I initially wrote “The Nuances of Twitter” in 2015, but after personally encountering, on several occasions during the last couple of weeks, the practice of Twitter users following and then unfollowing me to increase their number of Twitter followers while decreasing the number of Twitter users they follow. I decided to reblog with an added message in an attempt to get through to some of those who abuse Twitter.
One of the quickest ways of having your account suspended is to play the follow/unfollow game on Twitter. To follow someone on Twitter only to unfollow them when they follow you back to grow your numbers is shameful. You have no interest in who you follow other than attempting to make yourselves look significant for the sake of Twitter. You believe the practice of accumulating a stupendous amount or followers is your ticket to being certified by Twitter. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your shamefully obtained numbers are not going to earn you the Twitter certification you so badly yearn for. It will, however, may and should get your Twitter account suspended. You are playing dirty and shame on you.
There are multiple services available, both helpful to the honest and the dishonest to monitor the activity of your Twitter accounts. They are useful in notifying Twitter users without an agenda of those who have unfollowed them. However, using these services to unfollow a vast amount of Twitter users is going to get the attention of Twitter and when it does, adios! No one that’s on Twitter for the right reason wants to be a victim of the follow/unfollow scam.
And then there are those who purchase their followers either to raise their numbers exponentially for the sole purpose of impressing Twitter. And let me say that the practice of buying followers is not necessarily a bad thing when purchasing followers through a legitimate company for your ‘targeted audience.’ However, I don’t understand why Twitter users would pay for followers, aside from advertising needs, if you have a commodity to advertise legitimately. But when you purchase followers through the cheap bot sellers, this is a sure sign you don’t care about your followers, or who follows you. You are merely beating your chest to get the attention of Twitter, and that’s only going to lead to adios, see you when Twitter lifts their ban on your Twitter account.
I find it easy enough to identify those that have unfollowed me by occasionally scrolling through the list of those I follow. Twitter has made it much easier and less time consuming by adding “Follows You” without having to open each follower’s page, as it once was. While scrolling through those you are following, if you don’t see “Follows You” then you’ve been unfollowed. I am in no way suggesting that every unfollow is part of the follow/unfollow scam played by those manipulating their numbers; however, in more cases than not, you are a victim of the follow/unfollow practice.
I am selective of those I follow. I am a writer, and therefore I follow those who write, edit, publish, read, blog, tweet writing advise or inspiring quotes by famous and upcoming authors. I also follow artists that are genuine in what they do and why they are on Twitter. Likewise, most of us appreciate humor, and therefore I follow some comedians and funny people. I also follow some advertising Tweeters. My point is, I follow a targeted audience that shares the same interests as I do. If someone follows me, I check their legitimacy before I follow back. I’ve been around a while, and I’ve seen the follow/unfollow game played, which is unfortunate for those of us who play by the rules.
I’m not particularly fond of cliches, but I make exceptions from time to time, and this is one of those times. Remember, “It’s quality, not quantity” that gets the Twitter certification.
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