The Rules of Following [Twitter]
I’ve been holding off from posting this for a while. It’s actually going to be a section in my book that is nearing completion but I think it’s time to say something because I’m coming off as a complete ass. I can understand how some people are bothered by me not following them especially when I reply to every reply as a direct message. For those who don’t know, you can’t send a direct message (DM) to anyone unless they are following you. I like it that way because it really eliminates spam. I’m sure I would be getting a crap load of spam if anyone could DM me and people would start gaming the system with auto-DMs so let’s keep it the way it is for now.
So what’s the big deal with me not following people? Well, I have nearly 2,400 followers now. It’s not many compared to others but I only follow about 550 people. Those are 550 people that are influencers in my industry, companies that I love or people that I’ve met in person and have real friendships with. 500 seems like a whole lot of people but it’s not really. Would you believe that I’m not following Zappos, Robert Scoble or Gary Vaynerchuk. Those are 3 guys that everyone follows, right? Well they send way too many replies and it clogs up my stream.
To be honest, I unfollow about 50 people a week and block about 2 people a day. I’m very serious about who I’m following and not following. If I see a hint that someone is being a complete ass to someone else or is supporting things that I don’t agree with I’ll block them. If someone is sending replies any more than 1 out of 4 of their tweets then I unfollow. I should be able to look at the twitter stream of my friends and see real information, something informative, educational, inspiring and real. Replies, chat rooms, spamming and angry messages I don’t have time for. If I’m not growing and learning from you, you’re unfollowed.
So now that you know how I do things on Twitter, I’d like to explain why I didn’t follow the two guys who asked me today “why aren’t you following me?” Well I looked at your page, and you both reply to too many people. I’m sure you’re great, smart and inspirational guys but your Twitter stream is equivalent of a 7th grade social butterfly and that’s why I didn’t follow you.
So why the hell do I DM everyone? Because I love showing people that I absolutely read every single mention of @adamjackson or “adam jackson”. I see all of them and even if you’re talking about me, to me or retweeting what I say, I quickly send a DM to you saying, “hey thanks for the retweet” or I’ll reply to a quesetion that you have. What I won’t do is start following you unless I see a value in following you based on my personal made up Twitter algorithm for people worth following. Does that piss people off? Sure it does and it forces them to publicly @reply to me in response to my DM but that’s the best way to use the system at this time.
A plan that I have is to create an account @adamDM that auto-follows everyone that mentions @adamjackson or “adam jackson” and that way I can DM those people from that account and they are able to DM me back but that account doesn’t ever tweet or do anything else and is simply a way to communicate with people over DM without any limtations. Ideally, I would like it if Twitter was smart enough where when I DM someone, it gives them a 5 minute – 1 hour grace period where they can DM me back without my following them. Until that happens, this is the system I must work with.
Apologies all around for not following every single one of you. For the record, I receive nearly 100 replies a day and 80% of those are from people I’m not following. It’s unfortunate but that’s how I must do things and I apologize. It’s nothing personal.
