What's your take on Twitter ethics?

Yet again...

How is this a matter of ethics? Do you know what that word means?

It has to do with right and wrong, good and evil. Not "What's your preference?," or, "What works best for you?"


Paul

People are welcome to follow me, though I don't promise to post anything interesting on twitter.

When someone follows me, I look at their posts. If they seem interesting, I'll probably follow them back.

I'm following several people, like Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day, who are obviously not going to follow me back. (It's obvious because they're famous, but since they aren't household names it's probably not obvious to most Warriors).

I want you to follow me because you are interested in me, not because you want me to be interested in you.

ahh... Stand By Me... such a great movie... and of course TNG

oops... I've exposed my geekness...

- Jared

I agree, this whole issue has gotten rather rediculous. There is no right or wrong on Twitter or any set rules other than what people put on themselves and others.

I have even seen blog posts where they rip people and "guru's" apart for not following every single person who follows them. Some people will not follow anyone who doesn't follow all their followers back.

Twitter is open to be what you want it to be, there is no reason a small group of people who make a big stink over something should influence everyone to feel like there are clear cut written rules that everyone must follow.

What you do on Twitter and how you use it is a CHOICE that you make. You don't have to do anything. The only thing that matters is YOUR followers and what they want and expect from you.

Can't understand ethics. Etiquette suits better IMO.

I do not follow everyone who follows me :confused:

As for ethics - I don't think it's an ethical question - but I follow back almost everyone who follows me, and I dislike it when I see someone with 5000 followers who only follows 10 people back. I just think it's an ego trip thing, and if they don't want to hear what i have to say, why should I listen to what they have to say? There are plenty of big name internet marketers like Joel Comm and Willie Crawford and John Reese who DO follow most people back.

I'm not saying I can literally interact with all 3700 people who I am following, but whenever I go on Twitter I converse with as many people as I can. The more relationships that I build - the more potential customers I have.

Some people just like to "collect" friends not just in forums such as this or other social sites, but also in real life. Smacks of insecurity really.

I won't say that's ALL I see, but there is an abundance of that sort of thing, which absolutely mystifies me.

I've unfollowed a number of people - including a few Warriors - because my screen was filled with "mindless chatter" and inside conversations that just seemed so absolutely pointless, I hated even having to waste the time to skip over them.

IF you follow everyone, then how the heck do you keep up with everyone?

I mean, if your internet marketing strategy relies in keeping up with all of your followers on Twitter, then you are missing out on the bigger picture. You want everyone following you! Not the other way around.

As for ethics, I think it is in poor judgment to only do something with some sort of expectation back. And this also goes for life as well.

Mike

Twitter works the way you want it to work.

Want to stay in the loop with your favorite 25 marketers only, but not interested in developing a big network of followers? It works perfectly that way.

Want to build a HUGE follower list by mass-following everyone else's follower list? You can do that too.

Want to follow ONLY those who follow you? Easy peasy. Just use TwitterKarma and Qwitter.

Want to build a niche-specific group of followers that are outside of your personal space? Simple. Just create an account for that niche and search for followers at search.twitter.com

I find "position taking" about what's acceptable on Twitter to be somewhat meaningless. Twitter is what you want it to be. Nothing more, nothing less. That's kind of what makes it so cool.

And as far as "Twitholding" goes (you follow a handful while many follow you)... That's all relative too.

Jeff Walker just followed me the other day because of a post of mine he read right here at the Warrior Forum. He follows 44 people with 4,300 following him.

John Reese followed all 5,000 of his Facebook friends the day he joined Twitter (I remember the day... Shoulda heard the piety from the peanut gallery)...

Dr. Mani and I have had some very enjoyable and thought provoking Twitter conversations and he's not following me at all.

Yesterday, even though I don't know him personally, I was joking with Gary Vee (you spell it..) about his appearance on CBS Early News at 9 in the morning for his new Wine 101 book (Julie Chen and her "how many bones" questions slayed both of us). He immediately followed me back.

You never know who may or when somebody will want to be in your Twitter space, so just let it happen.

Just have something to say, be fun to be around, and let it be what it is.

Personally, I find Twitter to be the most enjoyable and rewarding social network I use... by far. Most because I can jump in and out, anytime, for as long or as little as I like. I can jump to a favorite's timeline and see what's up with them in a blink.

Also, I find Twitter to be the "fastest" news on the planet right now. Make of that what you will.

Brian

Follow me @LoudMac, or don't! ; )

Its not a matter of ethics any longer. If I am not incorrect, Twitter started as a service where people could tell others what they were upto (in short status messages).
With time, Twitter evolved to be one of the most powerful tools where people could get and read anything and everything!
So, naturally, internet marketing professionals have started using twitter for the their own good.
Now, twitter is flooded by internet marketers and people who wish to use twitter to popularize their websites/blogs etc.
So, as far as personal opinion is concerned, I would term it as professional courtesy and follow my followers back

It's a matter of systematizing work flow and being more efficient ultimately! If someone follows you then have the decency to follow them back. Either way it's your choice. Why do you have a twitter account?

That needs to be answered first and foremost!

Bryan Dulaney

hi, why should I need to automatical follow back? It is too easy to follow back from twitter website. Just open my follower list, then click add friends one by one. that's done. However, it's hard to get followers, so I think what people need to automatic is following friends who are not following you.