Everyone has their own reasons for choosing who to follow on Twitter. Some limit who the follow and keep it to a few hundred people. Others follow every single person who follows them.
For me, I fall somewhere in between.
I follow most people who follow me on Twitter, but I don’t use a automated system to follow people back. I look through every person who follows me. That’s right, I take a minute or two to look through the profile of every person who decides to follow me.
I think it’s important to get to know the people who care what I have to say online. And most times, I will follow people back.
But there are also some reasons I absolutely will not follow someone.
I will not follow you if:
1. You don’t have an avatar. An avatar is the picture or image associated with your account. If you have the Twitter goose egg there instead, I won’t follow you. I want to see the person or business behind the account.
2. Your bio is incomplete. The bio is only 140 characters. Take a few minutes to say a little bit about yourself. If you leave this blank, why should I get to know you?
3. Your avatar is a picture of money. I avoid get rich quick Tweeters like the plague. If you are all about “making money online” (the spammy way), I won’t come near you. Sorry.
4. Your avatar is something even less savory. Twitter has cleaned up the spam quite a bit, but for a while, it was common to get followers with some inappropriate photos. Those followers, I block…and fast.
5. You’ve never tweeted. It’s amazing to me how many people open up an account and let it sit. Don’t let analysis paralysis keep you from tweeting. Put yourself out there and say hello. If you don’t say anything, why should I follow?
6. You’ve never replied to your followers. For me, the point of twitter is to build relationships. If you’ve never @replied to your followers, it shows me you don’t care about a two-way conversation. There are some exceptions to this rule, but generally speaking, I want to connect with people who are going to talk back.
7. You only promote yourself. Plenty of people simply use Twitter to promote their own stuff non-stop. It almost turns into a 24/7 RSS feed of their blog. If that’s your thing, that’s fine, but I’m not tuning in.
One sure-fire way to guarantee I’ll follow you back? Engage with me. One of the main reasons I’m on Twitter is to build relationships. It’s amazing how many wonderful people I have made in-person relationships with all because we struck up a conversation online.
So, if you want to connect with me or anyone else on Twitter, say hello. Chances are, the person will talk right back.
What are the reasons you choose not to follow someone? Is there anything we should add to the list?
14 replies on “7 Reasons I won’t follow you on Twitter”
Interesting post Laura and I agree totally with all your points, I would add too many irrelevant tweets, seeing that same avatar popping up endlessly in the stream really turns me off! And Avatars that flash, they just have to go!!
Cheers
Tony
Thanks for weighing in and for connecting with me on Twitter today, Tony!
You make some interesting points. I agree with the flash avatars.
As for irrelevant tweets, that’s certainly in the eye of the beholder. If you like basketweaving and want to tweet about that all day, that’s your prerogative. And, as a result, you will likely attract others with that same hobby. But, it might not be something I want to read about. In that case, I wouldn’t change how I or someone else tweets. The point isn’t to appeal to everyone, but to the people who want to hear what you have to say about a particular topic. Make sense?
That said, you’re right – if someone is tweeting about something that’s not interesting to me, then I probably won’t follow.
Awesome…awesome…awesome, oh and AWESOME!
Thanks, Laura!
Once someone drops the f-bomb or other form of lazy language, I immediately unfollow.
Certainly different people have different opinions on this one. That’s not a complete dealbreaker for me, as long as it’s not all the time. A lot of it depends on the person. Thanks for weighing in, Susan!
I totally agree! I have been asked for a follow-back from people, who don’t have much to offer and tend not to follow them just because they asked. What do you think?
As far as cussing, I think it can be appropriate at certain times, but if done too often, can be a turn-off. Thanks for your insight, Laura!
I agree with you, Courtenay. It’s such a turn-off when people ask for a follow. If they want you to follow them, they should try replying or retweeting your stuff to get your attention. Asking for a follow is the wrong way to get the attention.
I follow Naomi Dunford who is notorious for her potty mouth, but it doesn’t bother me because she’s an excellent writer (her blog rocks) and is incredibly smart. But, there are definitely others who drop the f-bomb and it’s like nails on a chalkboard. It definitely depends on the person and how it’s used.
Thanks for weighing in, Courtenay!
There are other reasons, Laura. Moments ago, I unfollowed you on Twitter — and subscribed to your blog instead. Key that many fail to realize is if there are multiple ways to be heard and to be interacted with online, it is human to change things up.
Speaking of which, could you add a plugin to your blog here so people like me can optionally check a box to receive followup comments? If you reply right now, I’ll never know. http://ariwriter.com/1-essential-plugin-for-your-wordpress-blog/ Something to think about.
Interesting take, Ari. You’re right – everyone has their own way of following along. Some like RSS, some like e-mail, some follow on Twitter or Like on Facebook, while others do all of the above.
Thanks for mentioning that plugin. I didn’t realize it wasn’t on the blog because I get all comments – I didn’t realize that option wasn’t there for others. Thanks so much for pointing that out. I’ve now installed it so you can keep up with the conversation. Glad to have you weigh in, Ari!
I’m completely with you! I do the same thing all the time. I am not just going after numbers. It freaks me out that weird people could be reading my comments day in and day out. (And they still can, but at least I can limit the number.)
Yes, it’s far more about relationships than numbers! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Laura,
Great and informative stuff for a newbie and it travels well, all the way to Manchester UK, will follow for sure found you via Richards blog
https://twitter.com/#!/RichardHeadland
So glad you found it helpful, Ian!