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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!)
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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?