a. Follow no one and put everyone I am interested in conversing with on lists based on the categories of their tweets.
b. Follow every account that follows me and talk to (some of the) people who talk to me.
c. Follow only real people that I’ve had real conversations with.
I began on Twitter with a policy of not following everyone that followed me. Whenever I got a new follower that I hadn’t previously spoken to or RT’d via someone else’s RT, I tried speaking to them. In some cases the conversations were like a bad blind date: awkward and I just wanted to get out of there. I also saw accounts following me that were locked but never spoke to me. Why do people do this?
I discovered quickly the hurt feelings that develop when someone whom you’ve been in great conversations with unfollows you. You’re left wondering what you said that made them decide to cut off the relationship. What I learned, though, is that it’s not always what you say but what someone else says about you. For that reason, I became very selective about who I follow. I speak to just about everyone who speaks to me. I do only follow real people who follow me, though.
Celebrities, brands, etc… that don’t follow me aren’t the people I want showing up in my timeline. These are the accounts that don’t really want to have a conversation with me. They just want my support to broadcast their messages and their messages alone.
My process evolved out of a desire to prevent hurt feelings for both parties. Isn’t it uncomfortable when you realize you replied or RT’d someone who intentionally unfollowed you? Isn’t it even more uncomfortable to be following someone you wish would unfollow you?
If someone new follows me, I give them a few days of my tweets showing up in their timeline. I didn’t get to nearly 40,000 tweets in 1.5 years by being a lurker. If they’re still hanging around and their tweets are interesting to me, I follow them back. When I get spare time, I go through and block the spammers to prevent an inflated follower count.
This process takes the most time, but it is the one that has garnered the best regret-free, drama-free, timeline that I look forward to scrolling through every day. I never want to regret my time on Twitter. I never want to consider deleting my account because I had too much Twitter rage taking place on my timeline.
I apply the same method for myself when I find an account I’d like to follow. I follow for a bit and speak to them. If they don’t reply after three separate, well spaced out occasions where I offer relevant conversation and not just RT’s or compliments (and it’s not a case of stepping away from the computer for X number of hours), I assume they don’t want my business and I unfollow. If they autofollow me but still never speak to me when I speak to them, I unfollow, as well.
Twitter takes time, and I appreciate everyone that reads my tweets and has conversations with me because I do the same. It’s the reason I know what reaches my community.
How about you? Do you have a strategy for managing conversations and followers on Twitter?
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These are great tools to utilize when attempting to manager your followers. Followers are just as important as those we follow and a strategy to balance the two is necessary. Many of the tips that were suggested I use as well. I enjoy the interaction of meeting new people and getting to know them, but do tend to shy away when it appears communication is one-sided. Also when it comes to celebrities I do follow those who are involved in good causes, other than themselves. The business of un-following can be sticky, but a necessary evil. I you can’t behave appropriately online, most likely you will misbehave if you are out in public. Many of us have a reputation to uphold and being professional is always first and foremost. However, I do tend to follow people who shake things up a bit. I have a very eclectic follow trend. Great Article Chanelle
Yup yup. I have a three times and you’re out policy. It may be harsh and blunt but I don’t have time for people who don’t have time for me. That’s the way I live my life, and it’s how I get along in the social media world. Twitter is great. I love everything I’ve learned and all the people I’ve encountered because they’ve all taught me invaluable lessons. I just don’t need it to be a contributor to stress in my life.
There are those I follow and converse with and those I follow because they simply entertain me or inspire me despite the fact they don’t follow back. A perfect example of the latter is Tom Peters. We’ve conversed a few times, yet he hasn’t followed me. But I follow him because I love his rants and insights.
Normally, I don’t block someone unless the user is obviously spam. I am trying to be more selective in whom I follow because, to be honest, I have only so much attention to give, and I hate when my favorite tweeters get drowned out by people I simply am not interested in. It’s been my experience that, if I don’t follow people back, they end up unfollowing me, which is just fine by me.
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That’s exactly the reason I don’t follow people who don’t follow me. I don’t want the content of others who do want my updates to be drowned out by people who don’t. Like you said, I have only so much attention to give. I can still follow the people who entertain me and won’t follow me back, but their account doesn’t show up as being followed by me. Lists are extremely helpful in that regard.
Very helpful! I’m still developing a strategy for managing my followers. Until recently, I didn’t take Twitter too seriously – until I saw how seriously others take Twitter. People will drag you through the mud if you let them. I’m not very selective about who I follow.
I’m still wondering why people follow people they dislike. That really irks me, because eventually they are going to reply out of pocket (or use their timeline to malign you).
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Oops. I meant to write that I’m very selective about who I follow. My timeline is getting too full with people who stream-of-conscious tweet, though. I’m going to try your list idea.
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Yea I don’t do the stream of consciousness tweets. Lol. That’s a not gonna follow.
These are people who like drama but claim to hate it. I can spot them a mile away and don’t follow or talk to them. Ever.
So far I have followed back people who follow me only excluding those whose timelines are only RSS feeds or only mentions of what they are selling. Then I use lists extensively to track those who are interesting. I rarely look at my main timeline and instead I check my lists.
Now I’m noticing a couple of things. First is more people are following then unfollowing 1-3 days later after I’ve followed them back…many times they’ll then follow me again after I unfollow them back –those I’m thinking of blocking which feels very negative to me but they are wasting my time so…
Secondly, it seems like people I’m interested in a dialog with are not on Twitter as much and the conversation is drying up a bit. I haven’t made much effort to go out and follow people first but I am listing people first to find more neat people to talk to. Then if they follow me, I follow back.
The thing is people get upset about being unlisted just the same as if you unfollow. So I’ve noticed some who unfollow me when I unlist them even if I’m still following them! Then I unfollow them and it just feels ugly. To solve that problem, I’m keeping most of my lists private.
I have also noticed people who unfollow me even though I have followed and listed them…so in that case I unfollow back and often unlist them too because my feelings are hurt that they unfollowed me and I wonder why and I don’t want to be reminded of that when I see them in a list.
Twitter account management is taking too much time lately. That was my point of frustration with Facebook and that’s why I deleted that account. I would like to find a more simple solution for managing Twitter because I do love the conversation. I really like several of the strategies you mentioned here especially waiting a few days to follow back and being aggressive about blocking spammers who are following.
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Thank you for this great comment, Stevie. Managing a Twitter account is more stressful than it should be. Lol. The strategy I developed is what works for me, so please let me know if it works for you. The examples you gave regarding lists is why I never started creating (public) lists in the first place. I saw it happening like a Studio 54 everybody needs to feel special sort of thing, and I try to avoid drama at all costs. I don’t like to be the source of it. I find that if you don’t follow people right away, they assume you don’t want to talk to them. When I do follow people right away, though, they unfollow me once they see how/what I tweet. It’s unfortunate but we can’t control other people’s expectations, so I try to manage it the best I can.