Twitter: How Do You Choose Who To Follow?

Following: Keeping A Short List

I’ve been studying Twitter for almost a month now, reading everything I can get my hands on from the top Twitter “experts,” learning how the service works for those who use it, and evaluating what works and what doesn’t.

The Twitter Fail Whale

One of the things I’ve noticed on Twitter is that there are many different “following vs. follower” practices, even among the “power” users. Robert Kiyosaki, for example, probably best-known for his best-selling book on personal finance called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” has of this writing 29,052 followers, but follows just 13. We didn’t make that list.

Then there’s Pete Cashmore, the CEO of Mashable, who has 1,948,549 followers and “follows” 2,092 Twitter accounts.  We haven’t made that list yet, but I wonder how Pete keeps up with all those people he’s following? I know he uses Twitter Lists, and I would venture that he uses his lists to randomly scan categories of Tweets looking for something interesting to write a blog post about. That’s what I would do if I were Pete Cashmore.

Amanda MacArthur, a popular Rhode Island-based blogger and article writer, has 1,358 followers and follows 570 on her Twitter. When asked how she chooses who to follow, she replied, “I (almost) always accept local friend requests. Also check profile and see what they tweet about.” We made her list, and thanked her for following us.

Following No One, or Following Everyone?

Larry Winget, who calls himself “The Pitbull of Personal Development,” is a best-selling author of books like “Your Kids Are Your Own Fault” and  ”You’re Broke Because You Want To Be.” He follows NO ONE, and has 3,940 followers as of this writing. Mr. Winget has been featured on Fox, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, The Today Show, and just about every major news outlet in the country, so his face and voice have been seen by millions. Yet he only has a few thousand people following him. He actually has more Facebook fans than Twitter followers, but not by much.

He’ll probably gain a few more followers now that I wrote about him and provided direct links to his stuff. I hope so. He speaks the truth with no apologies.

"To Follow Or Not To Follow? That is the question."

Now, interestingly, Robert Kiyosaki has a Twitter for a new book he’s written called “Conspiracy of the Rich.” He’s following 6,111, but “only” has 5,837 followers. We actually made the list of people he’s following. But I’m not fooled by that — I think he’s up to something, since his “personal” Twitter has a very different ratio. I wonder if Larry should pay attention to Robert? He might sell more books than he already does. Or is Larry trying to make a statement? He’s always making statements.

I’ve polled a lot of people about how they choose who to follow, and it seems many “follow back” to be nice. Others follow everyone they can get away with, in hopes that they will be “followed back,” not because they want anyone to read what they Tweet, but because it makes them look more popular and gives them an image that will hopefully drive their true popularity. Kind of like Paris Hilton being famous for being famous.

Following People We Learn From

Then there are those, like me, who follow people I can learn something from in our industry, which is marketing using the web, audio, video and buzz.

Paul Geffen, Software Project Lead/Development Life Cycle Expert and Marketing Director for Boston Wagner Society, told me that’s how he chooses who to follow. His reply: “I follow people I can learn from. And there are many!” This encouraged me, since he follows NEMultimedia, our Twitter account. On his main Twitter account, Paul follows more than follow him, 300 to 153, but according to his blog, he actually has five Twitter accounts. Before you get up in arms and think he’s playing games, he’s not. Read his post first.

James Jones, of MediaDisconnect, says that he follows those he can learn from and that he’s personally met. We made his list, too, after Scott met James at a Southern New England Media Makers event.

So, how about you?

1) How do you choose who to follow?

2) Do you have a strategy that’s purposeful, or do you just follow everyone who follows you?

3) And if you follow everyone who follows you, do you care if they read what you Tweet?

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Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, or on our Twitter.