We’ve previously talked about the follow & be followed necessities of Twitter because the tool is useless unless you use it socially but does that mean you need to follow everyone who follows you?
Let’s face it, if you followed every conversation on Twitter, you’d never get any work done and let’s also face the facts about some of the reasons people using Twitter.
- Some Twitterers just want to talk about what they ate for breakfast
- A good number of Twitterers just want to sell you stuff
- Some of them Tweeps just make a whole lotta white internet noise
But there are also some very interesting conversations happening and hot topics being discussed and where else could you personally connect with gurus in technology and media? This virtual water cooler can be very beneficial in many different ways!
So, how do you know who you should follow on Twitter?
When you get an invite, consider this:
- What is on the URL they’ve linked to in their profile?
- How many followers have they got and do they follow?
- Is there anything of value in their last ten tweets.
That last one is a biggie. Twitter, as a social marketing tool can be great for many things including getting valuable information. If you see a bunch of spammy links, don’t waste your time. If you see nothing but gibberish, you probably haven’t got time for that either. And another famous futile attempt is the stream of TinyURL‘s that don’t have any accompanying text to tell you why you should click.
You don’t have to have a huge amount in common with everyone on your follow list but if you are a little bit selective about who you choose to follow you’ll definitely get more out of this very popular social media tool.
About Sean Rasmussen
Hi Sean,
I really enjoy using Twitter. The thing I really love about Twitter is that I can get up close and personal with the best of the best in my niche. I can see what they tweet about each day and I learn so much from reading what they have to say.
I read their blogs but on Twitter you can comment on something they say and if it’s interesting they might actually answer me. I think Twitter helps me to build relationships with people I want to learn from.
I agree! I got a follower recently that then made a legit comment to me – but when I checked out there “bio” – looked dodgy! Perhaps someone from India – possibly looking to sell me something & waste my time or worse… open up the doors for a whole bunch of his ‘friends’ that will ALL follow me!
But since using Twitter more recently I am feeling far more positive about it. I thought it was more for the 14 year olds. I am always a person of many words so I find it hard to keep it concise to the character length of 2 words. It’s an exaggeration! Still my point… and I do have one.
I have tended to not really use Twitter to its full advantage.
Your tips will help me get this sorted so I am using it effectively.
Great advice. It is very easy to fall into the trap of simply adding anyone and everyone and then drowning yourself with tweets. The worst thing about simply adding anyone on twitter is that the really good tweets get lost. So yes, I agree – be very selective when choosing who you follow.
Hi Sean
Even though I signed up to Twitter a year ago, I haven’t used it as I never seemed to have the time. Now after reading your post, I can see the importance of this social networking tool and how to sift out the time wasters and spammers.
I also enjoyed reading what Jazz had to say about her experience with Twitter and now I am very interested in learning more so I can be a twiffik tweeter and not a twitty tweeter!
Blessings
Elly
Just think, Elly,
If you turn from being a twitty tweeter to a twiffik tweeter, you’ll get twiffik tweeter twaffic!
Just a thought!
Cheers,
Pete
Hi Sean,
I’m I so pleased to receive this valuable information because before this article, I didn’t know the guidelines for seeking and adding Twitter followers. More importantly, what is expected from me as a potential twit to follow.
I have not been using Twitter to its best advantage. I will now seek to have conversations and possibly also on hot topics, etcetera.
Glad to be of help Jill. Happy Twittering, have fun
G’day Sean,
I’m guilty of just adding anyone who follows me, and didn’t make full use of Twitter until I read this post.
Main Twitter use for me is bookmarking your blogs / posts where there is a button with which to do the job.
Thankyou for this excellent bit of information.
Cheers
Harry
I always tend to look at the URL that a person’s linked to their profile, to see if it is of interest to me. It’s taking a while, however I am slowly getting a better idea of the benefits that Twitter has to offer.