Gurus On Twitter – Get a Freakin Clue!

Thank you Jack
I read your tweets. Thanks for following me. Even though I be one small fish in the sea. I appreciate those who follow me. I should @ more often.

Sandra McFerren

I find this sort of situation very frustrating, particularly people I’ve met in real life who only selectively follow and have hundreds or thousands or followers. But really, people who don’t read @replies are the most annoying.

Jack, you have said all I have wanted to say and more. Like you, I follow everyone who follows me and some more. I am only at 115 or so followers but I don’t need to play the numbers game as I am here to network. I “unfollow” the ones that I follow and don’t follow me back in 2-3 days. Networking is a TWO-WAY street, it’s that simple.

I was following a guy who had maybe 400 followers. After a week, I emailed him asking him why he wasn’t following me yet and his response was “I have too many people who follow-me, I can’t possibly follow all and network with them”. He was “unfollowed” the next day because if it is one-way, why bother?

I think it’s the height of presumptuousness to be judging how someone else is using Twitter. It’s a communication tool. We don’t know what their priorities are, what their business model is, how much of their time they spend doing other things, etc.

Reciprocity isn’t expecting others to follow you just because you followed them. If you choose to make reciprocity that you follow others because they followed you, that’s your choice, but putting that expectation on other people is egocentric on your part. Until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, as they say…

Bottom line: do they deliver value? Who cares if they’re following you or not? Again, that’s ego. Either what they tweet is of value or it isn’t. Decide on those merits alone.

Networking is NOT always a two-way street. All relationships are not symmetrical. A movie star has hundreds of thousands of fans who send in fan mail. They can’t possibly respond to them all personally. I’m not suggesting that certain Twitterers are movie stars, but there’s a whole range in between. There are more people who would want to connect with Bill Gates, given the opportunity, than he could reasonably connect with.

Someone not following you is NOT personal. It’s not a value judgment on you as a person. It’s a simple matter of them prioritizing how they spend their time. They may be sticking to a few dozen or few hundred people to follow so that their Twitter experience is more meaningful to them.

Come on, folks, get your ego out of the way. Respect how other people choose to use their time and devote their attention. Your way is not the only right way to network.

I don’t understand the whole tweeter thing. I do know when someone spends hours designing a cute logo for your blog that it is annoying when they don’t put it up. And what about the whole “I’ll do a 3 way and help you get that looked after”? and then not calling. So when you follow over 5000 people on twitter does that pretty much take up all your time? I am afraid I would get addicted and never get my important stuff done. You know.. like spider solitaire!

Rock on Jack!

Spot on, Shelley. THE most effective networking is helping people get things done. I will (and have) literally ignored dozens of “nice to reply – might be an opportunity” emails in order to spend time doing things like reviewing a friend’s manuscript, business plan or presentation.

It’s not a personal reflection on you when someone says “no”, which is essentially what not reciprocally following is. It’s still not a personal reflection on you, but DOES reflect badly on them, when they make a commitment and then don’t keep it. And it’s incredibly frustrating when you’ve set an expectation based on their commitment and they let you down.

So with all that possibility out there, why put expectations on other people that they haven’t even agreed to?

Good discussion. The reason Twitter is popular is partly because people can use it their own way. That’s democracy. Whether or not it’s advisable to use Twitter this way or that is another story. the most well received and popular utilities in history began to be used in ways that their inventors never fully thought of… but they went with it. Myspace originally was just for bands… not anymore. How many people do what twitter asks “What are you doing right now?”… very few. We are all using the best utilities for mongrel purposes. I guess what I’m saying is read Guy Kawasaki … Rules for Revolutionaries… that’ll clear the whole thing up.

I don’t think I use twitter the right way. I follow people I find interesting. I do try to follow people who follow me back, but if they appear to just be selling things and not replying to just regular everyday conversation I don’t bother. I am not interested in building a huge following. Just interested in some people watching and interaction at times. As a not so social person in general I find the randomness of interaction perfect for me.
Oh ,as for the whole guru thing…I have never understood that after 12 years online…but then again I am here to play not work.
msm

Parker Palmer speaks of broken systems that we build in the current culture, where people no longer feel they can “speak and feel heard.”

“Speaking and feeling heard” is critical in life, and also seems to be at the heart of the issue here. Yet in our busy lives we also consider unique needs of others to follow different paths, and some will speak less, while others hear less.

Yikes — I have another related problem though. Some people seem to value numbers more than humans. I has a blog with very high traffic and then the network I blogged for folded for a variety of reasons that shook many of their writers.

Humbling as it was, I launched a new blog, and started at the very bottom again. Numbers, pings, A-lists, or even egos, mean far less to me than one deep dive like this one! Why so?

With good tone, and from different angles in life, people here simply “speak and feel heard,” about an issue that impacts progress. All to say thanks – because for me that is the heart and mind of twitter, and of social networks for that matter. Without such honest and thoughtful exchanges, we build more flawed structures!

Scott says : “Networking is NOT always a two-way street.” Can we define it…Scott ?

“All relationships are not symmetrical.” Agreed…but is twitter a platform to build symmetrical relationships ?

Scott says “Twitter is a communication tool.” Only one-way communication…Scott ?

To each his own…Scott…but I feel Jack is more right.

Thats my opinion…Scott..and I respect you as an individual.

One last question..Scott…How many people have you followed without them following you ?

Come on…Scott…Get your ego out of the way.

Lets be friends…Scott. Should I follow you first ?

I just joined twitter a few weeks ago after swearing it off awhile back. I realized after watching people I know interact on the site, that I was missing out on a tremendous opportunity to network with new people on a social medium that you can use how you want.

I think that telling people they are using twitter the wrong/right way is like telling someone they hold a pencil the right or wrong way. Who am I to tell someone how to use their twitter account, when I don’t own the space in which they occupy on said medium. What I do “own” or “control” is who I interact with and who I don’t. I had someone DM me my first week on twitter and tell me they were unfollowing me because I wasn’t serious enough. Serious enough? The internet, while a portal to a lot of my business, is merely an outlet for me. Sometimes the internet is a marketing outlet, other times it’s a connection outlet, still other times it’s a humor outlet. At the end of the day, it’s a way for me to connect with other people.

I have followers and people I follow who sell stuff, some people run billion dollar corporations, and others who will remain nameless to me but leave a funny link or tweet.

The beauty and true power of Twitter is that little grey “follow” or “unfollow” button beneath everyone’s avatar. THAT is the deciding factor in who I want to interact with and allow into my life with a marketing message or a simple hello. I’m no more wrong or right in how I use Twitter than the guy with 9,000 followers with no one following.

I think those that don’t follow back are really missing out on the valuable contributions the twitter community in general offer up.

By only following other “gurus”, they don’t stay in touch with what their followers real needs are, nor can they receive the many tips and insights that their followers can offer.

They also miss out on building closer relationships that are forming from people being able to “DM” each other.

If they find certain followers annoying, interfering, or their tweets not interesting to them, the beauty of twitter is that it’s perfectly acceptable to unfollow.

Hi Jack, I give you a lot of credit for presenting both pros and cons of using Twitter. True, we’re all uniquely different people so we come in with varying perspectives on what we want to do once we’re there. I’ve been blogging for over a couple of years and many blogging friends kept raving about Twitter, so I began a 30 day “trial” to see what it’s like. I’ve already followed blogging friends and I’ve also met many kinds of people and just by reading their messages I have followed through to check out their blogs. So far I’m really enjoying it, but only go in now and then to avoid letting it become a time waster.

If they don’t want to follow people back then why are the using Twitter. They are missing the whole point. They are just blogging, but limiting themselves to 140 characters.

Twitter is about engaging. If your not engaging, then you are just blogging. Really your just shouting “Look at me, look at me, but no autographs please.”

Well Jack, I don’t know if we ever had a twitter conversation but we are following each other. I am following many people and many are following back….I guess it takes a while to tweet with everyone you are following.I don’t get the GURU thing either…if you like the one sided thing just visit their sites instead

People need to get over themselves. You have 9,000 followers but follow no one. Ooooh how interesting! It’s Twitter, who cares?

p.s. Jack Bastide looks rather busy – followed by 5k, follows 5 or 6k, but he has taken the time to respond to me on Twitter, so thank you sir!

Hey Jack,
Enjoyed reading this dialog.
I behave on twitter just as you do.
I’ll follow back everyone (then unfollow if they are spamming or whatever). I also unfollow “most” unless they are following me.

But, I think I agree with the comments that others can use it as they see fit. That said, they do seem to be missing the 2.0 idea, huh?

Great dialogue for an early Saturday morning! Guru or not, we’re all busy. I respect those who take the time to get to know their followers.

Aren’t gurus supposed to know their market? We have all heard many gurus tell their adoring fans to profile their ideal client. What better way to get to know your buyers than conversing on Twitter? You may say, wait a minute, my interior design clients aren’t on Twitter. But, the gurus Jack’s talking about, mainly Internet marketers teaching how to sell online, have the ideal client waiting to get noticed, right on Twitter.

Have a glorious day.

@jeanettejoy

dissing opinion warning!

Who controls Twitter?
Who controls how you use Twitter?
Who should control how I use Twitter?

I don’t presume to know all of the answers. I will not follow people that focus on subjects that I “don’t like”. My choice.
I may not follow someone that is too noisy for my liking.
I may not follow someone that has not been active in 60 days.
I may not follow a spammer or a bot.

Our reasons are the same. There is either too much or not enough conversation to warrant following them.

This discussion is awesome. Rants get responses.
But, really who cares if someone follows no one. Move on and bask in the glory of the conversations that you have. Isn’t Twitter great?
Yes it is!

I think a similar standard has been practiced for responding to comments as well.

I follow everyone initially. I follow almost as many people as follow me. The fact is, Twitter, for me is about giving information and marketing. If someone does not Tweet about anything of interest to me, after a week or so, I take him or her off. If they Twitter nothing, I leave them on. I want Twitter to be of value not just girth.

Jack – I think the consensus is that it just doesn’t feel right for someone to have hundreds, nay thousands, of followers and not be willing or interested in following them back. I’ve gone through and un-followed all such Tweeps and I will continue to. I’ve got plenty of people in my world already who talk at me instead of with me. I don’t need Twitter for more of that. AND, while I’m at it, I’m often tempted to un-follow people who constantly crow about how many followers they have or tweet about how they need X more people to get to that magic number they’re seeking. Twitter can be a game, I guess, but many of us are there to have interactions and learn, not compete. Yesterday I followed back someone because one of the tweets at their page expressed excitement about how many people THEY were following. How charming! Someone who wants to listen and interact, and once in awhile offer a thought. I think that’s what Twitter is for.

I follow most everyone that follows me. My feeling is it all boils down to what you can manage and what you’re looking for. I’m not looking to have the biggest list of followers, I’m looking to have/share dialogue, maybe laugh a little sometimes, talk some business, hockey and beer.

That said, I don’t follow: obvious spammers, people that tweet nothing but their sales/junk, people that haven’t posted a single tweet or nothing in eons or people that clearly have no dialogue with anyone at all; there is a level of dialogue that should occur at a very minimum, even if it’s not with me. If someone doesn’t give me two-way dialogue (say I’ve answered a question or helped them), I do what I do to other rude people: let the party continue but direct my attention to those that want to talk. @bizcoachdeb

Excellent discussion. I’m sure many people have had the same question in their mind, even if they haven’t said it aloud.

I think the question is equally about us (the non-gurus) as it is about them. Why are we signing up in droves to follow someone who clearly doesn’t plan on interacting with us? If their guru status is determined by number of followers, then we’ve given them that status. I’d guess there may be a couple of reasons people follow these folks. Many see them as sources of valuable information and that, in and of itself, is worthwhile enough to merit a follow. Others continue to reply to them, hoping to be noticed at some point by someone with greater reach and impact.

We’ve all got different goals in our networking efforts, whether it is on LinkedIn, Twitter or anywhere else. The beauty of these platforms is that they allow us to connect with others as best meets our individual preferences and needs.

Thanks for the discussion, Jack.

Allow me to interject another view. Here’s the follower/following list of “someone”:
37 Following 11,923 Followers 98 Updates

This person is not a “guru”, so does it still matter that they are only following a select group? Does being a “guru” automatically mean that you have to follow others?

(A cookie to whoever can figure out who this person is )

I get followers, and I immediately look at their twitter page and bio, and their tweets and their home page, if it’s listed, to see if they are someone I want to follow. I don’t just follow someone simply because they follow me. There’re plenty of people who I have very little to zero interest in who they are or what they are doing, so why would I follow them? I only follow those who are of interest to me and what I do.
Many that I don’t follow are simply using Twitter as a straight up marketing tool. While I use it for that purpose as well, I also interact and learn from the ones that I am following, because they have interesting things (to me) to say.

I love Irenes question: “I think the question is equally about us (the non-gurus) as it is about them. Why are we signing up in droves to follow someone who clearly doesn’t plan on interacting with us?” Indeed, we can easily see just how many people they are following, so why should we expect any different treatment?

Also, there is only two things that are going to happen when we decide to follow someone. They’ll either follow us in return or they won’t. I can’t see getting upset over it either way really. @tolemac

Hi,Jack.

I found your post particularly interesting because three or four days ago, you added me to your follow list–along with several hundred others who you added at the same time. Since I didn’t automatically follow you back, you dropped me from your list within a very short period of time–maybe 24 hours.

And yet, you seem to believe that you provide a stellar example of how to use Twitter properly to connect with others.

To me, your Twitter profile has the appearance of someone who is using Twitter methodically to build a large list. There is nothing wrong with that since everyone who follows you has chosen to do so. However, few would be so naive to believe that you have followed them for the opportunity to make a solid connection. While it is possible for someone to have @reply conversations with many on a given day, interacting with thousands in any sort of meaningful way would pretty much be a full time job. Not only that, when you add hundreds of follows at a time, regardless of your system, your selections are somewhat random. My guess is you followed me (on a 24 hour trial basis) merely because I was on the follower list of another IM player. It had nothing to do with me or who I am or what I am about. Instead, you “selected” and ultimately rejected me based on my willingness to become a Twitter follower.

Most of us are aware of the guru Twitter practices you describe. And while I agree that it looks rather unfriendly to follow less than fifty when you are being followed by thousands, at least there is something rather straight forward about it. The gurus you criticize don’t pretend that following them on Twitter will lead to a two way relationship. I follow two who play Twitter that way and look forward to their their updates which are often quite fun and amusing. That is why they are in my Twitter stream.

So, Jack, thank you for the great distinction of being in your Twitter stream for 24 hours or so. I am sorry I didn’t measure up. But I am not alarmed. When or if you have something to sell me, I am certain that I will have ample opportunity to hear about it.

In the meantime, disabuse yourself of the notion that it is somehow flattering to be followed by you and somehow insulting not to be followed by Frank Kern.

@KayBallard

Hi Jack -

I follow back almost every one that follows me. There are a few exceptions. One would be if I go to a persons profile page and all I see are pages of automated – Thanks for following me – and very little or no interaction. I don’t block them and a week later check back to see if things have changed. I go back through all the people following me repeatedly and I do eventually follow many.

Another is pages of – Posted to my blog – in a continual stream. I go through almost all the tweets from the time I sign out til I log in again so adding 5 to 10 pages of that nonsense isn’t going to happen.

I know exactly what your saying about the guru and guru want-a-be. There are 2 that I am having second thoughts about. I still follow them at the moment and like you I will not be divulging any names.

What bothers me about them is I have been a customer of both on several occasions. One hasn’t followed me at all and the other I followed, he followed back and a day later he was gone. So I don’t know how I feel about that but I haven’t bought anything else from them since.

I don’t mind if people disagree with me. I don’t care if people go on a rant. Better they vent on Twitter than going over and kicking the dog or cat. I don’t worry about what topics are brought up. I do like that there are so many down to earth highly talented people sharing and helping. So many people connecting to others regardless of gender, race, location or beliefs. I love the diversity and for the most part we play well together.

@KayBallard Ouch!

I could have deleted your comment as I am all-powerful (lol) but that would be rude and besides I invite discussion

I am ABSOLUTELY building a large Twitter Following. And YES the Fastest way to do this is Follow other people.

I do give people 24 hours to follow me back. If they don’t follow back by then either they are Not an active Twitter user or they are not going to follow back. So I need to clear out the dead wood because Twitter limits you to following your number of Followers +10%

Look at My updates. 95% of them are @replies where I interact with Other Twitter users. While I can’t reply to EVERYBODY I do my best to reply to as many as possible.

Look at a Typical Gurus Updates. Very little interaction, if any. Any @replies are to their small amount of Guru friends. The rest is just sales pitches and telling you how great they are.

When I FIRST got on Twitter I followed every guru in the Marketing Niche. I tried connecting by sending them @replies. Several of them replied and we developed a relationship . The ones that didn’t reply after a few tries I just deleted

What is the point of a Social Media tool if not to be Social?

I have a Throwaway Email address where I get all the Gurus email. I check it once every few weeks to swipe some of their copy. I don’t buy any of their junk

Thanks for the conversation .. I appreciate you

Jack

P.S. If you follow me I will follow you back .. LOL

Jack,I appreciate your willingness to have a conversation.

Apparently, however, you read my comment and missed my point. Given what you are trying to achieve, I think your Twitter techniques are defensible and effective. But I, for one, on the receiving end, did not experience your techniques as a positive social networking experience. Deeming me “inactive” or “dead wood” because I didn’t follow you back within 24 hours does not strike me as social–or even prudent. Being followed randomly,en masse, possibly because I was on the followers list of one of the gurus, does not strike me as social. It strikes me as a business decision. There is nothing wrong with that, but please don’t pretend otherwise.

If your larger point is that Twitter is a social networking platform with rich opportunities for connecting with fascinating people, then we agree. If your point is that those, gurus and others, who fail to connect with their followers or never listen are missing a fabulous opportunity, then we agree. But if you want to hold yourself out as a model of social behavior evidenced by your practices on Twitter, well, perhaps you should keep trying.

@KayBallard

I am with you. I keep my ratio pretty even.

I do follow everyone that follows me. I may un-follow someone who is:

not replaying, only posting their links
uses foul language
posting negative stuff against my value system

I have been on twitter since 10-20-08 and have nearly 1800 followers and am following about the same.

I post lots of replies as well as info on my business at http://www.mypreciouskid.com and articles others might find helpful.

Hopefully I am interesting enough that others will follow me @MyPreciousKid

Kay

I have several Twitter accounts: one that is personal and only a few friends and family ever get a follow back, though you are free to follow me if you want, knowing I will never follow you @gerardmclean well, never say never, we may become friends

The other is my public face, @dogwalkblog I will follow anyone who is interesting, has an avatar, took the time to build a good Twitter profile page and has interesting tweets. Why a dog? Well, it is my real dog and there are very few people who won’t follow a dog. But, spam me your pet supply store and you WILL get unfollowed…

Then, there are our brands @plainjoecoffee, @tourneycentral etc that have a specific audience. They are commercial places and I don’t think people who follow them really mind getting sold to. If they do, they probably should have figured out we were going to send them deals of the day, photos, scores, etc.

And then there are a few “broadcast only” twitter accounts @narmsjobs is one where it is used because Titter is easier to use than setting up an SMS server. We follow nobody because it is an out-going only account.

So, Jack, different accounts for different uses. How many other users have multiple accounts and are different people on different accounts? I’ll bet there are more than you know.

Probably is an “Ah-ha” moment for someone, like a bank teller at a bank where you have several accounts with a lot of money in each, except for the one small one they try to charge you fees on.. only to realize later that they did not just piss off one small, tiny account holder, but a rather large network of account holders.

Well written post. It seems like a difficult task to me trying to market to Twitterers. You post a tweet with a link to whatever your trying to push and it’s gone from everyone’s front page so quickly it’s doubtful that you’d get much of a response from it. I don’t know…I guess you could call this Spam 2.0, but I would think there are more effective ways of hocking your products.

Hi Jack –

I appreciate my followers, for sure! But I have limited time, so I don’t follow back everyone who follows me. I do, however, periodically go look at their feeds to see if there’s something of random interest or if I really should be following them more regularly.

I follow several “gurus” who don’t follow me back, and I’m not (generally) offended by their not reciprocating, but I do appreciate the ones I’ve purchased from who are willing to include in their follows.

I guess my biggest disappointment and “gripe” is when I send an @guruname tweet (or send several) and never get a reply back…especially if it’s someone I’ve purchased from. That, to me, is the highest conceit!

One of the things I will always try to do is to respond to a follower’s tweet, especially if it’s a question they are asking!

So, I don’t follow everyone who follows me (although I usually try to look at their profile and read some of their tweets), and not everyone I follow follows me in return. I realize there is limited time and I pretty much agree with Dr. Mani’s approach, although I am currently following more than he recommends. It’s entirely possible that I’m already getting newsletters, reading blogs, or in other ways following the folks who follow me.

At any rate, it is certainly not meant to be a reflection of that person’s value if I decide at the moment not to follow.

I appreciate the generosity of the folks on twitter and on several occasions have received information, resources and links that I would never have found in any other way. That, and the friendships, are the major value to me.

P.S. Thanks for following me

@KatieDarden

Jack – I got your back!

The comment posted by Kay Ballard took me by surprise. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she must misunderstand you. (As she reams you a new one…)

I know you don’t “auto” follow people. Though I do consider you a Following Twitter Ho (that’s said with love). You’ll follow anyone that wants to follow you.

Kay claims you can’t have a meaningful relationship with thousands on Twitter. I beg to disagree. While it’s hard sometimes for me to keep up with all I follow, I do read my Twitter stream. There’s no way to comment and reply to everyone. My followers would hate me if I did comment on every tweet and reply. Yet, I appreciate the valuable information I get from my followers. Sometimes, a tweet will be just what I needed to get my head on straight.

Following many isn’t easy. TweetDeck is helping with certain groups. Yet, it is possible to connect. I know from my conversations with Jack – he IS engaging with his followers. He does build relationships on Twitter.

Kay, you state that Jack’s selection of whom to follow is random. I know for fact this is not true. He looks for Tweeps that interest him. He looks at who those Tweeps are having interesting convesations with and follows them.

Geez girl, who I’m following must look random. But, if you know me you know I’ve searched for Tweeps who are geeks, in social media, maintream media, marketing, news, non-profits, anything green, foodies, twitterholics, football fans, into aviation, writer, journalists, fashion divas, into family (moms and dads), Christians, technology whiz kids, and anything to do with Hawaii. And that’s a partial list of my interests. So yeah – Jack’s list must look random! LOL.

Kay, take a step back and take a deep breath. Everyone has their own way to Tweet. You can always “block” someone if they bother you.

Jack – you’re a Twitter Rock Star in my world. Keep up the good work.

Aloha,
Arleen
http://www.AlohaArleen.com

Agreed that Twitter is whatever you wish it be.

Having said that, the Twit with 9000 followers who is not following anyone back (ie telling the world he/she has no interest in developing relationships with anyone and is just here for shameless self promotion) has no right to Tweet “who wants to pick me up from the airport in Philly and drive me home to East Hampton?” IMO, it’s not good business to just continuously vomit your stuff out to the planet without even listening to what your customers are saying. To then ask these same mute customers to be your private chauffeur, well….that’s just insulting on so many levels.

(By the way, Twit 9002 did really tweet that request a while back. I un-followed him immediately afterward. I would have DM’ed him to tell him why, but he wasn’t following me! )

Jack, first of all, we follow each other on Twitter. I like your banter. But I just don’t get the whole Follow me and I will follow you bit. I follow the people who I converse with or chit-chat with from time to time. The important thing for me is to have some 1 to 1 time with people.

I actually went through and cut out of my following list people that I found I was skipping over their posts regularly so I could have conversations with the ones I am following. This is to me what Twitter is about!

Lately I’ve been inactive – dead wood as it were as I prepare for my internet to go away for awhile. But I know that the folks that I have followed – and a good many that follow me will welcome me back when I get back online. Why? Because I have made real connections.

I personally don’t follow everyone who follows me. I always check there tweets, though, and some people just don’t interest me. Sorry. That’s just how it is.

Also, I’ve set a personal limit of 200. At this point I have 310 followers and 205 following. It’s hard to choose who I’ll follow back and who I won’t. I just can’t keep up with more than that! As it is, I miss half of my friends tweets because I don’t have time to go read through all the previous tweets. I only refresh the home page and see what’s happening right now. When I’m feeling really overwhelmed, I only refresh my @relplies page.

As for the ones you wrote about, I agree. What’s the point if you aren’t going to interact with people. I will never follow them. But the people who *are* following them are smart enough to realize they won’t be followed back. I seriously doubt anyone who clicks on TF really hopes he’ll follow back.

I absolutely 100% agree with you! Why bother joining a group to network and then NOT! Not only is it annoying but it doesn’t make any sense to me. But I didn’t realize there is a RIGHT way to do it…i just log on sporadically and twitter to people that I recognize or hear from.

This Guru “debate” has been going on for milennia! Look at the Gurus of India – once they reached a certain (undefined) mass of followers, most had (and have?) little if any real connection with their groups. To them, their message is THE word to be heard, because they are among the “Enlightened Ones.” That may or may not be true, but they never seem to be without their faithful (and even fanatical) followers, do they?

So is it any wonder there are similarities on the internet? These folks know they just put something out there and SOME will respond!

Right or Wrong? I think by now, most of us know there is ….. Is.

ooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ……………………

~ @Pirattitude ~

PS ….. Do I follow back? Only if “they” are:
Interesting
Real (name or website)
Followers of Followers
Engaging
Active
RedHeads
Lovers of Dragons

NOT: ‘buy my book’ ‘buy my book’ ‘my book is here!’ ‘did’ja read my book’ ‘my upcoming teleseminar is ALL about my book’ ‘you bought my book, didnt’cha?’ ‘yes, chapter 3 DOES cure bacon’n'Spam-induced cancer’ ‘plz help my book b #1 on amazon’ ‘what-else-can-i-do-to-coerse-U-2-buy-my-book’ ‘you haven’t bought my book?’ ‘Barack learned everything he knows from my book’
Thanx but no thanx Spamoid.

Jack, I suppose our conversation is just beginning. You have done what your Twitter techniques failed to do–persuaded me of your charm.

LOL I am now following you on Twitter.

@Kay Aww I’m Blushing now – he he

Thanks So much

I look forward to getting to know you

Jack

Jack, I think the real question here is what would Night Ranger do?

I think it’s up to each person to decide whom to follow for whatever reason.

If some “guru” has 9000 followers and follows nobody, that’s his choice. If those stats bother you, you’re free to not follow that person.

I don’t think anyone but the owner of Twitter should be making rules on how others use Twitter.

That’s because people just don’t agree on these things. Some think you should send a welcome message to every new follower. Some think that’s wrong if it’s automated. I think it’s dumb to do things like that manually.

It’s like a list. If someone wants to get on my list, they can. That does not obligate me to subscribe to their list.

I suspect a lot of people who have Twitter accounts aren’t on there very much, so why should I worry much about who is following me or not? In other words, if 100 more people follow me, but they only use Twitter once a month and hardly ever write anything or see what I write, how does that help me, other than inflating my stats?

One more thing: since you have to choose to follow someone to read their stuff, there really is no such thing as spamming Twitter.

Firstly, I want to take credit for Kay following you as I retweeted your blog url. So your welcome Since Kay was following me too does that mean I am charming as well? anyway…

About the gurus with their big fat sweaty lists of followers:
POINT ME TO THEIR profiles! seriously. As an IMer myself, I sometimes want to connect with other Internet Marketers.

And where is a good place to find them? Guru tweeps.
Go ahead. harvest their list! One of the great features of Twitter is to pick a big name in your niche and follow the followers.What better way to meet like-minded people?
Maybe you will become the one that people go to for answers because you like to tweet and you like to help others.

The word “guru” is a combination of 2 words in Sanskrit: “gu” and “ru” Roughly translated to “bringer” and “light”

Who brings more light? The person that actively interacts with others or the person that just tells people what they SHOULD be doing?

My inbox is already filled with GuruSpeak. I guess I’m looking for something a little more from Twitter

Thanks for the info really useful

Hi Jack

Responding to your very loud Tweet: “A FAVOR: Testing MATHEMATICAL COMMENT SPAM FILTER”

Please notify us if it works. I’ll retweet it for you … and also might install it on my blog if it works.

Jonathan

Hi Jack,
I always follow anyone who follows me, I like to interact with people, and love to meet new friends, I am far from a guru but if anyone needs any help I am only too willing, well that is if I know the answer.

Thanks so much

Tara.

Ps getting good at this numeric verification. LOL see ya on twitter

Kay for someone who isn’t alarmed at being dropped from Jack’s follow list you seem to be making such a fuss about it.

Embrace twitter for what it is and just shrug it off if you are dropped, if you are really that concerned you could always block Jack’s tweets if you don’t like his style.

For clarity:

1. David Parton is extremely charming.

2. I follow a wide variety of people since I have a wide variety of interests. Several that I follow are less charming than David and Jack. This is good. Too much charm in one’s twitter stream could prove distracting.

3. We should all consider that living on the beach in La Jolla with IM millions already in the bank might make one more interested in surfing than connecting on Twitter.

Hi Jack,

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really see it at as a requirement that every follow be a reciprocal situation.

I follow people who I find interesting, and who I want to keep up with what they’re doing. And I hope anybody who follows me is doing so for similar reasons.

At this point, I only follow 180 people. And to be honest, that’s almost too many.

Sometimes I have to wade through 3 or 4 pages of self-promotion and/or mindless political rants (if any of this strike to close to home for you, let me know) to actually see what my real friends are up to. Truth be told, I should probably be following less people … not more.

As for the “gurus” …

I find it pretty impressive that someone could have almost 6000 followers, and only follow back a dozen people who they actually know. Tells, me they probably have something interesting to say.

Contrast that with the people who follow anybody who’s twitter page they come across … in the hopes that they’ll be followed back … you know, so that they can then “communicate” with as many people as possible.

That’s the type of person I would either unfollow, or not follow in the first place.

Just my opinion,
Todd

Hi Jack:
Interesting post and self policy you made on twitter.
However, I do happen to follow people right now who are not following me, perhaps because I am a twitter novice.
Now as far as following those that don’t respond, I haven’t noticed any non-responses so hard to answer that, I imagine I may stop following. Again, maybe because I am a novice.
I do think if someone writes you in most cases you should respond.
I have noticed getting responses from people I am not following nor are following me, they somehow found my twit, that is pretty cool.
I think a person should follow because they find what you have to say interesting, however I am new and well perhaps there’s a culture on twitter one must learn. It does seem many people follow those that follow them.
You are also unable to see anything your followers are saying if you do not follow them. So… all very interesting.
Reminds me of sayings about leaders I’ve heard that go something like… good followers make good leaders and leaders should listen to their followers.
Just sharing some thoughts,
~ Sarah

Hi Jack,

I had another thought to share on this subject. When somebody follows me, the first thing I do (most of the time), is click over to their profile and looks at their most recent tweets. It may not be a fair way to make a judgment on somebody (and I may be missing out on interaction with some interesting people), but I think I can usually tell pretty quickly whether or not I’ll get value out of following somebody … and ultimately, that’s what it’s all about … right?

Todd

Todd I absolutely agree with that

I like to see people with a lot of @replies meaning
that they are interacting with people

Jack

Hey Jack,

Since I’m a marketer….

I follow everybody. I’m an expert at filtering through useless info so I don’t mind all the tweets on my board.

I do, however, delete the most obnoxious people from time to time. I prefer to assume they “tweet” with courtesy but if they prove themselves to not be follow-worthy…I just unfollow.

I just wrote a clever comment but forgot to answer the stupid question and lost all of my text.

I’m too tired to re-write my brilliant point of view.
Thought provoking post, Jack. Thanks.
Excellent comments by everyone on both sides of the argument. Even more amazing is this technology that has spawned such great discourse. I wonder if the inventors realized how this has evolved.

@direstraits94
Follow me, if you want. I can’t guarantee I’ll live up to your expectations.
I’ll follow you back for more than 24 hours.

edit: I wonder if its inventors foresaw how Twitter would evolve.

While I do agree partially with Scott, in that you really can’t expect everyone to follow you back and that it is about communication not reciprocity, I also take issue with people who follow almost no one and have almost no @ replies.

Twitter is a SOCIAL networking tool. Not an avenue for a series of soliloquies! The whole premise behind social networking is communication. One-way communication doesn’t usually amount to much.

There are people on each end of the spectrum, and neither is ideal. I think that the most effective use of twitter is engaging in conversations, and developing a rapport/relationship with the people you interact with.

On the opposite end of the scale … for those who definitely don’t want to be followed back:

http://tweetstalk.com/

Todd

[...] debate over on Jack Bastide’s new twitter blog : Do You Follow People That Don’t Respond To You and Don’t Follow You [...]

I have some policies regarding following folks on twitter. I will follow most anyone, unless:

*There is No Picture
*They use spammer tactics like following a large volume of people in a short amount of time
*The spam tweets like 10 in a row
*They send non-stop sales pitches

As far as interacting on twitter goes, I don’t always have time to do that, but try to when I can.

Just wanted to say this was a great blog post.

Dennis

Great post! I’m new to Twitter and just learning the proper way to use it to assist me in my internet business. I have noticed when I have added some of the “big internet gurus” they don’t follow and aren’t following anyone.

I must say it impresses me when some decide to follow me…it makes them seem more approachable.

Some of links posted on Twitter are helpful…that’s how I found my way here I’ll be back.

Of course some people’s business models may not include following a bunch of tweets. However, the examples cited above clearly show that these people are using Twitter as a broadcast list. If those “gurus” want to exploit it – feel free. I just find it amusing that so many would follow them. It seems to me like pure arrogance – but hey, to each their own.

Holy crap Jack!

You certainly opened a can of worms here. Good for you.

For what it’s worth, I think this is a great conversation.

And BTW, I love to play Devil’s Advocate! So here goes -

I gotta say, blasting folks for choosing NOT to follow everyone/anyone is like the holy roller telling me that the way I choose to worship my higher power is wrong.

There’s only one way to worship God and there’s only one way to use social media!

Wow! Really???

I suppose someone should tell Twitter to remove the “Remove” option then.

If I get tired of your rants because they don’t add anything to my world, you’re damn right I’ll remove your ass…in a heartbeat!

Why wouldn’t you do the same thing with me???

Because “that’s not how social marketing works!”?

B-S! You’re not obligated to be my friend. You can tell me to go pound sand any time you want.

Great discussion Jack, and NO, I’m not gonna remove you…even if you remove me…cuz I love rants like this!

And I won’t take it personal if you decide to unfriend me anyway.

You’re not obligated to follow me. I wouldn’t dare presume to have that power over you.

Cheers!
Rick

I appreciated this Jack, enough to follow you now

While starting to get my balance with twitter, I also reject spam of all sorts. Some of what you described sounds a bit like guru spam coming down the pike. If someone is interesting, I’ll follow. I’ll un-follow someone who gets on my nerves–even if they got g status.

The more time I spend on twitter the more I want to connect with people who matter to me. That’s my criteria since they are in my twitterverse on an “at will” basis. Mine.

And I welcome all sorts and of any particular status. I follow most folks back and then review it all once in a while in case I made a mistake. Mr. Tweet is great for that http://www.mrtweet.net/

great post thanks,

Jo

I’m relatively new to Twitter. I lean towards not following people who have a “following” number that far exceeds their “follower” number. It reeks of spam. On the flip-side, I follow some of those people who have no followers, but I’ve elected to follow them because I like what they have to say. In fact, my favorite tweeter has 0 followings.

I do take a look at all my followers most recent tweets to see if I’m interested in their content.

Interesting post. I don’t think anyone’s wrong. It’s nice to be able to use it how you like.

[...] Bastide wrote a very informative post on TweeterBlog back on November 21. I agree with Jack: Follow me and I’ll follow you back. And vice versa. I [...]

@Jayadeep:

> One last question..Scott…How many people have you followed without them following you ?

Out of 518 I’m following, 136 (about 25%) aren’t following me. Some substantial portion of the rest (can’t tell you exactly how many), I followed first and then they later followed me.

> Come on…Scott…Get your ego out of the way.

See, that’s the frustration in all of this (and the main reason I feel so strongly about putting this alternative viewpoint out there). It has NOTHING to do with ego — it has everything to do with keeping my infostreams to a manageable volume that allows me to still get work done.

> Lets be friends…Scott. Should I follow you first ?

Better solution: start a conversation with me on Twitter.

@Sarah:

I think you nailed it regarding the idea that someone with a high ratio of followers to follow probably has something interesting to say vs. people who follow anyone whose Twitter page they come across.

[...] links: There has, of course, been plenty of other discussion on this topic. Plus Rebecca just posted a big list o’ Twitter [...]

While I think everyone uses Twitter differently, I have to wonder about the real, authentic substance behind your philosophy of following, in your case, 10k+ people.  I think it’s great that you take the time to follow everyone, but I also think it’s an empty promise. You clicked the “follow” button 10k times. It’s a gesture with no substance.  My feeling is that you (or anyone that follows 1000s of people) have no more of a potential relationship with them than if you didn’t click follow. You’re about as likely to see their updates and know anything at all about them.
I see from your other posts that you often judge people who don’t follow you.  I encourage you to consider that some users actually follow the updates of the people they follow – and that following a high number of people removes the core value that people derive from Twitter. And in those cases, the relationships are often real and authentic, not based solely on the click of the “follow” button.