Who, You, Follow, Key, Twitter

For many the key to getting value from Twitter is to amass a large number of followers which they assume makes them influential.

Big big numbers don’t guarantee influence (as Tim Ho points out here), if you are seeking genuine value from Twitter (which means more than just self-promotin and blasting out links) then who you are follow/listening to is key.

Let me explain.

Following Is Key

Last year Twitter tweaked its @ replies in a move which changed the dynamic of Twitter overnight. No longer are all a Twitter user’s messages public for all to see. Following the change users can only see public messages (those beginning without an @ message) or messages between users they are following.

That’s to say, you will only see my @ message to X if you are following both X and me.

Not following people will prevent you seeing conversations that involve them.

Stay With The Conversation

Not a big deal perhaps to many people, perhaps, but if you use Twitter for a niche (for example Thailand, social media and football are some of mine), professionally or for information-gathering you will miss out on conversation unless you are following the key voices that contribute to the discussions that interested you.

Therefore following the right people or not following enough is critical to you Twitter experience.

Case in point, my non-techy friends that used Twitter left within a month as they felt like it gave them no value, which it didn’t as they didn’t follow enough people or followed the wrong people.

Though It Doesn’t Mean I Like You

And another thing, following the main voices in your niche means you will often follow people you may not like (you may even dislike some). However, if they are part of the conversation you can ill afford to ignore them.

While many Twitter users take those not reciprocating a follow or unfollowing them personally, it is better to resist the urge to unfollow some back as you will miss out on the conversation by doing so (assuming that they are part of it, hence the reason you followed them initially).

Instead, let that unfollow be their loss and not yours, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

Finding Balance

So following the right people is important but equally you must manage the issue of following too many and trying to maintain too many conversations.

My personal limit is following 500 (a number I am perilously close to) to avoid being swamped with information. A critical part of choosing to limit your following number is the need to find and follow users who are information sources. That is to say they retweet or highlight key news and information which allows you to stay updated with developments you may miss (particularly important if you have a Twitter niche).

Finding those key influencers to follow is the next challenge, retweets have become a key part of this though Twitter lists, recommendations and occasionally visiting key influencers’ profiles (to see who they are communicating with) will also help you build a network rich with information and value for you.

#Shameless plug# my Thailand list which includes more than 100 Twitter users in Thailand is here. It may be worth visiting if you’re in Thailand and looking for new people to follow.

And if you want to follow me I’m @jonrussell.

Image via LifestylePix on Flickr