If by 800 followers you mean…
My first post to Twitter, and I can’t believe I’m actually confessing this, was about watching Dancing with the Stars with Eliza. That was over a year and a half ago.
As of today I’ve posted over 7,600 updates to Twitter and now have over 800 followers.
When I first saw that I had nearly 800 followers I was surprised that so many people would want to know what I was up to. For the six months or so of Twittering, it was all just nonsense stuff about what I was doing. Then I started at Viddler and so I’d try to keep up with the Viddler community on Twitter through my account. Now, it is a combination of small updates, notifications of new posts to my site, and the occasional conversation.
But then I dug a little deeper and my surprise turned into doubt, which then turned into disappointment.
The 800 followers I have on Twitter is a bit of a misnomer. Taking a look at my followers page, I noticed that a fairly large percentage of the Twitter accounts were “spammy” in nature, web sites, bots, fake celebrities, and presidential candidates. So even though Twitter would have me believe that, every time I post an update, over 800 people are receiving my updates - in reality only half of my “followers” are real people, and probably only half of them watch Twitter with any regularity.
This doesn’t change my opinion of Twitter, its value, or those that are following me (thanks, btw). This sort of thing was bound to happen. It does however, change my thoughts when I see someone with a few thousand followers on Twitter. I begin to wonder how many of those followers are real, and how many really care about following that person.
How many real followers do you have?
March 24th, 2008 at 8:22 am
a lot of my “real followers” aren’t even signed up to twitter. they view my twitter page (http://www.twitter.com/drewolanoff plug plug ha ha) as more of like a blog or landing page for me.
but thats what web 2 is all about, giving people options. as long as people are interested in what i’m up to, i don’t care what they follow
March 24th, 2008 at 8:27 am
It’s a bit frustrating all the Twitter spam/commercial followers.
When I first signed up I’d add back just about anyone who added me, but now I check each one to make sure it’s legit.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I’ve always wondered why I sometimes don’t get much of a response when asking a question, and why my followers have shot up a lot recently.
It makes a lot of sense; colorwars profiles and spammy accounts. Ah well.
I agree with Drew. As long as people are interested in what I’m doing, I don’t really mind how they find me.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Yes, I get a few of those. Ill generally visit the Twitter page of anyone following me and if they seem to be following 5,000+ people and posting spammy content Ill block them - not sure what good that might do though, Ive had a few people seemingly follow me again after Ive blocked them.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Diana: I’ve tightened my “following” rules just a bit. I now only follow people that I interact with on a nearly daily basis and whom I’ve met “in real life”. This makes things much less distracting and much more valuable.
Matthew: I’ve never blocked anyone. What does that do? Not allow them to see your updates? So long as I am not forced to see someone’s updates that I don’t want to, I’m happy with that.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:22 am
While I follow you, I rarely read you - for the simple fact that you do post in the wrong time zone for me and twitter only allows me to read back a certain amount of pages. In my morning it is midnight over at your place, I will miss out on most of the conversations of the evening of the states.
With so many people following you, I think there is some amount of people really into you and following you religiously. Others do it occassionally and even further some people do it from time to time - all of which is good.
And while I follow some people through the day, I mainly use searches on keywords and specific accounts I call up by hand. It is way more efficient.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:28 am
DJ Steen: I think the color wars thing is pretty fun, though I’ve not taken part since I don’t think it will have much longevity. I do think, though, that it is another reason to have Twitter groups at some point.
Nicole Simon: Good points! What service do you use to search for keywords? I’ve tried a few and I’ve found many of them fairly lacking.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I have a pretty healthy mixture of four types of followers. The first type of followers I have are the spammers. The second are people who follow me because we live in the same city. The third are friends or people I’ve interacted with during some point in my life. Finally the fourth, I can only imagine are following me because I’m funny, witty and impossibly charming (I’d like to think that’s why everyone follows me but…).
March 24th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I’m not sure that I have any “real” followers at all. None of my friends in the real world actually use Twitter, and most of the people who I would care to have conversations with are people that I follow but who don’t follow me (often with good reason… it seems like there are several people who follow only people they know and interact with on a daily basis, and I think that makes sense). I know of one person who reads my tweets with any real regularity who is on Twitter. BUT, I do know that I have friends and family who read my Twitter page but don’t tweet themselves.
As for why I follow people… well, I follow people who follow me generally. And I also follow people who I admire because they are “leaders” (in a manner of speaking) in the blogging/video/interactive world that I wish I belonged to.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I’m a Thought Leader so all the people that follow me are similar Thought Leaders and I welcome all these people into my fold.
Seriously I have no idea how many ‘real’ people there are that follow me. But then I have no idea if my Twittering actually has any benefit in the ‘real’ world. For me Twitter has developed into a hobby or side line to my daily activities. I follow people; such as yourself Colin, to give me a heads up on what is going on in the big wide world. I guess I’m then obliged to tell you that I’m having another cup of tea and reading my emails.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
My twitter account is very small. In the beginning, I only followed people that I had actually met. Recently, I have added a couple of bots (@slashdot @ylive @twitpic) and I few people that I have met vicariously.
Of my followers, there are only 5 of the 18 who actually know me and follow me. The rest have found me vicariously or are bots. I’m pretty picky about who I follow though. I’m by no means a twitter whore. I’m looking to follow people I know and people with informative or relevant updates.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Lots of people are pruning the list of people they follow it seems. Makes sense. I can’t keep up either, and I’m a nobody
Sucks for me though: All the people who are tossing those whom they’ve never met in real life have unfollowed me as I’ve met all of 2 people in my twitter list personally. It’s either a kick in the arse to get to a conference or just sad. LOL
Either way, I’m gonna keep following ya buddy, cuz you always have interesting stuff to say. Maybe I’ll catch you at sxsw next year and I could buy you a beer or somethin.
I think it’s time I have a look at who I can live without on twitter but I’m always afraid I’m going to miss something… you guys are right though: lately I’m not sure I’d be missing as much as I think.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:12 am
When I first started on Twitter, I use to add anyone that added me but now I check to see if they’re legitimate. As for who I follow, most are from the Viddler community. Thanks to the MeToday videos, they’ve sort’ve become my online family.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I thought the block button would remove you from the list of who they’re following, hence dropping their Twitter juice by one at least. If not then I wont bother in future.