Twitter Follow Backs
Alright, have to vent. I know you are all super surprised right? lol yeah, whatever! This post is to help get things off my chest so you can just deal with it. 
What is up with people getting offended if you don’t follow them back on twitter? What is up with people expecting that just because they clicked a button I should follow them? ROFLMAO Are you kidding me? You really must give me a reason. Let me read some of your tweets and like them or hit some replies and interact with me and I will follow immediately.
Let’s define social a little bit for those of you that may have forgotten. It’s interaction. Social = seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious. Network = a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest: It’s not just a link exchange, if I wanted that I could buy that right? It’s learning from and about others. You may want to notice the “supportive” part of the definition I found on dictionary.com. LOL
So if you go on twitter or any other social site, don’t EXPECT a follow. It’s just not social to expect everyone to say Hi in the hallway.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I AGREE!! I AGREE!! I don’t get offended if people don’t follow me back cos I’m following them for a reason (to learn something or to laugh).
And people shld NOT be offended if I don’t follow back cos the reason I don’t is they aren’t interacting with anyone and their tweet feed is all about them .. I follow most tweeps back if they are being social as described A-Bove.
But if people follow and unfollow me then I do the same cos hey what’s the point if you don’t want to continue a 2 way conversation right
Again, no hard feelings ever!
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
This Blog reminds me the reason I like bloging so much, the interaction is very important with readers and you guys have it right. Looks great too, will be back for more posts, David the mover.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Totally agree! I don’t follow a lot of people that follow me. Either because they are spammers and won’t last long, they are only posting about their blog posts or even because I don’t think I have much in common with them. I don’t follow people just to get numbers like many people I see on Twitter. Why in the world would you follow every person that follows you? It makes no sense! Twitter is a social networking tool and you don’t network with every person on the net do you?
I just laugh when I see tweets that say they are at 2000 followers and all that. How in the world could you possibly get to know all these people? I personally think they just see $$$ signs.
I don’t even pay attention to who follows or unfollows me. It seems unproductive to keep up with that.
Just my 10 cents *wink*
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
ROFL! Tell it like it is sista!
Seriously, I’m still semi-new to twitting. I’ve been there a bit but not that much. Heck, I still see some twitter-lingo (or twitterese?) that I don’t know what it means yet.
So that said, I’ve probably ticked a whole lot of people off. I don’t always follow back everyone I follow and I don’t expect anyone who I follow to follow me back either.
Just because I am interested in what someone has to say doesn’t mean they are interested in what I have to say!
I HAVE noticed one thing though …
I’ve found which posts get me followers and which ones don’t. I honestly I didn’t have that particular goal in mind - it just worked out that way.
I can make 10 tweets of one kinds and noone will follow me for a long time. I make one tweet of one other kind and I pick up 2 - 3 followers! LOL! (And no - I don’t follow them all back.)
I don’t pay any attention to anyone who unfollows me. (Is there a way to even know that?)
I do however, if I have some extra time take a peek at my new follower’s profile page. I skim down over what they’re tweeting about and make my decision from there.
(Unless it’s obvious by the twitter name that it’s just a spammer - then I don’t bother at all.)
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Tia, that’s why I followed you so quickly. We connected immediately. I don’t have time to unfollow anyone. Unless I keep seeing nothing but crappy tweets,then I’ll hit unfollow.
HEY ANGIE! I do have to say that I have multiple accounts now. For the biz sites I do follow everyone. But those are strictly for the numbers so they can see what’s going on at mom chats or wahm chats or my wahm space. I interact a little on those, but they are mostly just to get updates to our sites out, totally not social networking. lol
Anita, if I post something that some will find offensive I get a ton of new followers immediately. lol It cracks me up. Like I need encouragement to speak my mind
Thanks for stopping by ladies!
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I follow those that interest me, those that do not I dont. I dont worry about following people because, they follow me
Of course I am kinda a blunt person anyways. But, thats about like being around someone you really arent interested in outside of the internet. Would you choose to spend time with someone that wanted to spend time with you simply because they wanted you to? Probably not 
Its sometimes hard to keep up with following to many anyways. Thats why I choose to follow those that truly interest me or we share a common interest. I agree people should not be offended if someone doesnt follow them. I do not expect all of the people I follow to follow me. In fact I dont even check
So I agree
Rhonda
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I too am still learning about Twitter like Anita - heck I replied to myself tonite! LOL!
I have found it easier to just accept that who ever is following me is following me. So far I haven’t gotten any unfollowers. (Still too new I guess) I often wonder WHY some follow me - I know for links, but…can’t say that I’m tracking which Tweets are getting me followers.
My problem with the follow-back is I have a hard enough time keeping up with those I am following, and don’t know how you do it with the number you’re following Val. Don’t want those Tweeters I consider to be important to me to get lost!:)
December 4th, 2008 at 6:05 am
LOL! Yeah Val - you really don’t need any more reason to speak your mind. But, that’s what we love about you best!
Lauren - I can’t say that I’m really tracking what gets me followers as much as it’s pretty obvious.
For the most part, my tweets are what I’m doing personally and business-wise. Just that “what I’m doing”.
But, every once in while I’ll post a “quick affiliate management tip”. (You can see them if you click on my favorites - gotta track what I have and haven’t posted, lol)
On my daily “regular tweets” I may pick up a follower here and there. But, as soon as I post one of the affiliate tips, I get a whole bunch of followers.
So no, I’m not really tracking, it’s just very noticeable.
And it’s either a really big coincidence or people really do like them.
So, now that I posted that publicly, wonder how many more affiliate marketing tips I’m gonna see? ROFL!
Val - Last night you had a twitter grade thing here. I was trying to check it out but the link wasn’t working. I don’t see it now. What was it?
AND … how do you get that twitter box on the right that says “what am I doing …” that posts your recent twitter post??
Inquiring minds wanna know!
December 4th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Nevermind about the grader - it’s back. Check it out now. But I still want to know what the other thing is. lol
December 4th, 2008 at 7:45 am
The badge is not that obvious in the twitter program. lol Click on your settings. Then about half way down there will be tiny print text link “(You can also add twitter to your site here)”. It’s right under where you put your URL.
I found it on accident. Then when someone wanted to know how to do it the first time I couldn’t for the life of me find it again. lol I wonder why they make it so unobtrusive?
Lauren, I also get quite a few new followers by replying to others.
Twitter was seriously created just for me to drive everyone crazy and annoy the crud out of them. It’s been easy for me to work it. lol
December 4th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Oh wow - that IS hard to find! Thanks bunches!
December 4th, 2008 at 7:55 am
ohhhh but they do get offended if you don’t follow or worse yet if you were following and then you unfollow them.
Some have sent DM’s and emails chasing one down to find out just WHY they’re not following them or unfollowed.
I don’t follow as many as are following me. I follow those I want to, not ones that make me feel “obligated” to follow them simply because they’re following me…nope… doesn’t work that way.
But still gotta love twitter
December 4th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Didn’t Kelly call this being a “Twitter Snob”? LOL! I agree though. And I am a Twitter snob. I only follow clients, friends and those who interest me.
I also don’t comment much on Twitter. I use it mostly for business publication. (Yes, I’m guilty. Maybe I should consider a separate account.)
But I do follow and read and then comment on blogs (like now). Otherwise I’d get too involved and never get any work done.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Rhonda, exactly my point on the follow. If I have it cluttered up with 1000’s of followers then I can’t read the tweets with info I want.
Tara, I got caught up in the whole huge numbers game at first. Difficult not to compete by my nature. lol But then thankfully it kicked in as to “who cares”. If you judge me by my follow number and not my my tweets then they can fuck off anyway! ROFLMAO
KC, I do believe it’s classified as being a snob. Which cracks me up because those that usually classify it as such (not calling the uber wonderful Kelly out in this case by any means!) are the people who’s tweets I’m specifically trying to keep track of. If their tweets are buried then to whose benefit is any of this work? I reply a lot to the busymommaval account. Too much I’m sure. I can’t believe I haven’t had a ton of unfollows from this mornings chats with friend http://twitter.com/hbixler03 healthy debates are cool
December 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Great post. thanks for having me read it! I didn’t think about twitter this way! Wonderful read!
December 20th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Glad you got something out of it Brandy and hope the post wasn’t too harsh for you. Typically I only promote this blog on my more personal account cause it’s usually quite blunt. lol
December 27th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Love the post! I don’t know why people get so worked up about following and unfollowing. Who has time for that? I have often had the problem in my life of trying to please everyone and try to get everyone to like me. It’s better for me personally if I practice not worrying about who follows me back and to practice following and unfollowing as I want. It helps me to better adopt the attitude that if someone does not like me or my interests, they can simply unfollow and I take no offense because I’m not tracking it anyway.
I used to use Qwitter (no longer a service that works) to track those who unfollow, but what does it matter? If I’m worrying about people unfollowing me and why, I’m back into the mode of trying to please everyone and be everyone’s pal and that is very bad for me. I just need to practice accepting myself for who I am and not worry about the little things.
http://twitter.com/wordsforliving
December 28th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Yes, exactly. Who am I out to please? Me. But, that said, I do have accounts that are strictly business and I do follow back everyone on those accounts. But my busymommaval account is the one I primarily interact on and I want to be able to read the tweets of those I really want to follow.