Who are you? And why should I follow you?
October 6th, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte
A recent post by Kami Huyse and my own stream of followers prompted me to write this post. In Kami’s recent post, “Painting by Number: Bringing Blog Content to Life by Coloring the Canvas,” she lists the below rule:
Learn the rules and then break them intelligently: Every community has a culture, until you know and respect the culture, you can’t start breaking the rules.
I am not talking about blogging, but microblogging…sites like Twitter and Plurk. (We can debate the term microblogging another time.) I have learned from being on Twitter that the rules of culture and etiquette, among other things, for the most part, expect a reciprocate follow to a follower.
Well, I am breaking that rule…intelligently.
Here’s the thing, as more people and companies become aware of Twitter and Plurk, they don’t take the time to see what the culture is like. By not taking the time to do so, they don’t see that most folks on Twitter are real people with real names. And from now on I am not following them back.
Here’s why:
The other day, after checking out a follower’s profile (to make sure they weren’t a spammer, etc.), I followed them. Then response I received: “Thanks. You can check out my website here [link] to learn all about me and what I blog about.” What the…?!
Another favorite: “Thanks for the follow. Be sure to follow my company too. And check out our site.” Ah, sorry, no. How about we chat first?
And my #1 favorite: “Thanks. If you don’t subscribe to my blog, be sure to do so today via RSS.” What am I, just a number to you?
Today as I was going through my followers, I was greeted by all kinds of avatars (some creepy), crazy names, and one-line descriptions (if any). It was very enlightening.
Here are are some tips to people and companies who want to join the conversation on Twitter, Plurk, identi.ca, etc.
- Use a name, a real name, somewhere. If you don’t want to use a name, I suspect you aren’t ready to engage in social media or a conversation. I can’t have a conversation with “BugGurlz” (okay, I made that up, but you know what I mean.)
- Don’t use Susie234 as a name, spammers do that.
- Use a photo of yourself, not an avatar. Okay, well, I can deal with an avatar if I have other proof you are human and not a spammer (as in a real name somewhere and a description).
- Fill out the description. And not just a one-liner (”I am a blogger.”) Tell us who you are and what you are about; otherwise, why should anyone follow you?
- If you are a company, designate a real person to your Twitter/Plurk/identi.ca account and let them have a voice.
I feel at a disadvantage. You know my name, what I do, what I am interested in and all about me (or at least what I share on Twitter & Plurk). I am asking you to reciprocate. You might be a real person with whom I could have a great conversation with or perhaps a business relationship…but we will never know.
Trust me, being real will benefit you more than me—really.
Update 10/9/09: Matt J. McDonald over at A New Marketing has a great post that includes a checklist to brand your Twitter account. Be sure to check them out!
Tags: etiquette, Kami Huyse, microblogging, plurk, social media, social networking, Twitter
35 Responses to “Who are you? And why should I follow you?”
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Good tips here Beth!
The concept of understanding a network before diving in has been far and lost for awhile now. I’m pretty vigilant in who I follow back and do so only if I see a mutually beneficial relationship coming out of it.
The ’subscribe to my RSS’ is my personal favorite
Great post Beth! Thanks for expressing so beautifully MY frustration with the people and businesses that are joining Twitter and Plurk in yet another attempt at one-way marketing. Clearly, they don’t get this – and it is just as completely clear that you DO!
Hey, I love my avatar! King Moonracer is a lifestyle choice!
Personally though, I hate it when people DM me after I follow back. DM is for friends I know or a quick way to let me know I tweeted a bad link.
Hope you’ll follow me back, Beth. Oh, and subscribe to my RSS. It will change your feed reader for LIFE!
This is very similar to what I do. I don’t automatically follow back, in fact there’s huge discrepancy between my followed and follower numbers. And likewise, I don’t expect everyone I follow to follow me back- although I hope over time they will.
I imagine it’s frustrating for new users who want to instantly build up a following, but the fact is that Twitter & Plurk followings are built on trust and relatibility, which require time & interest investments. Just like on message boards, and in real life.
Great post, Beth!
I love the DM once I follow which tells me to go to their link or how they’re going to make me rich.
Sheeessh, it’s like meeting someone at a bar and having the guy say “let’s go back to my place”… yeah, really, no. Buy me a drink at least!
I’ve had to learn a few lessons on Twitter the hard way but hey… live and learn!
Beth
Love your rationale and tips for followers/following. If I don’t see a real name or a real face, I also find it diffucult to engage in conversations.
I’ll share this with my students.
Barbara
Beth, you are right on target with this. Social media is about the conversation, not the shameless promotion. If it isn’t going to be a two-way street, then why bother.
I follow some people because they are interesting, but don’t expect the follow back. Sometimes just reading the tweets are what I want.
If someone follows me, I kind of expect that they at least @ reply to me to start some conversation.
And I’m always amazed that people sometimes try to be instantly popular on Twitter. It takes time and effort and unless you are providing value and real conversations, it will not be an easy task.
This is a really insightful blog post. Until not so long ago I was running my ‘corporate’ twitter account simply as @picklejar. Knowing (like you) that many people would prefer to follow a person, I realised that I needed to update the profile so it wasn’t just corporate spiel, but actually declared that @picklejar was written by Tracy Playle (a not a nameless person). I also know (and many others need to learn) that using Twitter for shameless and outright promotion doesn’t work and turns people off. I use it purely to share insights into the industry in which I work, listen in on others insights (ie for my own self-development and education) and to engage in conversation. I want my company to have a human face, and tweeting really helps with this.
interesting. i abuse none of your rules, and you still didn’t follow me back.
just sayin.
Great post Beth! I always check to see if the “follower” is someone I know. If I don’t, then I check two things:
1. Does anyone I know follow them? Sometimes several of my friends follow that person, so that makes me more likely to follow them.
2. Do we share common interests – social media topics, interests, etc.
I once heard someone complained that they followed someone and that person didn’t follow back. I don’t think anyone is obligated to follow anyone- against the protocol, I know.
And if you are the kind of person to whine about not getting followed, then you just helped me make a decision about whether, or not, to follow you….
Wil Wheaton, who has 18,613 followers, was Tweeting yesterday on this very subject, believing that following that many people would make Twitter useless for him.
https://twitter.com/wilw
Thanks for the follow-back, Beth!
This is exactly why my Twitter bio says “If you don’t @robblatt me, I will not follow your tweets.” I keep to that rule unless I’ve met you in real life.
I enjoyed your post Beth! And if people followed your advice it would indeed make my involvement more enjoyable. But… isn’t this social networking thing sort of the wild west of blogging? And as such, it has very few rules. (Like blogging was before it “earned it’s respectability”) At this moment in time, who’s to say what’s right and what’s wrong? Are there formal conventions? Haven’t seen any. Are there authoritative rules of etiquette? Haven’t seen any. Crowds will set the rules. Whether SM develops into a pleasant social experience, or complete chaos remains to be seen. Right now, the best we can do is UNfollow those who are obnoxious–apparently they too have every right to be here. It’s a little like TV, if you don’t agree with the programming you can turn off the set.
Well said Beth! I find it absolutely incredible that some people think they can get away with a blatant sell of there blog/product/site. You wouldn’t do it in real life, why here? It just frustrates me to think that anyone would play by those rules. What a joke! Speaking of jokes why not check out my site…
http://themakingofmypenis.blogspot.com/
It’s not like all those other sites and it’s guaranteed to make you rich.
hee hee
Wow! First, thank you so much for the great response to this post and for adding to the conversation. Second, it’s great to see so many perspectives and experiences outside of my own. Third, for those of you have commented for the first time on my blog, welcome! I am grateful that you all took time out of your busy day to comment and I hope we can keep the conversation going.
@SonnyGill, Agreed. It’s really no different online than it would be in real life. You wouldn’t go up to someone and just start following them around wearing a mask. I also, I believe in mutually beneficial, but that comes in all shapes and forms.
@FrankMartin, thanks! I had been sitting on this post for a bit…but then I just kept seeing these people following me and I had no idea who they were.
@JamieGrove, Yes, but King Moonracer has a name too! Following you now, apologies for the delay.
@AnnieBoccio, So true! The fact of the matter is, I want to help people build up a network, just like other people helped me by following me, but it does take time and you have to be real.
@Jami, What?! Make you rich?? How come I never get any of those offers?
I think we’ve all learned lessons the hard way on Twitter. I remember having a conversation one night on Twitter…with myself (a monologue if you will). At the time it was humorous.
@BarbaraNixon, thanks for sharing this post with your students. I know you’ve exposed them to Twitter, hope this helps.
@HowardYermish, I used to have a rule that I wouldn’t follow someone until they had an “@” conversation with me first. But then I realized that some folks are doing it right…following people, but sitting back and listening for a while. I respect that. But you are right, broadcasting is just wrong. It doesn’t benefit anyone in the long run.
@TracyPlayle, Good for you to recognize the need to humanize your Twitter account. A lot of companies can & should learn from you. Have you seen a difference in your interactions & conversations since you made the change?
@JenO, I am following you now.
Thank you for the reminder. Trust me, it’s more about the lack of time…I still have a bunch of folks I need to follow and feel badly that I haven’t done so yet.
@DebRobison, I do the exact same thing! And I like to check out their tweets…are they tweeting others, does it seem there are conversations going on, etc. If not, chances are I won’t follow. I really don’t like it when folks involved in social media just use Twitter like a diary and that’s it. What’s the point? And yeah, love the whiners. They are as good as the people who say “read my blog!!!”
@RobBlatt, So glad that we met in real life first…Now I am your biggest fan!
@LloydLemons, You are right about the rules. I think the rules are unwritten, as most cultural rules are. And that’s why Kami (and Geoff Livingston) were saying that you need to know them before you intellectually break them. You can’t know them unless you engage yourself…and missteps are bound to happen. It’s being able to say, ‘okay, I messed up, sorry.’ I often wonder who makes these rules up, but I think it’s just society in general and perhaps they carry over from what we know in real life. And, I have done my fair share of unfollowing people. Some people cross that line…really fast.
@Terrence Paquet, LOL! BTW, your comment got caught up in my spam filter. I should have left it there you, shameless self-promoter, you! And I want to know how you’ll make me rich. Do I get royalties every time you use my blog for your self-promos? If so, we need to talk and soon because I overheard some publisher talking about some crazy blogger in Montreal…I could only assume they meant you.
[...] Who are you? And why should I follow you? [...]
Hey Beth,
I’m a little late to the party, but here’s the part that hit me:
“If you are a company, designate a real person to your Twitter/Plurk/identi.ca account and let them have a voice.”
Being a company on Twitter and being “corporate” defeats the purpose. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (a zillion times): Its about human connections. People don’t want to talk to a logo, they want to talk to a person.
Insightful post, lady, as always. Good stuff.
Awesome post! So glad I’m not the only one that felt that way!
Hey Beth, Great Post, and a big congratulations, WOW, (18) plus comments, you hit home with folks with this one, great conversations.
Just a short note about my experience. I do believe you make certain connections with folks, whether through blog comments or on twitter. I evidenced this first hand while at SBMU, we didn’t shake hands, we hugged, which shouldn’t be taken out of context, but it illustrates that there really is a connection. I felt like I knew you, like I knew @mackcollier, even though that was the first time to see folks in person. It was pretty cool, and reminded me just how small this big world really is.
@AmberNasund, thanks for drawing more attention to the corporate bullet. Like you said, people are tired of dealing with a logo, they’ve done it for too long and logos don’t talk back. They want to know that ‘Joe or Jane’ is going to talk to them & help them if need be. The funny thing is, when a corporation doesn’t have a presence on-line, I get frustrated by it. Perhaps I am in the minority, well me and a few thousand other social media folks.
Corporations (except for a well-known handful) have forgotten how to be human…but that said, the tide might be turning.
@DebbieJames, thanks for stopping by! Glad the post echoed your thoughts.
@Eric_Urbane, thank you friend!
You raise a good point [that also goes back to my post "Here a Ping, there a ping." ] We initially met each other on Twitter and had 140-character conversations (i.e. ambient awareness). Does that make us friends? Maybe for some people it doesn’t, but I don’t think that was the case with us. We had conversations on Twitter and my blog. We had become friendly, even though we are States apart from each other, and that’s why it warranted more than a handshake. It was great to meet you in real life and be able to spend two days in your company! Now if only companies could understand the power of that connection (like Amber mentioned). In my book, it’s priceless!
[...] that one should follow though and to that I have to give a shout out to Beth Harte and her “Why should i follow you post” I’d suggest checking it out. And then follow it up with Michael Brito’s [...]
[...] Resources -Follow Me On Twitter -Twitter Brand Index Twittermaven’s Best Practices -Beth Harte – Who are you? And why should I follow you? « No One Cares About Your Brand More Than [...]
Hi, a really interesting and worthwhile post.
I agree there shouldn’t necessarily be an expectation to follow back – I generally do, except in three instances.
When someone is trying to sell me something. When someone writes about stuff that really isn’t of interest or relevance.
And when someone follows 1000 people but only has 100 followers (a lot of people follow more than they have followers, me included, but in some instances you just know they’ve just gone through hundreds of names at random).
The avatar / photo thing? To me personally it makes no difference so long, as you say, you at least get some kind of sense that a real person is behind the Twitter ID.
A great blog btw, which I discovered via @jennymccutcheon, have added it to my Netvibes page so I can follow it in future.
I just setup my autoreply. “Thanks for following me. Are you sure you want to do this? Don’t you have anything better to do? IF not… you ought to.”
HAHAHAHA – nice post here Beth
The sad part is that 9 times out of 10 (and even 10 out of 10 would probably be more accurate), the people who send you those messages will never REALLY interact with you. Not with an @ reply or even respond to anything you have to say. At least that’s been my experience thus far.
I’m all for connecting people with people and sharing ideas…you know, collaborative discussion(s). But it’s been my experience that these types of people are doing nothing more than a little push-marketing for themselves. They don’t care about the discussion or sharing ideas. It’s always “me, me, me.” That just doesn’t work for me ya know?
@DirkSinger, thanks for stopping by, the nice compliments, and adding me to your reader! I follow people that don’t necessarily have anything to do with my interests…just because I find people generally interesting and I like to expand beyond my own view of things. That said, I can see why others wouldn’t it make sense. Especially when first starting to use Twitter…which can be a challenge on it’s own (although I haven’t seen any whales lately).
@SteveKayser, LOL! You are a comedian too?!
The welcome mat is always out for some good, fun humor.
@RicardoBueno, thanks for dropping by THoM! I TOTALLY agree with you. Let me say it one more time…I totally agree! That is what is known as broadcasting. And broadcasters just use Web 2.0 tools to do traditional marketing on-line…no matter how they try to spin it. It’s a bad practice and I appreciate you mentioning it. Connections and conversations are key.
And anytime you want a conversation, drop on by…we are hear to connect and converse!
Beth,
Good post. I’m brand new to Twitter and totally confused and afraid to leave messages because I don’t want to offend or say the wrong thing. This post really helps. Thanks!
Thanks to Ricard Bueno (@ribeezie) for Tweeting this post, it’s a *great one* Beth.
I don’t “auto-follow”. I *try* to look at the twitter stream of everyone that follows me. If it looks like we have some common interest, I follow. If not, I don’t. (however, sadly sometimes I just fall behind and/or forget).
And I certainly don’t expect everyone I follow to follow me. I love to “meet” new people, and you can learn a lot in 140 characters, but I don’t see the point in simply amassing followers. It’s not a numbers game, it’s meeting and learning.
Interesting on the etiquette thing, I am a new follower and just trying to be quiet and “learn the rules.” Thank you.
Tony, Jay & Kappy, thanks so much for stopping by and joining the conversation!
@TonyDeLuke, I was totally confused by Twitter too! And really didn’t appreciate it. Just like all relationships, it takes time to develop. You’ll get there and I’ll be sure to follow you!
@Jay Thompson, how nice of Ricardo to tweet my post! There was a great NYT article on getting to know people in 140 characters, I highly suggest it: http://tinyurl.com/6ppcch
Yep, collecting people like they are just numbers isn’t a good thing. How can you possible related or interact with them all? Kind of defeats the purpose of being social.
@KappyMann, you are starting at the best place. It’s okay to sit back, listen and learn before jumping into conversation…in fact, I think most people on Twitter appreciate it.
Beth,
The “twerson” (singular for tweeple) I found strangest recently was someone who follows only 193 people, has over 1,200 followers and 1,900 tweets. The thing was, it was all broadcasting; not a single @reply to anyone; and few to no links to outside website, blogs interesting info. and it was an individual, not a company (I’ll forgive CNN for not @replying me). He’s probably famous (but not a name I know). I chose not to follow.
One thing I do recognize is that some of those messages you mention are just an auto reply. I’ve thought about setting one up, but haven’t. I take less offense at them than you seem to, but do I appreciate more, those who do take the time to @reply me directly.
Good thought-provoking post and glad we met online and in person.
Cathy
@CathyWebSavvyPR, hmmm, some I think were not an auto-reply, but I can’t be sure. I’m with you, I like to get an @.
As for the broadcasters you described, I have no time for them…they don’t add any value to my Twitter stream. That said, everyone uses Twitter in their own way.
So glad to have met you too! See you at the next Tweetup!
(Thanksgiving! Keep your calendar open.)
I appreciate your thinking on this, Beth. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like getting auto-responses at all. They clutter up my inbox and they’re usually just a “thanks for the follow.” What’s the point of that? And of course no one has the time for genuine personal emails to say “thanks for the follow”. So what’s a tweep to do?
Great post, great points. Thanks for the insight into the sometimes mysterious world of twitter!
Wendy’s last blog post..Photo Friday – The Park
Awesome, Beth. I have only begun to twitter last week and realized very quickly the norm to reciprocate.
The first 48 hours I picked up fascinating friends of friends and they followed me.
Then it became impossible to reciprocate because I got spammed by so many followers that I would have to spend too much time to tell the difference between good and dishonest followers.
It’s really very sad because it takes out all the fun of twittering and meeting interesting new people. I have not figured out yet how to deal with that.
Hellmut’s last blog post..One Generation