For the last couple of weeks I’ve been rolling a post around in my brain about how and why I choose to follow people on Twitter. Last night Grant Griffiths tweeted the question and we decided to do a tandem post about the subject. You can read his post here. It’s good.
I use Twitter as a business tool so my reasons for choosing who I follow are based on my own business goals of keeping current on business issues, technology, trends, marketing, social networking, writing, and staying in tune with the non-profit and faith-based organizations. Here’s my Twitter Follow Strategy:
Observe others. I first heard of Twitter from Chris Brogan. Initially, I followed his conversations. If he communicated with someone, I figured he or she might be a good person to follow. Thankfully I found Becky McCray, Jon Swanson and Liz Strauss and many of the folks on my list. From there, I began watching those people’s conversations and used the same strategy.
Find like minds. At some point, I was doing a last name search to see if any of my relatives were Twittering. Though I’m not related, I stumbled upon Michael Hyatt. I’m interested in writing, publishing and faith-based topics so following him was a no brainer. Next I wanted to know who he was following so I looked through his “following” list. I read the bios, reviewed the tweet history, and checked out websites/blogs and About pages. I didn’t want to seem like a weirdo stalker person, so I didn’t follow all of his following. Instead I picked a few and continue to add others over time, based on conversations and tweets.
Search keywords. I’ve recently started running so I want to follow people who are into running as well, so I can learn from them. I did a search on Summize and found @beyondjems. What a small world – she’s also connected to @michaelhyatt! As Grant notes in his post, you can now also search easily using Tweetdeck.
Follow backs. When I receive a new follower on Twitter, I look at his or her tweet history, bio, website/blog, and followers to following ratio. I make a “follow” decision based on what I see. Grant does a good job of explaining this in his post so I won’t duplicate. Here’s what I will say: don’t automatically discredit a new Twitterer. We were all new once, right? Maybe we should all make it a matter of practice to follow at least one new Twitter person a week. Just a thought.
One of my favorite books is Vital Friends by Tom Rath. In Chapter 2 he states,
“If we have already spent significant time on self-development, is it possible that most of the magic – our room for rapid personal and professional growth – lies in developing our friendships?”
As strange as it sounds to someone who doesn’t use or understand Twitter, in four short months, I feel as though I’ve seen rapid personal and professional growth, partly as a result of new Twitter “friends.”
- To my following: Thank you. Thanks for allowing me to follow your updates and learn from you. You are enriching my life.
- To my followers: My prayer is that in some small way, I am doing the same for you.
How do you grow your Twitter following? How have the people you’re following on Twitter enriched your life?
P.S. Click here for “Six Ways You Can Use Twitter Today” and here for “Tweople You Must Follow.” And of course, if you’re not already, follow me on Twitter.