5 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
5 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Question for Twitter experts

by philwiley
4 replies
I've only just got into Twitter.

Until a week ago I'd managed to ignore if, but two emails changed my mind. The first was one from Ken McCarthy explaining why he'd just started using it, and the second from a friend of mine in England who'd wrote to tell me that she'd used it to get 4 bookings for her photography studio in less than a week. (you can read my blog post about it here: Twitter offline marketing ).

Anyway, within a week I've found myself following 130 people and being followed by a few more than that. And finding it a bit overwhelming. Am I supposed to 'read' all that stuff? Should I follow everyone who follows me?

Who knows. I can just about follow 130 but tweets come in quicker than I want ot look at them because each post with an interesting link sends me off at a tangent and sucks away at my time.

But to get to my questions.

Naturally I'd like 20,000 or more followers But is just about the only way to do that quickly by following 20,000?

Because I know that if I follow many more people, how ever worthy their tweets are, I just won't find time to look at them.

Am I just being naive here? Does anyone ever read more than a few tweets they get?

Is small and manageable the best way to handle Twitter?

phil
#experts #question #twitter
  • Profile picture of the author shaddai
    I'm no expert...but I've got 1600 followers across 3 accounts, does that count? I'll give it a shot...keep what you like:

    But is just about the only way to do that quickly by following 20,000?
    I've been doing a see saw kind of thing with an account I started in the end of october. Follow 50-75, wait for the follower count to catch up or get in front by 20ish, then follow another 50-75. I haven't been steady with my plan though. I stop for a few days here & there, I forgot I even had a twitter account for a week...went back, did some more. Gained 1000 in the last 23 days or so, half of those were in the first week....for that account. The other 2 I'm working with are growing slower, but I don't pay nearly as much attention to them as I should. Twitter karma will help you lose the people who don't follow back...there are other tools out there too.

    Does anyone ever read more than a few tweets they get?
    Sometimes :-) I ignore the main feed unless I'm bored...and then I may spot a conversation within the garbage flow that I want to eavesdrop on. So, I'll jump to that user's page to watch it. As far as my own account, I watch @twittername for people trying to chat with me, respond to them if they've said anything fruitful, and if a dm looks interesting I'll respond to it, otherwise I delete/ignore most of the noise.

    Now I do think that people watch what you say though. If I post a bit.ly link once an hour for 3 or 4 hours, that 1000 follower account will generate anywhere from 40-120 unique visitors to a site, depending on how curious I can make the tweet read, and what time of day it is, and what day of the week it is. It seems a big twitter account may be a good RIGHT NOW kind of traffic tool in that respect.

    Is small and manageable the best way to handle Twitter?
    The way I've been doing it, I wouldn't be afraid of 20,000 followers...whether they're on one account or not.

    I kind of look at it like having a river of information roll by, the more you follow, the bigger the river. Sometimes someone will throw a bit.ly bottle in, and others will pick that bottle up and look at it. Sometimes you throw the bottle, other times you're the one looking at it....especially when the bottle has your name written on it.

    Just my $.02
    Todd
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1420384].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      You read what you can read. I don't think anyone reads all the tweets they get. It's darned near impossible in some cases.

      So, I just read what I see when I'm on. Even then, tweets come so fast you'll miss some. I follow the general tweet stream, and then I'll also check on the tweets of some of the "regulars" I follow.

      Typically, I mostly ignore DMs. Most of them time, I can't even get into them on Twitter, so I really only see it if I catch it in eMail. And, even then, there are so many junk DMs, that I wouldn't be surprised if I'm missing any legitimate ones.
      Signature

      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1420400].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author philwiley
        Thanks Todd and Dan. Only glanced at what you wrote but I'll read them properly in a minute. I just want to get this written down before I forget what I was going to say

        Couple of things I meant to put in my previous post:

        Is it the same as with email lists? That, to a certain extent, size doesn't matter? That the relationship is more important than the size?

        If so why do so many people use auto tools with Twitter to get as many followers as possible.

        Don't relationships matter as much? Is size more, or equally, important?

        phil
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1420462].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
          Originally Posted by philwiley View Post

          If so why do so many people use auto tools with Twitter to get as many followers as possible.
          The idea is to get as many relevant followers as possible, that is, followers who are interested in what you have to offer. I think a lot of people lose sight of that and turn it into getting as many followers as possible, targeted or not.

          Don't relationships matter as much? Is size more, or equally, important?
          It can go hand in hand. A good relationship can matter more than having a lot of followers (or a large list). But sometimes it takes a large quantity to find a small quality.
          Signature

          Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

          Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1420535].message }}

Trending Topics