We all use Twitter differently. Some use it to keep track of friends, others use it as a chat room and some of us use it as knowledge network.
I find it very tough to keep track of more than a few hundred followers. Sure, I could probably skim a never-ending stream of tweets from a few thousand people, but that seems like a waste of my time. I don’t want to have to use a tool like tweetdeck in order to ignore people and pay attention to others. If we’re not interacting with each other or gaining something (knowledge, friendship, etc.) then why bother?
That being said, I always want to meet and follow new people. I have a few short criteria, including:
1. You must have no more than a 4-1 follow/follower ratio (unless you follow less than 200 people). It’s arbitrary, but it works for me.
2. If all I see are links in your tweets, yeah, um no. @guykawasaki might be a great read, but he doesn’t add a damn thing to my day.
3. You must have a link to a real website in your bio. Perhaps it’s your facebook account, perhaps it’s your blog (MySpace doesn’t count). This website shows me that you understand the point of social media and that you’re most likely here to learn something new, just like me.
4. A real picture as an avatar. Stop being cute. Don’t put up pictures of your cat or some stupid abstract painting. Social media is about NOT hiding.
5. You don’t have social media ______ anywhere in your title unless you actually make a living doing it. No social media mavens, junkies, gurus or experts (the last two titles are for complete morons. if you were either, we’d already know it). I’m here to learn how to use social media to DO something, not how to best use social media.
What are your requirements? Do you have any? Why do you follow people?
