6 Reasons I Didn’t Follow You on Twitter
I’ve been using Twitter for quite some time now and find the more I use it, the more followers I get. Most people who follow my Twitter feed get a reciprocal follow back from me, but not everybody.
I’ve compiled a list of reasons why I don’t follow back with the hopes that it could help people struggling to get subscribers. Hopefully this will help you examine your Twitter strategy and improve upon it if you’re having difficulty.
- I don’t know you
This is not to say I don’t follow strangers, in fact most people I follow on Twitter I don’t actually know. I do however follow lots of people I know by reputation through their work or by reading their blogs. I don’t know Darren Rowse for example, but I have read his book and subscribe to ProBlogger. If I know you personally or know you by reputation, you’re pretty much guaranteed a follow. If I don’t know you even by reputation, that doesn’t mean I won’t follow you, but it does mean I’ll take a look at other criteria (listed below) before following. - You are what you Tweet
When someone follows me, the first thing I do is look at your tweets. What do you tweet? Do you tweet about topics of interest to me? I personally use Twitter to get useful links and communicate with other users. However if all you tweet are links to each & every blog post you write and never talk about anything else, I don’t see any reason to follow. Twitter is not a substitute for an RSS feed. That said, I do not mind a high level of link outs, just don’t make that all you tweet. - You Tweet too much
There are a few people I have un-followed simply because they tweet too much. My twitter screen just gets filled with only their updates and because they tweet so often, there’s often little of value said. Despite Twitter’s reputation that bathroom updates are the norm, I really don’t want to know that level of detail in your day. If you tweet so often that you feel it necessary to mention that, I won’t follow. This type of activity can trump reputation (yes this includes you Scobleizer. Look at the frequency!) - There’s no link in your profile
Don’t forget to fill in your blog or website when you’re completing your profile, it’s one of the main things I look at when considering a follow-back. Chances are if your site interests me, your tweets probably will too. - Your updates are protected
If you’ve followed me and I don’t know who you are, I can’t assess the quality of your tweets if I can’t see them. Unprotect your updates if you want followers who don’t already know you. - You have no Tweets
I appreciate we all have to start Twitter somewhere, but if I don’t know you, you haven’t filled in your profile info and you haven’t made any tweets except “I just started Twitter” I don’t follow. I try to remember to check back in a week to see if you’ve been sending out some interesting messages, but sorry… sometimes I forget who that person was. If you’re new to Twitter and are looking for some followers, make a few tweets first so people can assess whether your tweets will be of interest to them.
Not everybody is aiming to get followers on Twitter, but if you are and you’re finding it challenging I hope this list will help you.
Do you use Twitter and if so, what do you consider when deciding to follow somebody?
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October 26th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Well you haven’t canned me… yet!
I’ve been having these conversations with other twitterers.
My criteria for following someone is:
- in my field
- I know
- in my town
- whom I find interesting
- who I can learn from
- who publishes information that I feel is relevant
- news sources
- transit related
- corporate, government, or non-profit org
There are a few exceptions, but that is the gist of it. I don’t expect a reciprocal follow. To me that’s not the point of twitter. I ultimately need to show value in some form (friendship, knowledge, etc.) to be of interest to others.
It serves me well. I see twitter as a (1) great way to communicate with my friends and peers, and (2) huge knowledge base of resources that I can draw from and contribute to. I make it work for me. I’m not particularly obsessed with having a gazillion followers, if you like what you read, stick around. If not, so be it. There should not be any expectation. If I don’t follow you back, it just means that I haven’t had the time to follow your stream. If you are just looking for a follow-back, move on.
As a social networking platform, it is both incredibly powerful and dangerous. Powerful in the sense that you can interact with your network in ways you previously could not or had to depend on Facebook. Dangerous, because you are accountable for every tweet.
The emergence of tools like twitter grader give users the ability to check their “twitter power” by assigning a grade. Those with more followers usually end up high in the rank. It is a fun tool the first time, but you are not taking into consideration the quality of the stream, which in my opinion is what twitter is about. There are a few people I follow with well over a few thousand followers, but that is because they are worth following. Their visibility is higher than mine, but their fan base is huge because of who they are, not because they’ve spammed users into follow-backs. It’s not about getting people to follow you; if you’re worth following, they will find you anyway.
October 26th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
My thoughts exactly.
October 26th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
My sentiments exactly.
October 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Excellent points and all very valid. I take a good look at someone’s profile and URL before deciding whether to follow back on Twitter or not.
I generally use the service to connect with like-minded people so I can learn from my peers and hopefully share with my contemporaries.
If all you’re about is seeing how popular you can be with the most followers, or you just want to add as many social media apps as possible to out-do your friends, we’re probably not a good match.
October 26th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Excellent points! I particularly relate to the third point. Yes, too much is too much. And yes, I don’t have to know everything about you.
@gtherrien
October 27th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Thanks everybody for all the comments and re-tweets on this post! I think I have to add a #7: I speak your language. Sometimes I get followed by folks who when I look at their feed, it’s all in a language I don’t know.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I really like the post! I certainly enjoy twitter for its ability to provide me with a broad overview of what’s happening in real time
locally with my peers, and internationally, with the “cyber celebrities” that I choose to follow. I also agree that if you post way too often, I will be forced to unsubscribe - one only has so much time to scan the day’s tweets!
I’m a little stuck on point #5 though, and I’m interested in your perspective… I tend to be overly cautious, and am often advocating
that users be conscious of who has access to their information (which includes the play-by-plays out to the entire twitter world). I
appreciate the choice of privacy on twitter, even if it means that not everyone can read my tweets. Protected updates don’t stop me from following back, seeing as I can always un-follow a spammer or non-contributor if that’s who they turn out to be.
I do want to contribute to the community, and I enjoy the twitter conversations - but it’s challenging to argue the case for privacy to
other tweeters when it comes at the cost of followers. Even if “number of followers” isn’t a priority, are we really losing the opportunity
to have interesting peers read what we have to say? For me, it’s a challenge because I enjoy having the conversations, but twitter is an open network where even the non-tweeters can view your posts, and maybe not everyone wants that level of publicity- but just are not aware that you can have more control?
Is not following those with protected updates punishing the privacy-conscious? What are your thoughts?
October 29th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Great points Amanda. For me personally I get so many follows from spam accounts that I really try and find out about the person before following. If you’ve hidden your updates, but you’ve still posted your URL, I would still follow if I found your site interesting.
I also buy Mario’s argument above that I’d follow someone from my town, even if they were protected.
I’d also follow someone whose updates are protected if I saw them say something of interest elsewhere — in fact I followed you after leaving your comment on this post.