But I ended up on this post because the blog design intrigued me … in particular, the archive navigation which, as I’ve been looking at redesigning it for a client’s site, has been a subject of interest in the last week or two.

The blog post title caught my eye so I scanned it and then the comments. All of this is by way of saying that I normally spend no time seeking out or reading anything that ‘social media types’ have to say even though, as Chris noted in his tweet today, there’s some outstanding thinking and writing going on.

For those who don’t understand why someone didn’t follow them back, may I offer this suggestion. Twitter is a tool, just a tool, that can be used in a number of ways.

For me it’s not a collegial hang out place but a place to scan what’s going on in web design and development. For the most part, my decision to follow someone on Twitter is based on the substance of their tweets and whether or not it relates to my primary interest.

Check my twitter lists. You’ll see my focus. A couple of those lists, I follow and refresh throughout the day. I may scan the others occasionally if I have time but a month can go by when I don’t.

Twitter is a giant fast-flowing river. I dip in with my net set to filter out what I’m interested in at a particular moment. Though I could (and have) spent hours dipping in and following all the links, I need to make it work *for* me. That means I’m selective about who I follow and who I add to the lists that I watch regularly.

There is no reason that someone should be “obligated” to follow someone else back just because the former ‘followed’ the latter. And it’s a constricted approach to Twitter not to realize that others may use Twitter in entirely different ways than you do.

Enough said.

Then, I switched gears. What if I gave up on being listened to and followed a small group of hyper-relevant individuals. Hyper-relevant to my interests, that is.

So that’s what I’ve done. Now, when I open up twitter to read the feed, it’s ALWAYS interesting. If I change my mind about someone, I unfollow.

I still go on and tweet. And maybe someone is listening, maybe not. Perhaps I’m hyper-relevant to someone else.

Isn’t that what social media is about? Interactive goes both ways.

If you actually engage with others you’re likely to gain followers – or maybe even some new friends (which I find much more beneficial).

My two cents.
@callkathy on twitter

Perhaps you could make it easier to follow you on twitter?

So how many of those people that RTed you, did you follow?

Those are also the same way that I’ve been put on a bunch of the lists that I’m on.

Again, your last quote reinforces the idea of it being about the who not the how many. Are you being followed by the right people — he ones that will pay to see you speak or buy your next book?

Twitter has become like singing at a family wedding. Even if you are really good, nobody will ever book you for another wedding because of it. And if you really suck, nobody will ever tell you so. All twitter does for me is push out keywords to Google… I think… I hope… and give me a quick connect to other folks like @julien for a shoutout, fist bump, high five, raspberry ;-)

@dogwalkblog

I’m especially intrigued by @KeithBurtis’s comment–I’ve followed him since back in the day when he was making beautiful wooden bowls and have been having some similar thoughts.

The business development thing: Well, you know it’s a big “duh” that links back to content on your site will do more for your overall enterprise than links to elsewhere or pithy quotes–it’s the space in which you convert based on the value you provide.

As for your specific example of the failings of Twitter use, any charm that a great quote once had (and believe me, I used to collect books of quotes and love a well-turned phrase) has been destroyed by the many spammy accounts that churn out quotes on various topics (leadership being quite popular, and “deep thoughts for life”) and follow everyone in hopes you’ll follow back so they can try to sell you their “get rich on the Internet” system which I’m guessing consists of setting up a Twitter account that churns out quotes on various topics….. I block those accounts.

If you put out the occasional great quote that reinforces what I think you’re about–which would be my reason for following in the first place–or that helps me get to know more about you as a person then it does help (at least with retention, if not with recruitment). If it’s totally random, not so much.

“Building a Twitter following” isn’t a goal at all, though. It’s a tactic, and only then if you’ve tied it to specific performance indicators such as blog subscribers if that’s what you want or orders for copies of Trust Agents or whatever. Then you’ll know whether Twitter performs better or worse than other avenues. The follower number in and of itself has no meaning–could all be quote-lovin’ spammers.

My reasons for Twitter use (on my personal account) don’t include attracting follower numbers so Twitter works for me just fine. I utilize it to learn from people who will share their higher ed communications expertise or humor or vegetarian recipes or bike blogging posts or thoughts on urban planning or news and events in my town or whatever it is they put out there.

Because those topics are what interest me and therefore what I also tweet about, I see some reciprocal following because they recognize our common interests if they look at my tweet stream (on a good day). We interact as I/they have time and interest. If I ever want to job hunt or move to another city you can bet I’ll be all over the relevant Twitter accounts to learn and connect.

My experience, FWIW; I’ve been on Twitter since fall 2008 and have a personal account, 3 volunteer organization accounts I manage (only 1 really active though), and an account for the campus where I am communications director.

In managing the campus account, which won an award of excellence from @SNCR last year and resulted in me being named a Senior Fellow, I put out specific content and followed strategically to benefit from reciprocity norms to get the kinds of followers I wanted (seeking more quality than quantity).

Works just fine. I get the kind of RTs I want because I put out things I want them to RT that will associate our name with specific topics (aka keywords). It’s brand-building. No quotations because that’s not part of our brand. (Case study PDF on the SNCR site: http://bit.ly/4wPxxF)

How I got to this post: RT by @franswaa who RT @chrisbrogan. I find this funny because I thought I was already following you….

@BarbChamberlain

We have 60,000 followers that we don’t follow back (and many more we do) and for years we never had a blog and still aren’t anywhere publicly. So Twitter alone can drive followers to you.

But I think the main culprit in not getting followers is that it’s still nowhere near easy enough to follow someone by their username. Much less add them to a list.

Does Twitter work for me?
In fact, I’d have to say yes. I’ve been on Twitter for the last 6 months, drinking wise guys like you’s words, tips, ideas, strategies and been following you all on Twitter. Slowly building a community and working hard to keep up the work.

In a conference in MTL lately, I heard and preciously remembered this great tip to generate followers and it dawned on me that barely no one does it…

Follow your followers!

I then realized that it’s true… If I had to refer one profesionnal human being rather than an other, it’ll be the one I “interract” the most with, in other words, the ones that follow back and take some little time to say thanks every once in a while.

Coming back home, applyed the strategy right away… Works effectively!!!

Some clients of mine have also seen a difference in the way their audience acted upon them being more “open” to their community.

Does tweeting out that message stand for your own beliefs? If it does, sending it out should be meaningful regardless of getting new followers or not.

I could say that running is pointless because I’m not going to become the fastest person in the world. But if I believe in being healthy and living a lifestyle that involves living long enough to see my great grandchildren graduate from University or Start their first business, I want to incorporate running in my life.

Clearly your current followers appreciated you sending that tweet out.

Are only after acquisition or are you about improving the experience of your current, loyal, and dedicated followers that retweet your messages?

I can’t remember the last time I looked at how many followers I have on twitter. I was maybe at 650 followers. Low compared to many many people, but I’m proud of that number if it’s gone up or down. I look at my twitter interactivity and have seen it grow nicely of late. I see that through my at replys and my own stream of conversation.