This week it's back to the topic of social networking (again) - this time Twitter in particular; a few times in the last week I saw posts (on facebook and twitter) that said something like this: "Busy un-following anyone who isn't following me back."

(Brief explanation for newbies: On Twitter you "follow" people, which mean their updates show on your home page. Anyone who "follows" you sees your updates. The point of course being that you are keeping up with what each other are doing.)

Why? I asked one person. "Because that's what you're supposed to do, that's how you get followers" came the answer. Again, I ask, why? It seems that there is this perception among some that it is only "polite" or that "it's one of the rules." I respectfully disagree.

This attitude seems to be all about numbers, and not about substance. I follow you, you follow me and we both get lots and lots of followers! Woo hoo!

But here's the problem. I checked out one of the posters Twitter page. She's currently following well over 3,000 people. How do you do that? The average person I follow Tweets 2 -3 times a day. At an average of 2.5 tweets multiplied by 3,000, that means she is following 7,500 pots per day? I don't think so....

Which means, she can't really be following them. Might that mean they aren't really following her either? If this is the case, what is the point? I guess for some it is just a numbers game...

There is another aspect to it as well. I follow people for a specific reason - I believe that they are going to provide me with news or knowledge that I want. I might follow someone who posts about social media and technology. I usually post about food and/or drink - should the tech guy follow me back? Probably not... What if you follow your favorite restaurant so you know what the daily special is, should they follow you back?

These "rules" that some lay claim to seem to lack the one thing that it takes to make sense of all this - common sense.

Thinking through not only the who and the what, but the most important component: why.


Margie

Email me and let me know your thoughts! margie@otlconsulting.com

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