@purpleswirl
I’m on twitter for a number of reasons. For one thing, I do need to make money from my work, and I need to let people know it’s there, ready for purchase. But I also find that I’m learning from and connecting with new people all the time, both hearing and deaf (I’m deaf). I’ve noticed that most of the people I *know* in real life are my friends on Facebook, and Twitter is only some of those, but more people I’ve never met. It’s interesting. Facebook can be so much more time consuming, though and I like Twitter’s enforced brevity.
I do, however, find myself unfollowing people more often now, more if I see them being just one-trick-ponys, or sending so many tweets I don’t see other folks I’m following. The only people I block though, are those who are, to my mind, unsavory. That definition includes folks who just waste my time with LOLs and “cool, dude” messages.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post, Rebecca.
Nancy C., @purpleswirl
@maddiegrant
Wow. I think you are totally missing the point of Twitter. On your Twitter page you describe yourself as a blogger and writer – but you want to vet and limit those people who might want to read your stuff? That makes no sense to me. The only reason for a mutual follow is if you wanted to have a direct message conversation with someone. If you only want to interact with people you have vetted and vice versa, use Facebook or LinkedIn for that. Twitter is about serendipidity. You should follow people who tweet stuff of interest to you, that you might want to share. People should follow you if the stuff you tweet about is of interest to them. You can get to know people very well through @ replies, retweeting, mentions, linking to their blog posts, etc. You don’t have to follow each other for that. You can also use hashtags to link a topic to other (random) people talking about that topic, or other (not random) people attending the same conference or meeting or event as you. Twitter is about linking in small ways to lots of people.
@dilania
When I first got twitter I followed a bunch of pretty random folks. After learning more about twitter and how best to use it I realized followung random ppl is dumb. So I did something extreme and unfollowed over 100 ppl! Pretty brutal but these weren’t ppl I ever interacted with…we wouldn’t miss eachother. Now I read profiles and am more picky. I had some new followers yesterday and I was so tempted to automatically follow them all but after reading some profiles and tweets saw that I only had things in common with a couple of them. I don’t want tweets taking up space. I want true interaction with people! Thanks for writing on this topic
Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments. I can’t respond to everyone but I appreciate the feedback. The purpose was to get others to think about what they want out of Twitter. For me, it’s about meaningful interactions, not just about promoting myself. I definitely want to get away from the following game and spamming too.
I hope I stimulated some rethinking about Twitter! Thanks!
@jamesdickey
I have to agree with Don – being aggressive about blocking people whose motives you question is both unnecessary and counterproductive.
Blocking true spammers – people for whom you in no way want to give an implied endorsement is a different matter altogether – by all means do so. I’ve been very pleased at how few followers I lose during each of Twitter’s spam account purges.
There’s really no need to block people who are just trying to see if you’ll follow them back, though – they’ll go away fairly quickly on their own and their following you briefly isn’t malicious enough to warrant the slap of a block IMO.
@JillKoenig
I think some people are thinking too hard and overanalyzing Twitter. It really doesn’t deserve that much time. Go do your thing, tweet your tweets and enjoy those who resonate. You have no way of knowing why someone is following you or not unless you actually ask them. Actually it may be obvious if they are a bot or spammer. I was taught not to prejudge people but I think it’s kind of overkill (however totally within your rights!). I would be peeved if someone blocked me because they assumed I was following them just to be followed back. Seems a little extreme to me. Have made several friends I would not have predicted but I welcome all and hope all welcome me. And for those who reach out or vice versa, perhaps we will conversate or make beautiful music together. Time will tell.
Forever the optimist,
Live Your Dreams,
Jill
@purpleswirl
thinking more about this blocking business…. I do block, because my reputation as a professional is important to me. I don’t know how others find people to follow, but I have several techniques including checking out the follower/following lists of the people who interest me. I don’t want someone to come to my followers list and see a bunch of spammers or porners on the first few pages, because I don’t want them to think I endorse those folks or follow them. Yeah, yeah, just because someone follows me doesn’t mean I endorse them, but why bother to give those folks a platform for marketing themselves using me? It only takes a second to block them.
@davidzook
I agree with Maddie. Twitter for me is a letting people know that my blog exist and connecting with others who share the same interest as me. My blog went live a couple of weeks ago and my number one referrer has been Twitter. I spend about 30-60 minutes four or five days a week using TweetDeck to interact with as many people as can to find out about them, particularly if they blog, and to let them know about me in a non-pushy way.
@smokejumper
Rebecca,
Thanks for the blog post – it was refreshing indeed. As a marketer I started to obsess about why I wasn’t growing more followers or why people were unfollowing me. As a human being, I care less about the numbers and more about the genuine interaction with people I know (or would like to get to know) around mutual interests.
One other dimension I’ve observed is that Twitter works well if you are singularly focused on one area – SEO, Sports, Wine, History. But in my case, where I have multiple interests, I find I lose my followers who are interested in say online marketing when I tweet something I find humorous about pop culture. Perhaps multiple personas on Twitter is the answer although seems onerous.
I’ll follow your recommendations – starting to unfollow those who don’t follow me (hard to have a “one-way” conversation) and continuing to be judicious in following those who follow me.
Cheers,
Brent
@donmak
Nancy and others,
I still maintain that you are manufacturing a problem that doesn’t exist. I have NEVER BLOCKED ANYONE and I don’t have a follower list clogged with spam and porn followers. It’s a problem that doesn’t exist, but you’re making it sound like a big scary thing that happens if you don’t intensely examine each follower of your Twitter account. Like I and others have said, those followers usually get kicked off Twitter pretty quickly.
I totally agree with unfollowing people that you aren’t having conversations with, and not following people just because they followed you.
But the notion that blocking FOLLOWERS is required to keep the spam and porn at bay? Not needed.
Don Makoviney
@Jankovitch
Thanks Rebecca, I did read some very good recommendations here.
I do some “Background Checks” when somebody starts following me.
There are several ways to get some reference on followers: First their profile.
What are they tweeting about in the last days or week? Is their website, mentioned on their profile, plausible? If not I don’t follow them.
After a user starts following me, I send them a genuine “thank you for following me” message. The way a user respons to that says something to me.
To enhance the contact with other users I am starting to respond to people, helping them with a problem or asking them for help. Their reactions again are indicative.
Besides web-based applications I use to “scan” users, this method works as a pretty good filter for me.
I am realistic, and can not see every tweet of every user in my list. I do know that, when in need of an answer I can perform a twitter-search or ask somebody specific. The shared knowledge is there. I think that is the beauty of it.
Today I was checking the percentage of users who don’t follow me back. It is about 30%.
Is this good or bad? I don’t know! What do other users think?
One more thing, (mis) users don’t get kicked off Twitter by itself. When users start spamming me I will block them and I do send a @spam message. Sometimes unfollowing a user does not bother me. Neither do they I assume.
Jankovitch
@Daegurth
Maddie got it spot on. Just because people find you interesting doesn’t mean the feeling will be mutual, or vice-versa. I follow some people that I know IRL, and internet aquaintances whose day-to-day activities interest me. Also a few “celebrities” (people like Adam Savage and Felicia Day) whose lives, work and upcoming creative output I want to be informed of as it happens. Anyone who wants to follow me is more than welcome to, if you like what I do, but bear in mind that while I’ll check your profile, I’m not necessarily going to be interested in your activities.
Personally, I like Brent Ozar’s common sense views on Twitter:
http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/04/top-10-reasons-im-not-following-you-on-twitter/
http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/04/top-10-reasons-i-am-following-you-on-twitter/
This article seems unnecessarily elitist and closed off in what’s possibly the biggest public forum in the world.
@heather_gray
Rebecca,
Thank you for writing out and clearly explaining what my twitter strategy has evolved into (through trial and error and dealing with more and more spam tweeters) Really helped to read your clear thoughts on all of it, that you use blocking too and the atmosphere of obsession with having twitter followers.
OK — I am coming out of the closet to admit that for a few weeks I signed up for a “free get followers” thing. (I clicked a link based on someone I respected on twitter) And boy did it work (my numbers jumped from 700 to into the thousands fast — but it all felt yucky and watered down the community that was being built. And I felt like a big faker with a relative small number of tweets but a huge “fan base” – not.
I had to change my twitter password to get off this merry go round — and have been “restructuring, unfollowing, blocking” ever since. If I could do over I would never have signed up for that!
@elenawilkins
I honestly do not care who follows me, but I am becoming very picky about whom I choose to “follow”. I do not have many followers and really am only on Twitter for now to stay in touch with friends. What I made a mistake with, in the beginning though, is following most of those who followed me. Spammers and marketers! They drive me crazy. There are no Tweets from them except to push something. So, I am very selective in whom I am following now.
@janesteen
I don’t worry too much about how many people follow me or drop me, perhaps because I’m not using Twitter to promote anything in particular. I follow people I come across who seem to have interesting things to say.
When I get a follow I check up the account to see whether they’re porno pushers or obvious spammers. I block those people because a large number of blocks will alert Twitter to the presence of these accounts.
If they’re legit but boring and seem to just want me to follow them back, I do nothing. Eventually they drop me.
If they seem interesting and don’t swear or say nasty things about other people (I’m not holier-than-thou about swearing but seeing the f-bomb three times in a 140-word tweet gets old fast) I follow them.
The result seems to be a very gradual increase in the number of people I follow/who follow me, which suits me just fine. I don’t check Twitter more than about once a day anyway.
@janesteen
I meant, of course, 140-character tweet. May Twitter never increase the limit.