Comments on: Twitter Panic: Should I follow back?

By: Hans Mundahl

Hans Mundahl — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:52:26 +0000

That’s a good point, Dan – I also try to assess the ‘interactivity’ of someone who follows me. In other words, not only will they offer interesting information in their ‘feed’ but will they also respond with @mentions to requests for information and ideas.

That way it’s like a two-way feed.

Thanks for the comment!

By: Dan Jukic

Dan Jukic — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:51:53 +0000

I absolutely do NOT believe in an automatic follow back.

These are my guidelines:

If someone chose to follow me that I do not know, does not share any interest of mine and appears to be following a large number of people indiscriminately, I block them INSTANTLY.

I do not believe Twitter should be used for random networking and I won’t do it or tolerate it.

If someone follows me that I do not know but whose interest is benign, I will allow them to stay but, again, I will not follow them back.

Again, if someone follows me with no apparent connection to my interests, why is it incumbent upon me to take action?

Finally, if someone follows me who appears to share my interests, I will follow them back, provided their content is interesting and appropriate.

In short, you could say I follow more of a “subscription” model (to borrow a word used above) as opposed to a “friend” model. I believe Twitter excels at information sharing so if I’m not interested in someone’s information, why would I clutter my feed with their tweets?

By: http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann

http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:57:38 +0000

Following back people is like giving someone a gift!
And when they follow without it being reciprocated, they loose the chance to follow someone else as you can only follow a set amount per people that follow you!

That’s one of the reasons I follow back!
So follow me today at:

http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann

And get followed back in just a few hours!

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:28:54 +0000

I personally don’t think that a follow is quite as personal as a phone call. To me, it can be interpreted as more of a “subscription” to your Tweets. I don’t think Lance Armstrong is on a personal basis with a million people. And I don’t think unfollowing needs a world of explanation. Just a click. Afterall, you can’t blame someone for over-tweeting. YOU decided to follow them, and it’s THEIR account.

Just my two cents. Only an opinion.

By: Ryan Bowse

Ryan Bowse — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:34:23 +0000

I had never considered responding to folks that I choose “not” to follow back. Thanks for giving me something to ponder and think through how I might integrate that into my use of twitter.

By: Larry Graykin

Larry Graykin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:05:16 +0000

Thanks for using me as an example in your article. I started on Twitter to help share word about the ArtSpider project, and was rather clueless about how to use it. After a while, Twitter’s pros and cons become known, but for many users, I think there’s a tough early phase: Who to follow? What’s the point? (Apparently the statistics indicate that many drop using it at this point; many accounts are opened and then lie dormant.)

For me, following back is anything but automatic. When someone follows me, I look to see: First, are they local? ArtSpider’s all about NH, and my tweets likely won’t be too interesting or useful to someone not connected to this state. Second, are they creative? ArtSpider is about connecting NH folks to all forms of art, so I bend the “local” rule for awesome artists who may speak to others, and RT them on rare occasion. Finally, if not local or arts-oriented, are they interesting? I happen to have an odd sense of humor, so I tend to follow folks like @weirdralph – that’s a choice made on a personal level, but I think allowing yourself to shine through is essential.

In other words, what I’ve come to believe is this: For follow-backs to work for me, I have to know what I want to receive for information or entertainment. Once I figured that out, it got easier.