If you’re an active Twitter user, chances are you’ll get notifications about people following you. This kind of activity will likely increase given the emergence of follow tools such as Mr. Tweet.
The question is whether you should follow something simply because they follow you. For some people such as Guy Kawasaki, a follow-back is automatic but few people can follow hundreds or thousands of people. So, here’s a few rules of thumbs when considering when to follow-back someone.
1. Go through their live stream to determine if someone’s Tweets are constructive, insightful, interesting and/or useful enough. Another consideration is how many times someone Tweets/day. If you see that someone is constantly Tweeting, you may want to stay away given they’ll dominate your live stream.
Remember, every person you follow on Twitter adds another layer to your digital landscape.
2. Check out their profile to see if the person is involved in an industry/business that interests you. If they list a Web site or blog, click-through to see if it’s interesting. Who knows, you may even discover another person to add to your RSS reader.
3. Look at some of the people that someone else is following. Even if the person who follows you is not interesting, they may be following people who are interesting.
4. Set a limit on the number of people you can realistically follow. Someone people can follow hundreds, while others are content to have a few dozen followers. Personally, I think following 100 to 200 people is realistic, especially if you’re an active Web user using lots of other social media tools such as Friendfeed and Facebook.
For another take on the follow conundrum, check out Mediashift’s Simon Owens, who talks about “Friend Inflation” (Now, that’s a great phrase!) on Twitter and Digg.
To Follow or Not to Follow?
If you’re an active Twitter user, chances are you’ll get notifications about people following you. This kind of activity will likely increase given the emergence of follow tools such as Mr. Tweet.
The question is whether you should follow something simply because they follow you. For some people such as Guy Kawasaki, a follow-back is automatic but few people can follow hundreds or thousands of people. So, here’s a few rules of thumbs when considering when to follow-back someone.
1. Go through their live stream to determine if someone’s Tweets are constructive, insightful, interesting and/or useful enough. Another consideration is how many times someone Tweets/day. If you see that someone is constantly Tweeting, you may want to stay away given they’ll dominate your live stream.
Remember, every person you follow on Twitter adds another layer to your digital landscape.
2. Check out their profile to see if the person is involved in an industry/business that interests you. If they list a Web site or blog, click-through to see if it’s interesting. Who knows, you may even discover another person to add to your RSS reader.
3. Look at some of the people that someone else is following. Even if the person who follows you is not interesting, they may be following people who are interesting.
4. Set a limit on the number of people you can realistically follow. Someone people can follow hundreds, while others are content to have a few dozen followers. Personally, I think following 100 to 200 people is realistic, especially if you’re an active Web user using lots of other social media tools such as Friendfeed and Facebook.
For another take on the follow conundrum, check out Mediashift’s Simon Owens, who talks about “Friend Inflation” (Now, that’s a great phrase!) on Twitter and Digg.
Technorati Tags: mr. tweet, twitter