This week, Guy Kawasaki told me (and everyone else reading his blog) why I should follow everyone who follows me on Twitter:
The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the tipping point. If you think you “know” exactly who can and will help you, you are deluding yourself. [Read his post How to use Twitter]
I don’t have a large following on my feed, maybe one or two new followers every two days or so, but I definitely haven’t been in the habit of following back.
When I think about it in this way, I am missing out on conversation. All of those people who subscribe to my twitter feed can’t get back to me. (Direct messages and @replies don’t show up in your feed when you aren’t following). I’ve been treating Twitter more like my Facebook friending or LinkedIn professional connections, focusing on quality of relationship rather than a conduit for discussion.
Soooo… i’ve taken Kawasaki’s advice on following everyone. I signed up for socialtoo.com which is a service that will send a thank you message to anyone who follows me and lets me automatically follow those who follow me. Hopefully Tweetdeck whill help me sift through relevant tweets.
If you follow me on Twitter prepare to get followed!
