One of the biggest challenges with Twitter is finding people to follow. Once you start to establish a group of friends, Twitter can become an interesting, valuable and entertaining tool for business or personal use.
There’s no lack of services to find new friends: Mr. Tweet, Twellow and Just Tweet It to name a few.
Another option is a Twollow (although one I wouldn’t recommend), which is taking a different approach by offering a fee-based service that lets build a group friends by auto-following them based on keywords.
If someone mentions one of your keywords within a tweet, Twollow automatically adds them to your list of friends. For example, if you’re interested in “pumpkin pie”, Twollow will automatically add anyone who mentions “pumpkin pie” in a tweet.
At first glance, Twollow comes across as an easy tool to add friends, and there are probably some Twitter users willing to pay $59.99 to $99.99/year that Twollow charges.
The big issue is whether there’s value in volume. In other words, simply because you can quickly add a lot of friends doesn’t mean it’s going to provide the insight and information needed.
The second question is whether the friends being auto-collecting are actually focused on things that interest you. Someone may have mentioned “pumpkin pie” but it may have been the only time “pumpkin pie” came up in conversation. Is that someone you need or want to follow?
Truth be told, getting valuable and useful friends on Twitter takes time and effort. But, in the long run, it’s a useful and worthwhile exercise because it provides quality vs. quantity.
There’s probably some utility in Twollow but, frankly, the idea of auto-follow doesn’t seem to have much appeal.
Note: Twollow provides a seven-day free trial but to get it, you have to provide your PayPal information, and if you don’t cancel within seven days, it automatically upgrades to the $5.99 service.
For more on Twollow, the New Brunswick Business Journal has a story about how Steve Mallett acquired the service in April from Dominic St. Pierre.
Auto-Follow, Anyone? Value in Volume?
One of the biggest challenges with Twitter is finding people to follow. Once you start to establish a group of friends, Twitter can become an interesting, valuable and entertaining tool for business or personal use.
There’s no lack of services to find new friends: Mr. Tweet, Twellow and Just Tweet It to name a few.
Another option is a Twollow (although one I wouldn’t recommend), which is taking a different approach by offering a fee-based service that lets build a group friends by auto-following them based on keywords.
If someone mentions one of your keywords within a tweet, Twollow automatically adds them to your list of friends. For example, if you’re interested in “pumpkin pie”, Twollow will automatically add anyone who mentions “pumpkin pie” in a tweet.
At first glance, Twollow comes across as an easy tool to add friends, and there are probably some Twitter users willing to pay $59.99 to $99.99/year that Twollow charges.
The big issue is whether there’s value in volume. In other words, simply because you can quickly add a lot of friends doesn’t mean it’s going to provide the insight and information needed.
The second question is whether the friends being auto-collecting are actually focused on things that interest you. Someone may have mentioned “pumpkin pie” but it may have been the only time “pumpkin pie” came up in conversation. Is that someone you need or want to follow?
Truth be told, getting valuable and useful friends on Twitter takes time and effort. But, in the long run, it’s a useful and worthwhile exercise because it provides quality vs. quantity.
There’s probably some utility in Twollow but, frankly, the idea of auto-follow doesn’t seem to have much appeal.
Note: Twollow provides a seven-day free trial but to get it, you have to provide your PayPal information, and if you don’t cancel within seven days, it automatically upgrades to the $5.99 service.
For more on Twollow, the New Brunswick Business Journal has a story about how Steve Mallett acquired the service in April from Dominic St. Pierre.