The Blog of Derek Kovacevic

Part of what makes Twitter fun and interesting is seeing who chooses to “follow” you. I know I check my account every day to see who has decided to follow me (admit it, so do you). Sometimes, I decide to follow them too, sometimes I don’t. It just depends on the person. But there is a debate about proper netiquette (internet etiquette) to follow when someone decides to follow you, and that is what I’d like to discuss in this post.

Some Twitter users, including Guy Kawasaki, believe that if someone chooses to follow you, you should automatically follow them, no matter who they are. I love Guy, but I have to disagree.

There are some AMAZING people on Twitter who post many interesting and entertaining tweets. Those are people I want to follow.

But I have run across my fair share of spammers who just keep posting the same lame hard sell tweets over and over. Either that, or they just post it once or twice and never contribute anything else. They generally have some generic palm tree picture or no picture at all, just a default Twitter image. Not only do I not follow these people, I often block them. We can all do without these leeches.

Another group I am not fond of, and their numbers seem to be growing, are the online multi-level marketing “gurus.” Almost every one of their web sites is the same. It’s just a lead generation page promising you all the secrets of marketing if you just enter you e-mail address. Of course, you won’t actually receive any really valuable information, just more details about how to buy their product or service. You will of course be put on a mailing list to receive their newsletter. I generally don’t follow these people either, but there is an exception. If they have another web site or blog that I find worthwhile, in my mind, they’ve saved themselves and will earn my following. Otherwise, I’m not interested.

Then there are simply those who I don’t seem to share any interests with. Some 47-year old mother of three tweeting about her cats or knitting just doesn’t appeal to me. ‘Nuff said.

And perhaps the biggest reason I don’t auto-follow is because I do my best to read every tweet from everyone I follow. If I’m gone for the day, I need to hit the “more” button numerous times to catch up on all I’ve missed. This is enough work with the 52 people I’m currently following. I know this number could easily double over the next few months. All the more reason to be selective about who I follow.

There are definitely some people that I follow who have yet to follow me. It might sometimes be a little frustrating, but only a little, and it depends on the person. No matter what, I really don’t take it personally. I don’t think they’re snobby or rude. They just may not be interested in what I have to say. Which is fine. Or maybe they just haven’t got around to checking out my profile. Either way, I say you should only follow someone if you intend to read all their tweets.

You wouldn’t go out with every man or woman who asked you out, would you? If you’re not interested in them, what’s the point? It’s okay to be selective.

Now log on to Twitter and follow me…or don’t.