Yes, I agree 100% with that – it’s just like being in the pub and shouting out something – some will ignore you, some won’t hear you and a few will take notice – perhaps more if you’re shouting “The next round’s on me!”
One thing that there seems to be a split in opinion is the ‘follow’ or ‘not follow’ question, ie do you follow back people that follow you.
Prior to the implementation of lists on Twitter, I would be hard pressed to argue the case of following back everyone that follows you (except the bots and the spammers) as it is incredibly hard to follow a stream if you are following more than 150 to 200 people.
However, now that lists are in use and you are able to easily segment different groups of people into manageable bitesize streams, why is there such a problem with following back all the genuine followers? If they do turn out to be non-genuine or not ‘your cup of tea’ you can always unfollow them at a later date – simples.
Surely Twitter is about engaging first and foremost and as such if you do not follow people that follow you, you are making a statement that “I don’t rate you as much as you rate me so” and to use the pub analogy again, would you turn your back on someone that struck up a conversation with you at the bar without even saying ‘Hi’?
If we were all to have that attitude then we would all be staring at a Twitter page wondering why we are talking to ourselves with 0 followers and 0 lists – and that sort of defeats the whole point of SOCIAL MEDIA.
Bottom line is, if you’re not following me, why should I make the effort to engage with you? It’s a 2 way street and if you want to be able to broadcast your message to me, have a little humility and just follow me back, then I’m all ears! Print this post
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Great post which I completely agree with.
ReplyDeleteI personally love the diverse and really quite random collection of people I follow. Lists are a great way to narrow the stream down to suit whatever mood your in.
Thanks
Interesting viewpoint, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCouldnt agreed more my man. Perfectly put. It's about finding the relationships that offer real value.
ReplyDeleteLists help you do this and help forge stronger links. Anyone would be mad not to follow people who interest them or have value.
Totally agree mate!
ReplyDeleteI find it weird whne you see someone with thousands of followers who isn't following many. I know from speaking to many people who are new to Twitter that they find intimidating and won't follow the person because the message that is being sent out is "if you follow me, I won't follow you."
Obviously I'm not referring to celebrities here!!
Jamie, you make a great point when you refer to Lists. Lists are a much under used feature of Twitter and a superb way to follow the conversations you want to be part of.
Follow me and in most cases I will follow you back.
For the record; I tend not to follow back people without a bio or photo/logo.
I've written a post prompted by http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan on how I use Twitter: http://blog.dickiearmour.me.uk/2010/08/my-twitter-presence.html
Great post, Jamie.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've noticed recently is that people are unfollowing loads of people, I think in an attempt to look like a guru ie with a lot of people still following them (again not including celebrities). It makes me laugh because it looks so obvious.
Twitter lists are great aren't they?
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this post. You've made sound points, but I've given this specific topic a lot of consideration and hope you don't mind a differing viewpoint.
I think people take things far too personally in social media. Twitter's follower/followers quotient tends to gets folks bent out of shape when there's no reciprocation. But I think that "relationship" can be misleading. It's become this guilt-ridden obligation, and that doesn't have to happen.
Twitter is a communications tool. You have to use in the way that suits you best. I personally don't follow everyone who follows me because, frankly, not every one of my followers broadcasts things that I find interesting or relevant. But that's OK: it's their channel and they are fully able to do as they please; that's their right.
On the flip side, I never expect any of the folks I follow to return the favor, precisely because I don't labor under the illusion that I'm the best thing ever to them, either.
We have to abandon this circle of obligations and expectations and use the tools in the best way possible: the one that works for us.
All the best,
Mike Zavarello (@brightmatrix)
Great last sentence Jamie "It’s a 2 way street and if you want to be able to broadcast your message to me, have a little humility and just follow me back, then I’m all ears!" That, for me, is it in a nutshell!
ReplyDeleteAnn :)