You are who you follow
I’ve been going through my followers list trying to make sure I follow back good people. As I’ve discussed a lot here before, I try not to be a Twitter snob, but I also try not to follow back everybody. I look at every follower – I analyze their tweets and their interactions.
Here are a couple of profiles I came upon in recent evaluations.
Yeah. That’s a profile. No tweets at all. For real.
Here’s another one.
That first profile is followed by 3,072 people. The second one is followed by just 870 or so people.
Now here’s the part that might hurt your feelings
One interesting thing that Twitter does is it shows you, when you look at a profile, people you know who are following that account. By name. I saw people listed whom I follow and who follow me.
I lost a little respect for them. I’ll be 100% honest.
Who you follow sends a message
One thing that I think we can probably agree on, regardless of our specific feelings about Twitter followers, is that your list of who you are following will say a lot about you. And everybody has different ways of interpreting that. Here’s what goes through my own particular head when I see people I know following blatantly robotic or blank accounts.
• You are too busy to really look at who you are following back
• Maybe you are not that interested in engagement
• Maybe you are using automated thises and thatses to get the job done in Social Media (nothing wrong with that per se, but it tells me something about your approach)
This is why numbers don’t matter
If you have “auto follow” turned on so that you can have a lot of followers and follow…ees, let the above profiles stand as exhibits A & B as to why that may not be the best way to go, especially if you are hoping to build a network or community for business. At the best, these accounts will not do anything but hold a place in your tally of followers or people you’re following. At worst, people like me will see that you are following them and be a little surprised and maybe a little disappointed.
Of course, in the end, it doesn’t really matter if I feel that way. It’s your account. I just thought I’d let you know how one person in your stream perceives of such things.
Incidentally, both of the above accounts are following me right now. I did not opt to follow back either one.
Do you have a different view on the matter?
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I’ll include my Twitter name too, as that’s what we’re discussing… @OneGiantStep
I get your point but, as a fairly new Twitterer (?), I try not to be a snob and not follow those who follow me due to their pedigree (for lack of a better word). I take a quick look at their profile and see if they will fit my interests. If so, I add them to a list so I can interact regularly, otherwise it’s a simple follow. I do not follow those that I consider vulgar, or auto-bot-like. I tried unfollowing so I could have a more distinct list…but it felt wrong. And then I tried to be more selective in following…but beyond what I just described I couldn’t. I guess it’s partly about numbers but partly about time and effort vs does it really matter…and I get that it really matters to you. My 2 cents…
Actually, I think we’re right on the same track. If you look at a profile and you see that there are no tweets, would you feel that would contribute to your community? That’s what I don’t understand. If you follow back automatically, you would follow a blank account. If you look at a profile though, and you analyze it, why would you still follow that account? That’s what I don’t get 🙂
I agree, Margie.
To me, numbers aren’t as important as things like retweets. When I see that someone takes the time to share my insight (regardless of whether it’s my own or a link a found), it is a sign of respect, that I have something to offer. The number of followers has nothing to do with the number of retweets.
If you look at Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), his philosophy is to follow everyone back. He knows what’s on that list, but his angle is that it helps others connect through him. I see validity in that, but I don’t see a lot of people snooping through his 100K followers to see who’s in there. That number is just too daunting to bother.
My philosophy is the same as yours: I don’t get too crazy about checking on who is following me. I’ll block the bad stuff. But if someone follows me that I think might have value, I’ll definitely check them out – their page, their site, etc. And here’s the thing: I want to know if they have value for my followers because, really, that’s where the rubber hits the road – I share other people’s stuff too.
So far, this has worked for me.
I agree, Paul. I felt kind of weird when I hit 100 followers and then different landmarks after that because I’ve noticed from the beginning that there are a LOT of spam bots or spammy accounts out there. The new batch of accounts are interesting because they use profile pictures and even fill in the bio, but then the updates are rubbish – that second example is one of those.
While it’s nice to hit follower landmarks, I just know that probably at least a quarter of my followers aren’t real people. So, take that for what it’s worth 🙂
Oh yes, I agree. The landmarks are just nice. Actually, they’re really nice when the number is managed – meaning I earned them, rather than spammers.
Yep. Something to be proud of, at least a little bit 🙂
There’s a lot of overhead on following, I think. People either don’t put enough thought into it – or seem to put too much. I think you’re splitting the difference here quite well.
I’ll be honest and say I don’t read the bio of every person I’ve followed – in part because some of it was automated (like following the entire #blogchat participants list) and in part because I routinely follow any non-spam-bot account that replies to me.
Unfollowing… Now that’s a different story. I spend a lot of time in TweetDeck. See a swear? Unfollowed. See some unwarranted snark? Unfollowed. Usually without comment or investigation. I’d rather drop the weak links than fiddle about with explanations.
But then – for me, there’s a difference between curating the resumes in my stream, and curating the stream itself.
I follow Axl Rose, Jon Bon Jovi and you. 🙂
Yes, that’s a very common trilogy 🙂
Hey Margie! My system for following people has changed about 10 times over the last 3 years. At first I was very exclusive, then I went crazy and followed everyone (even if they weren’t following me), then I started following back everyone that followed me, and now I am back to very exclusive & only following people I have met and/or interacted with on Twitter.
Whew.
Now I used to think that if you followed back everyone that you were just trying to pad your numbers, until someone made the point that they follow back everyone so they can then DM them. They feared that some people weren’t comfortable tweeting in public, but would rather DM, and they couldn’t unless that person was following them back. I can understand that line of thinking.
Happy New Year!
Hi Mack,
Thanks so much for stopping by!
It seems like getting a good strategy is kind of like finding that magical pair of shoes. You try on lots of different types and styles until finally you get that perfect shoe on and you know it fits.
When I first started on Twitter, I followed most of the accounts that Twitter recommended in the business section, so in other words, I was following Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company – accounts that really aren’t into engaging as much as just being resources.
As I started following people beyond that realm, I noticed right away that a lot of the accounts were just spam bots (heartbreaking when you’re thinking you might finally get past 75 followers), so I’ve just always taken a look before following. The only time I follow without taking a peek at the profile is if I’ve just talked to someone, or if I see a chat hashtag in their more recent tweets. That tells me they are engaged and are learning about things I care about.
That’s an interesting point about the DM – I know there are a lot of people who have DMd me and then I couldn’t respond because they weren’t following me. Kind of an icky feeling, that. I have a feeling the two example accounts above aren’t sending many DMs though 🙂
Happy New Year to you as well!
Although I’ve been on Twitter less than five months, my following and listing habits have already changed three times.
Yes, I’ve been followed by quite a few of those non sequiter accounts–and blocked them all. Forget not following back, if someone followed me down the street late at night, blurting nonsense at me, I’d be calling the police. So I block.
At first I just followed anyone who looked real and interesting (or really interesting). But less than 48 hours into my Twitter experience, I got involved in a very active chat and followed a lot of people! So I made a few lists. Then another chat a couple of weeks later (these were one-off events) and more lists.
As my followers and following grew, it became difficult to keep up with the feed and switching between multiple lists. So I created an A List (that’s actually the name, but it’s private) of the “best of the best” that I could follow instead of my main feed.
At some point I created a “Please Unfollow” list (also private) for followers I’m not sure I want to follow back, but am not sure are annoying enough to block. Every so often I revisit the list and follow one or two, block a few more.
I have never followed back automatically and I am scrupulous about checking out people before I follow them (or let them follow me). Call it being a paranoid New Yorker; I grew up in New York City through some of our worst years and lived to tell the tale. If I’m not sure I’d want to know someone IRL, I don’t want to know them online.
Karen,
Great insight. Something I have learned about this is that everyone has their own best way of doing it because each of us have a unique way of using Twitter. My sister-in-law uses Twitter to track my wife and me on Twitter. That’s it. She uses it like an IM service. Very easy for her.
Bottom line is that you do what works for you. Sounds like you’re right there. Good for you.
Sounds like a very good strategy. The only time I block users is if they are sending out spam with my name attached to it. I fell for that once – a bot tweeted out, “Really good blogs to read” and listed me and a few other people. I got an unpleasant surprise when I clicked the link, so now I just block and hope I’m not offending the person, if it is a person 🙂
I use lists in a different way – I use lists to segment out my Twitter stream into some bite-sized pieces, but I like to make sure I visit the stream at large, too. Thats how I make sure I’m meeting new people.
Great post, Margie! I consider myself a “generously selective” follower. I look for shared interests, @replies and a “real” photo –as opposed to a logo or cartoon. You may also want to read a recent post by Mark Schaefer http://www.businessesgrow.com/2010/12/27/social-scoring-and-the-business-case-for-blocking-twitter-spammers/ , where he makes the case that FEWER followers may actually improve your ranking with social scoring systems. Seems that being selective can benefit your business?
I definitely need to read that post by Mark. Thanks for the link! And the comment!
Hi Margie, great discussion here. I’ve never been one to blindly follow, but I do follow a few media outlets for information rather than discussion.
Karen had a great point that sums up my views on which people to follow: “If I’m not sure I’d want to know someone IRL, I don’t want to know them online.” That appraoch keeps the creepy factor to a managable level.
I do periodically prune my list, and there are some great tools out there for checking out people’s level of engagement. This makes the process of finding people to follow or unfollow easier. The people that get unfollowed are the ones who turned out to offer little value – no engagement and no insights of interest.
MyTweeple and Tweepi are two good tools to try.
My only fear about judging Twitter accounts in comparison with real life is that a lot of people probably do not act fully as themselves online. It’s very easy to parse out your personality and highlight things you want to highlight. For example, there are entire facets of my sense of humor that I leave out of my professional presence because I am here as a representative of our family’s agency.
In general though, I agree that a lack of interest or lack of engagement are good reasons to maybe not follow back. What those terms mean has to be defined on an individual basis though.
Margie, great argument. You’ve just given me one more reason to scrutinize my twitter network 🙂
Tom
I do what I can to keep you busy, sir 🙂
I’m going to take the minority opinion. Do you really care who I follow? Really?! And even if it is public information – why does it matter to anyone other than me and the other person????
Looking at who I follow tells you very little about me and here’s why: I utilize Twitter lists. And I’m following (sometimes test following) on behalf of my clients and in addition I will give people the benefit of the doubt and give them a follow back until they unfollow me (and I use Nutshell mail to monitor this).
So during the day – I’ve got my lists up on Tweetdeck and in the evening it’s my lists plus a column for whatever chat I may be following.
I’m not trying to be contentious – and I may not understand the point completely – but why would anyone care who I follow? If what is going on between me and you is *good* for me and you – why on earth does it makes any difference if I’m following a bot, or an introvert, or a lurker, or a social media superstar
I don’t know, but whenever I hear someone publicly announcing that they’re pruning down their list – I am far more bothered by why such an announcement is necessary than the merits of those they are unfollowing. To me, it smacks of elitism and clique-ishness.
You raise some very good points, Dawn.
I’m not saying that who people follow affects my opinion of them overall – I just feel surprised that some people end up following accounts like the ones I show above. Usually it’s people who I think of as really being fully engaged. I guess my own perspective is that people who follow a spammy account or a blank account may not be as intricately engaged as I thought.
As you mention though, even that may not be a fair analysis. There are lots of tools that I still don’t know about, and I have a lot to learn there.
In the end, you are right – if things are good between me and another person, it won’t matter who they follow. It’s just interesting to see what names pop up as followers on other accounts that I choose not to follow back myself.
I agree that pruning can come off wrong. I’ve never done a major list pruning, but that’s because I follow very carefully. I hope I can continue to do so in the future.
Thanks, Dawn. I always appreciate you offering a fresh new perspective here.
Margie
Like Mack, I have changed the way that I follow people quite a few times. I do like to have the chance to look at their profile before I follow. If I get retweeted, I make it a point totry and look at each profile of those that have retweeted, look to see a bit of who they are and alsot o see if they have a blog. Sometimes time gets in the way but for the most part, I make this a rule. As far as people following me, I do try and to the same thing.
Google is starting to pay attention to these social signals. If you are being followed by a lot of spam bots, it will eventually affect your rankings. That scares me enough to pay a whole lot of attention to who I am following and who is following me.
Hi Margie!
Just found you here via your guest post My Escape Velocity! 🙂
Spam is one of my pet peeves! I agree with your thoughts here. I am the same way and am very selective of who I follow. I want to only follow people that I actually want to pay attention to. I don’t want spam coming through that feed, and I certainly don’t want to encourage any spammers by giving them my follow “vote”! 😉
Well hi there! Thanks for coming on over to my house 🙂
I guess if you work primarily from lists, as Dawn was talking about, the spam wouldn’t really bother you. It’s not like you would see every tweet that person did. However, I still would tend to agree with you. I have followed a couple of accounts that I’m fairly certain were legit – they just felt like spam. Those are the only 2 accounts I’ve ever actively unfollowed after following. I look pretty carefully now before hitting that follow button 🙂
Margie
This is a Rocca Rolla Topic that needs weeks of discussion.
I recently ran “an app” that looked at my followers activity.
I only had 3 followers with no tweet action in the last 60 days, and I knew each of those accounts. I do block iffy affiliate link pumping followers, and naked icons are surely beautiful but they are also on my immediate block list.
Pardon my brain I don’t recall the name of the app.