This post is about how I feel towards twitter, so it's a purely personal view. I wonder if readers will agree.
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| HikingArtist.com |
Following You on Twitter
Twitter was created primarily as a social media site, and much of its content is indeed social. 'Which is nice.' It's fun to read other people's news, views and recommendations, and to reply to some. Like chatting to someone you meet on the bus, in the library, outside school. There may be links to interesting/informative/funny articles or pictures, and recommendations to follow others, and I might check them out and follow if I fancy, widening my range of follows and sometimes going through them to see if there's anyone I might want to unfollow.
If I unfollow you, though, it's not an insult. It may be that you tweet only about things you'd like me to buy, or you repeat the same tweets over and over again, you tweet every five minutes or you've changed tack and lost my attention. I may come back later.
Similarly, if I don't follow back immediately, it's not an insult. Maybe I don't share your interests (as shown in your list of tweets) or maybe there's a hint of language which I don't like to read. (Being, as I've said before, something of a prude.)
I do like to comment on people's tweets where I feel strongly or especially enjoy them or find them useful. Most of us surely love to think someone's read our tweet and has something to say to us. If someone's unwell, or has a life hiccup, I'll send cybersympathy. If I know the answer to a question, I'll write it. And as for competitions, if the prize is attractive I'll usually have a go. Numbers of entries can be low, even if the setter has a long list of followers.
I'm inordinately pleased to have new followers, even if you're a business and will quickly unfollow if I don't respond or follow back. I don't get intense about numbers of followers otherwise I guess I'd make more use of hashtags to scoop up more. Perhaps that's a mistake.
Even more pleasing is if people respond to something I've written. It makes a person feel noticed and appreciated. And if anyone should retweet me, well that's like being given a large bar of Toblerone (but lasts longer).
I've decided to opt out of Fllwrs (who tell you who has recently followed and unfollowed). This is partly because of suspicion that there may be a connection with spam, but also because I don't want especially to know who's unfollowed so I can't be miffed. Bye bye techno geeks, tarpaulin providers, Scottish holiday firms who were on my unfollowed list before.
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| Alan Levine |
#ff is interesting. I try to use it at least every other Friday. As everyone knows, it's a way of passing on to followers some people who are good to follow for whatever reason. Still, it seems to have turned into just a way of expressing appreciation and it's good to get a mention. What's funny is, if someone does a #ff to as many people as will fit in the tweet, some of those will retweet the whole list, making it seem that they are appreciating them. If you see what I mean. My #ff lists have gone in some interesting directions and this is certainly not a complaint!
