Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Why Do You Follow People on Twitter?

February 25, 2009 | Feature, Social Media

People follow others on Twitter for different reasons. But, every now and then I see a tweet that just makes me wonder why they follow people in the first place. And it is actually a bit frustrating.

Picture 15 What’s so frustrating? People who follow people only so that they’ll get followed back.

Now, I understand that this is very common. Most certainly, following others is a great way to connect and it is a lot harder to connect if they don’t follow you back. What really makes it frustrating, though, is when they’ll unfollow somebody BECAUSE they don’t follow you back.

Is it just me or does that completely kill the point of following to begin with?

When I see people use something like Friend or Follow to clean out their Twitter list, unfollowing people who don’t follow them, I just let off a big sigh.

I follow people because I am interested in them. Not because I’m looking to jack up my follower numbers. I don’t unfollow anybody if they don’t follow me.

Every day, I have people who follow me hoping that I’ll quickly follow them back. Most often, I don’t do that. It isn’t anything personal. It isn’t because I’m conceited and don’t care about you. It is only because, in my business, I am subject to a LOT of incoming information. Twitter can be total information overload if not managed correctly. So, in that light, I’m just a little choosy about who I follow. If we have any form of relationship at all, I’ll follow you.

Since I use Tweetdeck, I see all replies to me even if I don’t follow the person. So, any tweet sent @davidrisley I’m going to see. If you ask me to follow so you can send a DM, I will. But, auto-following is an abuse of Twitter, as far as I’m concerned.

So, this post is left open-ended. I’ve stated my piece and I’d like to hear from you. Even if you do follow for the follow-back, you can admit it and I will not tounge-lash you. :)

My questions:

  1. Do you follow people mostly because you want them to auto-follow you back?
  2. Do you unfollow people who don’t follow you back?

Please post a comment let us know.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

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  3. Which Is More Important on Twitter: Who You Follow or Being Followed?
  4. Follow Friday Is Useless
  5. Twitter Marketing: Insider Tip

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  • feel the same way as you David, I follow people who I'm interested in. I don't use any auto service, in fact, anyone who wants to follow me goes to my email 1st. Yeah, it can get hectic, but I am fussy about who's following me. To me it's not a numbers game, it's about good info I can use; headline news, or a joke or a cute puppy pic or sometimes a good spiritual quote. When I'm reading the timeline, I don't want it filled with spam or nonsense talk. I really don't understand why people would want to gain 1,000 followers in a week, doesn't that just defeat the whole purpose? I see it a lot with IMers, but if u don't build a relationship with them, to me it's just an empty list. And some people who I follow and they don't follow back doesn't bother me, I am interested in what they say, but they don't know me from a hole in the wall and most of my comments I know wouldn't interest them anyway. I'm not offended, oh well, chaulk another one up for the diversity of humans...lol
  • April
    What would a company's strategy be not to follow those following them?
  • great read, very informative we are now following you
  • I am fairly new to twitter also and I just don't use it to its full advantage. Although I do it just for my business, I'm hoping that people who actually follow me will end up becoming a customer.
  • Hey Ed Lucia, have you thought about trying an MLM? :P Just joking. I couldn't resist.
  • Excellent post and always great to see others that are full time on the net making a living. I started with a niche membership site, ecommerce store, blogging and now micro niche mini sites with my own products.

    Great high quality content my friend and I also live here in Florida, maybe we can meet one day and share some stories!

    You are now free to move around the plane,

    Bob Ratcliff
  • I totally agree. I am new to twitter and I still don't really get it. I was told to follow as many people as possible..but then I was reading all this info that didn't matter to me...I couldn't figure out the benefit. So, I refined my list..and went back to the truth of my brand..quality not quantity! Now it's beginning to make sense. Your articles have been real and helpful..thank you!
  • When I get notice that someone is following me, I check their profile. If every post is an ad, if it looks like porn, or if their subject matter doesn't interest me, then I don't follow back. Otherwise, I follow in hopes of seeing something interesting as time goes by.

    I do wish I knew the way to unfollow someone quickly - because sometimes I make a mistake and follow the wrong person.

    I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter and don't follow too many links because there just aren't enough hours in the day - but I have found interesting websites and learned some things by clicking.

    I also haven't taken the time to learn about all the different applications - Tweet Deck and all the rest are still a mystery to me. And, since I'm "technologically challenged," they may remain so.
  • I do not remove people if they don't follow me. I mean why? Why take it so personal?

    If you follow someone that is your choice, and it is their choice whether to follow you or not.

    I think its cool that celebs are joining Twitter because it shows they are human like the rest of us. We as the general public put these people on some sort of pedestal, but in reality, they are simply People too, they just have more money than most.
  • Good post David. I follow people that seem interesting to me. Many happen to be celebries since I guess it's interesting to get a more informal look inside their lives, or their heads I guess you could say. I follow some of my friends too but most of mine haven't gotten on Twitter yet or are just coming around to it. Twitter is getting alot of press as of now and should increase greatly in the coming months. I don't unfollow people who don't follow me. If they want to follow me, they will and I don't have a problem if they don't. I've tried to start tweeting more and will occasionally try to do some humorous tweets to make my otherwise probably boring life more interesting to those who might want to follow.
  • "I am subject to a LOT of incoming information. Twitter can be total information overload if not managed correctly."

    David, one might argue that whether you follow someone back or not is completely irrelevant to the filtering of your information stream, which depends more on your filtering tools than the tools of the "built-in" stream and interface that Twitter supplies.

    I usually follow everyone back, unless it seems like a complete waste of time, and I'm tenfold rewarded because I tend to get noticed by people in other ends of the TwitterSphere, which would otherwise not find me. On the other hand, I care less and less about the almost near random "stream" of info that Twitter supplies in "my feed" and depend more on my Facebook "stream", RSS feeds and live searches via http://search.twitter.com/ for my "incoming" stream, when I need it. My point is, that there is a variety of tools for handling your information streams, which does not necessarily prevent you from handling a lot of "followed".
  • @ Wesley...I couldn't agree more!

    I don't really care what someone Tweets about, but I do expect interaction and if they continue to blast personal messages without responding or interacting then I will drop them.
  • CharlesBudd
    I only follow people who:
    a) have a common interest with me - usually environmental issues;
    b) sound interesting or funny from their tweets;
    c) live near me, so we might meet up at a tweetup.
    If someone follows me, I'll only follow them if they meet at least one of the above categories. But I can understand that people who use Twitter for business might want to follow (and be followed by) lots of people; for me that would just be a pain in the arse, and boring!
    With best twegards
    Charles
  • I've never followed anyone in hopes that they'll follow me back. If I follow first it is because I am interested in what they have to say. I quite honestly could care less if they follow me back. I'm selfish like that! I'd rather not bore someone with my drivel. And it's all drivel!

    Generally though, when they follow me first, I do follow back - unless they are clearly a spammer. I use TweetDeck and have several groups Sorry. I have to filter!

    Though I have begun unfollowing those who've apparently followed me only to increase their follower #s.

    I save all the "so and so is following you" notifications from those who followed me first. I check back a few weeks later - if they're no longer following and their following #s are a lot lower than followed, (unless I want to hear from them) I unfollow.
  • David, easy enough. I did a posting on building your micro-community as a filter for information. You base who you follow on content they provide that you are interested in or just that they have great thoughts and links.
    http://planetlotus.org/3af50c
  • What annoys me the most is to be followed, I say "hmm, I wonder if this guy is interesting" and follow back, then check a day later - and he's not following me anymore. Look, I understand that Twitter can be used to help promote your work (I do that), but this screams self-promotion to me in a different way. When I introduce myself to someone with the hope that they will come to my site, I will STAY following them, even if they don't follow me back. I'm building a network, not a number.
  • I tend to follow people who follow me. But if those people begin tweetering about stupid crap (like they just got out of bed, or what they had to eat) or if they name drop a lot or if they just talk about themselves, then I stop following them.

    Surprisingly, a lot of "pro bloggers" and affiliate marketers are the worse for the above.

    Wesley
    The Geek Entrepreneur
  • I had this same argument with someone on the Warrior Forum a few months ago (I won't say her name here), and I think that unfollowing people that don't follow you is juvenile. Twitter isn't High School and it certainly isn't a place to spam your business. Use it to broaden your information antenna and to expand your reach.
  • David,

    Interesting question. A variety of responses. I follow people who share my passions, or who are passionate about something that interests me. I love twitter.

    On the other hand, If someone follows me, I visit his/her twitter page and website. If there isn't a match, I don't follow the person. Absolutely nothing personal. As my daughter reminded me, "Dad you have to set limits, or I'll just get out of control" She was right!
  • Hey David, your dad and I met through Twitter today and we ended up talking on the phone for awhile. We're both pilots, play the guitar, and I'm a State Certified GC in fla, and your dad of course is an Engineer. We're going to post on each others blogs. To say that I think Twitter is powerful for a business would be an under-statement! I will be coming to your blog, I hope you'll check us out. You have a lot of great content here, we'll let people know about you. Your dads a great guy, I look forward to meeting you in the future. Thanks, Bob Lewis

    PS we followed you on Twitter today!
  • It really depends on how you are using Twitter. I follow just about everyone who follows me. I do that because I want to give that person the respect of following them as well. Never know where I will get the next idea for something, or see an update I want to reply to. If I have no interest in that person I will not follow. I do not follow companies that I have no interest in. There are a lot of those spam accounts out there.

    But the reason I use a service like twitter karma to unfollow those who may not be following me is because of the follow limits. There are some who will follow you to get you to follow back and then unfollow. This messes up your ratio.

    I just had that problem where I hit 2,000 that I was following with 1700 followers. I had to trim back. But I did not unfollow the people who I am following and really enjoy doing so. Some I know will not follow me back but I like their updates and will continue to follow, I don't care.

    But if I am following people, who are not following back and I am not engaging that person or as interested in their updates as I thought I would be, I will unfollow.
  • Since I have only recently been trying to embrace twitter I am only following people I know or can learn about various subjects from. I dont tend to post very much and I only sign in once or twice a day. I'm not a really technical kind of guy so I havent quite got the grasp of the concept outside of it being a mini-myspace/facebook/IM. All of which I'm not really big fans of.
    But I do love following your tweets, it gives you a human connection to us out here trying to learn.
  • I follow people to discover trends and new websites. I don't care if they follow me.
  • I'm with you on this. I tend to follow anybody who I "spot" (via another tweet or reply) who I think might be interesting or connected with one of my interests in some way.
    I don't unfollow if they don't follow me, but I do have a weed out of people I'm following every now and then. If I haven't connected with them in some way after a month or so (or if they piss me off in some way) then I do unfollow.
  • Ed Lucia
    Hello David,

    Thanks for you blogs. I'm still new to Twitter and the rest of social media and like reading what you have to say.

    I agree with Patrick; my primary focus is on people who I follow because I want to know what they're saying and don't want to miss out on content that I'm interested in. I'm choosing to follow you and others because I want to learn more and connect, somehow.

    I've never used Friend or Follow, but I have unfollowed people who requested to follow me, then unfollowed me in a day or so-- they probably did so because I'm not very active on twitter yet...

    The reason I may unfollow in return is that I may be mutually uninterested in them as well (I'm burned out on the different MLM "shtuff"-- I think it's great that many are successful in MLM, I know of many opportunities like that, but not really what I want to do-- and I don't want to get recruited to sell, even though many products and services are good quality).

    Anyway, there are my two pennies... Thanks again for your post and yeah, I'll follow you anyway because of that alone!
  • Good question...

    I follow people on twitter because they have the same interest that i have. I follow them because they definitely know more than i do. I get a lot of new things daily from them all, like you, Anthonio, amongst other people...

    I guess this literally makes others to follow me too..Lately, i receive a minimum of five new followers daily on my twitter account which is http://www.twitter.com/adesojiadegbulu
  • Hi David,

    I recently started using Twitter and I must say, it's an amazing service.

    I understand that there are those that use it to get more friends and stay in touch with them. On the other hand there are those like myself who want to increase their network of contacts in the hope that Twitter updates will help them promote a product, service, website or blog.

    From a business perspective, you're spot on. You can't follow everyone - period.

    From a social perspective, I can see the reasoning behind someone saying "well, screw you for not following me, I won't be your friend anymore."
  • Great article here David.

    As a newbie Twitter user I have to admit I have been more focused on Quantity then Quality. So I have been using the auto-follow option. I don't think necessary that auto-follow is a no-no. But I can see that if you want to build quality relationship with your followers then auto-follow is not recommended.

    After some great advices I got towards the branding I want to build for myself I will end auto-follow more then likely this week. Of course your article reminded me about that. So will add that on my Google calendar.

    But I don't expect people that I follow to follow me back again.

    I usually unfollow people that spam me or send profane tweets, dont either like advertising in tweets.

    Personally I think Friend or Follow is a nice tool. It happens that I use it to unfollow, but that is after I checked their profile, tweets, blogs etc. So I don't use it for the purpose of unfollowing.

    I realized with auto-follow it has been a little annoying when you experience someone follows you, then shortly they unfollow you again.

    Building a quality follower base is a challenge, and avoiding some of the 'do not' follower basics can be tricky sometimes.

    Keep up with articles like this David..

    Article is bookmarked and tweeted/retweeted.

    Cheers..
  • Luckily I will be teach by my friend and mentor more about Tweetdeck in next coming weeks. He never frustrate me before.
  • Erik Florida
    I look for utility. Twitter is a service. When someone follows me, or I find someone I might want to follow, I look into what they tweet about, I check out information on their profile, and hopefully a link (I am much less likely to follow if I can't go to a Web site to learn about you) and then I decide if it would add value to my stream to have that persons content included. I don't expect anyone to add me for any other reason. Sometimes the feed is valuable for one party, but not the other. It's not personal unless you already know me outside of Twitter.
  • I follow people in twitter because every follower has something to show or that I can learn from.I know that not all I follow follows me back,but the people I don't follow even if they follow me,is because some have indecent websites that wanted promoted-they got suspended from twitter later,they use a inapropriate language during a tweet(e.g.some romanian twetterers that I unfollowed)or the people that follow had account suspended from the start.But the people I follow have allways good things to share.
  • I prefer John Chow's take on this - follow people if they follow you, because it's SOCIAL, then use a tool, such as TwitterDeck to create a smaller group of the people you actually want to take notice of.

    SocialToo's service of who follows you is interesting, it show what you had Tweeted when they followed you - perhaps giving an insight into why they followed you in the first place.
  • Shelley
    Sometimes I have had friends link up with me, and that's okay except we really don't have any common ground in regards to Twitter. Since I am relatively new to this arena, my immediate connections have to do with similar sites such as yours; but as I send feelers out, I am finding more people that are spurning my own interests. At that point, I go back through my list and undo the ones that I feel are no longer needed in order to move on. I share the same thought, glean from those whose information can be appreciated and put to good use.
  • While I haven't seen FriendOrFollow until today I do have to admit it has one great thing going for it- the bunny graphic while it's searching your friends.

    On a more serious note though, I do only follow friends or people who I feel that I may learn something from so am not overly concerned about the return follow for anyone who falls into the second category.
  • Speaking of twitter, does anyone know what the difference is between Tweetfeed and Twitter? I'm puzzled by it?
  • "Twitter can be total information overload if not managed correctly." - this became very obvious now, many people started using twitter just for test drive, reciprocal following should not the real intention for inventing twitter I think.
  • Patrick Stephens
    This is a great post. Just checked out the site Friend or Follow and looked at the people I follow who are not following me. If I unfollowed all of those people then I would miss out on some really great content. I don't use Twitter as a contest to get the most followers. I use it to communicate with people and share and read some great information.

    Thanks for sharing this post.
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