Unspoken Twitter Rules

Pin It Now! Twitter rules. They are unspoken, but they are there. I am breaking them . . .

1. If you are a celebrity superstar, an expert in your field or somehow have become a social-media phenom like MckMama or Pioneer Women, you can do whatever you want on twitter. You have a lot of followers and there is no expectation for you to follow them back.

2. If you just use twitter to communicate and stalk your friends then this rule doesn't apply to you. You can lock your tweets and no one cares. You can ignore or deny followers as you please. My husband enjoys this kind of Twitter lifestyle.

3. However, if you do not fall into above categories - there is an unwritten rule. If I follow you, then you best follow me. Or else. Or else . . . I will unfollow you. And maybe even think bad thoughts about you or something crazy like that.

But here is the thing that is so weird to me - most people who follow mass tweeps don't really follow them. Because there are programs like TweetDeck and HootSuite that tweeps use to organize their twitter life. You can rank the people you follow so essentially there will be a lot of people who you follow and you will never even read one of their tweets. What is the point? Is it just so people can DM you?

There should be a button that says "fake follow" so people will know you are following them on paper, but in real life you don't give a rip about their tweets. Or more likely, you just don't have the time.

So when I see people tweet things like, "I am going through my tweeps so I can unfollow anyone who doesn't follow me" I just kind of chuckle. Do you want a bunch of fake followers so you can just look like you have a bunch of followers? And yet, I know that a lot of people do this for marketing/business purposes. And that is part of why I got started on Twitter - to help promote my book. But again, if you are on their D list are you really generating business out of that business? Is it worth all the effort? Perhaps if you really engage with and tweet @a bazillion people it is profitable for business. . . . but "I just can't do it Captain, I don't have the power." (First person who can name that movie quote gets a free copy of my book. Make sure your email info is in the comment.)

I think these should be Twitter rules - follow someone if you are really interested in them or in the 140 character things they have to say. Follow someone because you think they make cool stuff. Follow someone because they tweet inspirational quotes or Bible verses. Follow someone who you can relate to or who makes you laugh. Follow someone who provides insightful information on a topic you are interested in. Follow someone who inspires or challenges you. Follow someone because you are married to him. Follow someone because they ask you to and you're just in the mood to oblige. Follow someone because you will actually read their tweets.

If you are following me and I don't follow you it's nothing personal. If I once followed you and then unfollowed you it's not because your tweets were lame or you are an overtweeter. Well, maybe they were and maybe you are, but that is not necessarily why I unfollowed you. I guess what I am really trying to say is that I have three young children and I cannot keep up with laundry let alone all this twitter stuff.

Thanks for your understanding. If you have insights or clarification on this topic, I will make time to read it. Maybe I am missing something? Your thoughts on Twitter and the follow rules?

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