I’ve been Twittering a lot lately. This Mashable post about types of Twitter users caused me to think about my own rules about deciding which Twitter users to follow.
- If you follow more people than are following you, that is a strike.
- If you rarely or never post updates, that is a strike. Sneak.
- If you post a tweet every 5 seconds, that is a strike. Get a life.
- If you follow fewer than 20 people, that is a strike. C’mon. You’re not reading any of us?
- If you follow more than 1,500 people, that is a strike. C’mon. You’re not reading all of us.
- If you don’t follow me, that is a strike.
- If you complain about people not following you back, that is a strike.
- If you never reply to people, that is a strike.
- If you only reply to people, that is a strike. Get a room.
- If you auto-reply or send me a direct message when I follow you, I am not flattered, and that is a strike.
- If you call yourself a social media guru, evangelist or consultant, that is a strike.
- Linking and news tweets are great, if you are consistently among the first. If you are not, that is a strike.
- Self-linking is great, unless it is all that you do, in which case it is a strike. (I don’t mind Twitterfeeds if they are clearly presented as that under a company brand.)
- Retweeting is great, but if that is all you do, that is a strike. Especially if you retweet someone that everybody already follows. And by everybody I mean me.
- Original quips are great, unless they are boring or offensive. I decide. Strike!
- I don’t care what you are eating, drinking, watching, smoking, or what the weather is outside your window, or how your commute is going. OK, maybe once in a while. But it might be a strike.
- If you don’t use a real picture of your face, that is a strike.
- If you don’t tell me who you are or what you are about in your bio, that is a strike.
- If we work together, or I already see your status updates on Facebook, I may not follow you because I already know what’s on your mind.
- If you are pretending to be a famous person, or a fictional character, or a building, or someone’s pet, or an inanimate object, that is a strike, unless it is consistently funny.
- If your tweets are all about Twitter and social media, or you compile lists about why you follow and don’t follow people, that is a strike.
If you are interesting enough, I can forgive any number of strikes and follow you anyway.
So what are you waiting for? Follow me @palafo.
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January 23, 2009 at 11:40 am
I might add that if you are someone I already talk to all the time, that is a strike too.
January 23, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Yeah, there are more. If I ask you a question and you don’t answer, that’s a strike. And if you ask me one, and then pester me for an answer, that’s a strike. Fair? No. Life is unfair.
February 11, 2009 at 5:33 pm
This is a great list, but damn. I’m guilty of 1, 5 and 12. Hmmm. How to whittle down my following list…?
See the thing is, though, I treat Twitter like a coffee shop: I walk in, check it out, eavesdrop, chime in, then I leave back to the real world. I can’t stay 24/7, and no one can read every tweet! (see twitterisntemail.com.) But I like having a big population of people I can eavesdrop on whenever I log in. It’s that serendipitous effect that enhances the joy of Twitter for me.
I also use TweetDeck for user groups to have access to the short list of Twitterers I DO follow and care about, but I admittedly use that maybe once a week.
The big reason why a huge follow list is beneficial to me: I’m also a helpless internet addict, and I think the more people I follow the less I feel forced to stay online and explore EVERYTHING. Which is a good thing, because otherwise I would never leave!
February 14, 2009 at 10:14 am
My list is somewhat contradictory and tongue-in-cheek. I’ll follow anyone with interesting Tweets. But there
are certain correlations…
February 21, 2009 at 1:52 pm
[...] My Rules for Following on Twitter [...]