When it comes to Twitter, many people feel obliged to automatically follow all their followers. It's their personal code of etiquette.
However, many others won't do the same. It may sound rude or snobby, but it's true: If someone doesn't recognize you, or if your tweets don't appeal to them, they probably won't follow you.
However, many others won't do the same. It may sound rude or snobby, but it's true: If someone doesn't recognize you, or if your tweets don't appeal to them, they probably won't follow you.
Do You Follow Everyone Who Follows You on Twitter?
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Reason #1: I Don't Know You
If I recognize you as someone I know on Squidoo, or if you've commented on my blogs, or if you've contacted me before, there's a pretty good chance I'll follow you in return. But if I don't recognize you, I may not.Don't make people guess who you are. Try to use the same user name and avatar so that people you know in other online circles will be able to recognize you.
Reason #2: You Tweet Too Much
There have been times when I've stopped following people because they just flooded me with tweets. Sorry, but most of us aren't interested in getting updates on what you're doing every ten minutes.So how many tweets is too many? That criteria varies from person to person. Some say 5 - 10 tweets per day is the limit, but I don't necessarily agree. What I mostly notice is when someone sends out a big block of tweets in a short time frame, since that pushes everyone else's tweets way down on the list.
Reason #3: You Tweet about Things that Don't Interest Me
This mostly applies to people who tweet almost exclusively about one topic. If you just tweet about football news, for instance, I'm not going to follow you. I have nothing against football, it's just that I'm not terribly interested in the subject.On the plus side, you'll be catering to a specific audience who will be keenly interested in your tweets. In this example, your audience would be other football fans.
Reason #4: All Your Tweets are Self-Promotional
Sure, most of us use Twitter to help promote our blogs, websites, Squidoo lenses, etc. It's a good strategy, and I'm all for it. That's why I started using it in the first place, to be honest.But if you only use Twitter to promote your own stuff, you are going to turn off a lot of would-be followers... unless you already have rabid fans who are hungry for your stuff, that is. Twitter is called a social networking site for a reason.
Reason #5: You Never Tweet
It's weird when someone follows a gazillion other people and never tweets themselves. Some folks shrug it off, others find it downright suspicious.Either way, the result is the same. If you don't provide anything of value or interest, then of course most tweeters aren't going to follow you back.
Reason #6: Your Tweets are Negative
There's no shortage of negativity in the world, and it gets a little tiresome after a while. If most of your tweets are snarky, critical, insulting, complaining, or otherwise negative, it becomes a drag for someone who wants to stay upbeat and positive.On the other hand, misery loves company, so negative tweeters may very well attract others with a similar mindset.
Other Reasons Why Someone Might Not Follow You on Twitter
1
It slipped their mind.
Sometimes people just plain forget.5 points
2
You SPAM
Some people only join so they can promote rubbish stuff5 points
3
Your Bio is empty
People like to know something about who is following them4 points
4
They don't know you in real life.
It's possible someone only uses Twitter just to keep in touch with friends and family.3 points
5
They hate your political views.
3 points
6
They simply don't 'get' Twitter
Not everyone understands how it works, or how to follow people.3 points
7
You don't have a picture
The o-O doesn't go over well with most.3 points
8
They don't like you.
Unpleasant, but pretty straightforward...2 points
9
People who twit only celeb gossip...
And in most cases, uncorroborated gossip!1 point
10
http://twitter-hb.notlong.com
pssst..Secret...Get 10k followers on
twitter in no time0 points
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So how about you? Do you have your own personal guidelines that dictate who you'll follow on Twitter?
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Reply
- snarkylady snarkylady May 10, 2009 @ 8:33 am
- I tend to just follow people until I see a reason not to. There are some at this point that I'm considering unfollowing and I go through when I have the time and do that.
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Reply
- susannaduffy susannaduffy Jan 4, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
- Twitter. As I was writing this comment I noticed my twitter stream suddenly had 5 tweets in a row telling me what someone might give their husband to eat. Which is a lot better than others who would send - in a row- the same message ten times from an automatic squidoo update.Sigh. I have 'unfollowed' a number of lensmasters because of this blind endless automatic tweet. It would be nice if people who are new to twitter would read the handbook
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Reply
- wayfarer wayfarer Dec 8, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
- Chances are if the request from Twitter seems odd, when you check out the profile the account will be suspended. If you're not sure, revisit it at another time to see if the things that concerned you are still there and it wasn't just a newbie learning the ropes. Great lens!
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Reply
- SusanVillasLewis SusanVillasLewis Dec 3, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
- That about covers the gamut for me. I only follow people whose Twitter streams interest me or I find useful in my weird way. So I'm not following nearly as many as follow me. But I respond to any @ or DM that gets sent my way. I don't have to follow you for you to reach me, which is one of the lovely things about Twitter. We can have a conversation without having a commitment.
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by Victoria_Neely
I read, write, bake, and make Squidoo lenses. I like rubber ducks, old PC games, journals, animated films, Squidoo, and other neat stuff like that. (more)
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