Followbacks on twitter, really?

Seriously? Are we all still in high school?

I guess I’ve been engrossed in all this Social Media stuff that I lose sight of the fact that most people don’t understand that Social Media is most successful when it’s about interaction and not about followers.

Hang on, maybe I should take a step back here. Last week, @ShellyKramer asked if people felt obligated to follow people back on Twitter. My immediate response was “Hell No”. Appearently, I’m in the minority. Now, I’m pretty sure the root of this is based on how people actually use Twitter and Social Media in general. My wife uses MySpace (yes, people still use MySpace) to keep in touch with her cliq and apparently it was a big thing back in the day (2007) to move people around in your top friends. I could care less. However, I remember vividly getting a phone call from her (then, she was my girlfriend) not 10 minutes after I moved her from spot 2 to spot 3. She was audibly upset and wanted to know what she had done to upset me. I believe that was the same time I turned my MySpace login over to her to manage for me.

Social Media, at least for me, is a great way to interact with really interesting people who are outside of my daily routine. Let’s say for instance, John Garrett. I might see John once a month, if I’m lucky and our crazy schedules meld. But, we interact at least once every few days over Twitter.

It’s also a great way to interact with others whom I’d never get to interact. For instance, I by chance caught a Tweet about #innochat last Thursday, so I dropped in to say hello and speak on the subject (Best Conference Experiences). I had a chance to connect with others from around the world. It’s hard for me to grasp it, but this is the first time pretty much ever that we’ve had the tools to do this easily.

So, back to my point, I don’t feel obligated to follow you back. There are many reasons why. Are you “Big Brand A” and just pointing the bullhorn at your customers? Then no, no follow for you. Are you GIECO and put one of your mascots (@GEICOCaveman) on Twitter and he actually responds like a person? Yea, I’ll follow that. Are you “Joe/Jane Doe” talking about your dog’s poop? Nah, I’ll pass. Are you “Joe/Jane Doe” talking about your dog’s poop in between posting really great articles, quotes, or otherwise sharing information? I’ll survive somehow. Heck, even I loosen up my Twitter feed after 5-6pm CST.

And, please don’t offer a “follow back” as value either. I’d rather not have you follow me, or anyone else if you don’t find what they’re saying interesting. Because, if you find what they say interesting, you probably won’t stop following them if they start tweeting a lot because of a conference or a hashtag chat.

I guess the bottom line is that it’s not about the numbers. While they can be used as a gauge, they are not the bottom line. Engagement is the key.

http://www.jtrigsby.com jtrigsby

First, amen brother!

Second, this really boils down to a pretty interesting sociology observation. Why do users feel compelled to follow back someone who follows them… even if they don't know who they are?

One reason may be that they're chasing follower count (maybe as some measure of popularity) and they'll take all the followers they can get. They religiously check their followers for newbs and immediately follow them back, or worse… have a bot auto-follow-back. This is akin to adding everyone at a party to your address book, even if you only knew they were there because Susie pointed to him from across the room. When you do this, you dilute the value of your real contacts with all these “fake” contacts.

The second reason may be the more interesting one though. These are the people who feel compelled to follow back out of obligation. Kind of like how you have to give a gift to a co-worker on their birthday because they gave you one on your birthday. They feel it would somehow be rude if they didn't follow back. I wish I had the time to do a study on this kind of stuff!

I'm with you man. I really hope people enjoy what I have to offer… maybe even get some value from it, and I appreciate everyone that follows. I check every so often to see who has followed me and if they look interesting, I'll probably follow back to see what they have to say. If it becomes too much, there's always the unfollow button. But I don't obsess about it. Its just a number. I'd much rather have 535 engaged followers than 535,000 that don't care.

Great topic, awesome post!

@jtrigsby
http://socialmediabirmingham.com Social Media Birmingham

Thanks for the two great points, Thom.

With my background in Psychology, I'm looking to do more posts that focus in on things like this. Really dig into the scientific “why” behind the reasons people act/react the way they do online and through the use of Social Media tools. There's no better way to engage people if you understand why they are doing what they are doing.
http://wadeonbirmingham.com WadeonBirmingham

Also, I think it comes back to Twitter itself. It doesn't really have an intuitive way to use it, so newbies and corporations essentially follow everyone.

For companies, that's not necessarily a bad strategy. But my time is my own: I'll follow you if I think it's worthwhile.

Just because I subscribe to 100 cable channels doesn't mean I watch all of them!
http://www.jtrigsby.com jtrigsby

Wow, that's an Awesome analogy, especially for me.

I follow lots of people on Twitter and I also have a “must hear” list. This list is the one I monitor most closely because it is made up of the people I really want to hear (therefore… must hear). From time to time I'll switch over to my firehose to see what else is going on. Similarly, I watch two or three programs on TV. Every once in a while I'll browse the full listings but most of the time I go straight to Tivo and watch what I'm interested in.

Great point Wade! Thanks.
http://wadeonbirmingham.com WadeonBirmingham

Also, I think it comes back to Twitter itself. It doesn't really have an intuitive way to use it, so newbies and corporations essentially follow everyone.

For companies, that's not necessarily a bad strategy. But my time is my own: I'll follow you if I think it's worthwhile.

Just because I subscribe to 100 cable channels doesn't mean I watch all of them!
http://www.jtrigsby.com jtrigsby

Wow, that's an Awesome analogy, especially for me.

I follow lots of people on Twitter and I also have a “must hear” list. This list is the one I monitor most closely because it is made up of the people I really want to hear (therefore… must hear). From time to time I'll switch over to my firehose to see what else is going on. Similarly, I watch two or three programs on TV. Every once in a while I'll browse the full listings but most of the time I go straight to Tivo and watch what I'm interested in.

Great point Wade! Thanks.