I am a big fan of twitter (random question: Should twitter be capitalized? It's not in the logo, but...).
I love being able to check in with people I think are awesome and sort
of be in the beat of the kidlit industry.
But I’m having a concern, and I wanted to see how other
people handle this.
So, I don’t auto-follow.
But since I’m a bit of a people-pleaser, I have angst about it. I feel bad.
I get all excited when someone follows me, and then I spend five to ten
minutes (per person. O.o) trying to decide whether to follow them back or
not.
And I have gotten more stingy with my follows. I’m currently following 877 people. But often, when I only have ten or fifteen
minutes to check twitter, I’m really interested in a select few. My crit partners, agents I like, my favorite
authors, etc. Not that I don’t value
everyone’s tweets, but the more people I add, the harder I have to work to
check on my “regulars.”
Now, I know that I can make lists, and that there are
twitter clients what help organize feeds, etc.
But I still don’t have internet at home, and mostly check twitter on my
phone, so those things don’t really help too much.
So, I really have two (multi-layered) questions for
you. First, do you auto-follow? Why or why not? If you do, how do you keep track of your
“regulars”? And second, if you use a
twitter client (hoot suite, tweetdeck, etc.), which one do you use, and why do
you like it?
No, I don't auto follow, for all the reasons you list. Plus, I really love reading Twitter, and don't want to waste any of my precious Twitter time with reading things I'm not interested in. However, someone I know on the internets follows me, I'll usually follow them back. If they're boring, I can un-follow them later and assume they probably won't notice (terrible, aren't I?)
ReplyDeleteAs for the second part of your question, no idea, but I'd love to hear the answer! I only follow about 250 people, but even that is way too much.
I feel the same angst, but I don't auto-follow, either. I only follow if I'm genuinely interested in getting to know the person. I want to build relationships, not a large number of followers. I use lists. I'm mostly on my laptop, so it works well. However, I use Osfoora on my iPod and I can access my lists from there.
ReplyDeleteI don't auto-follow either. Same reasons. I do tend to follow writing peeps, but I've even cut back on that as well. I feel awful, because I'd LOVE to follow everyone, but there just isn't enough time in the day...
ReplyDeleteI use tweetdeck (I finally discovered how to turn off that annoying pop-up box) and it works really well for me.
It's good to be stingy with follows. There are a lot of people (and by that I mean spam bots) who only follow you so they can tweet/DM links at you. I do follow back if the person seems like an actual person.
ReplyDeleteI use tweetdeck, too. I have it set up so my friends have their own list and I can check them out whenever I have a spare second.
I haven't made the leap to twitter. I know. I should be ashamed, and all that, but I have limited time and just haven't devoted to time to this yet. But your post helps me to think about how I'll handle it when I make the leap. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm in the minority because I do follow back if it's a person and not a spambot; if the material is appropriate, and if their following list isn't 500 more than their follower list, because that suggests to me that they just went through and followed hundreds of people in the hopes of boosting their numbers. But I figure if someone is interested in what I've got to say, I'm potentially interested in what they've got to say. And I know how much of a thrill it is to get that follow back, especially if you like the person's books or blog!
ReplyDeleteBut I do have private lists of people I actually know. And I make it a point to stop in to twitter once a day on my computer so I can look at those lists. But I've made friends I wouldn't have otherwise met without tweeting!
Great question, chica. :)
I'm still kind of new to twitter. Figured out hash tags and FF on Friday, but I'm still scratching my head on what makes good twitter conduct. I think if I had a cell phone I'd be more in tune. Regardless, I follow back other writers who share common ground. Most my family and friends aren't on there, or I have no idea where to find them. Maybe I just need to get list-savvy. =)
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm giving you the Liebster blog award. Congrats! http://crystalcollier.blogspot.com/2011/09/bizarre-news-you-never-wanted-to-know.html#comments
thanks for your kind words larissa - i missed you too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for weighing in, everyone!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to know I'm not alone in worrying about this stuff. I think I may feel able to follow more people back the way Carrie does once I have a decent computer and internet at home (ha! whenever THAT happens).
If it's obvious from the get-go that the follower is just doing self promotion or business promotion I don't follow. Basically if it's clear they are a writer and found me through a YA writer's avenue, I follow back.
ReplyDelete