John Reese is a well known internet marketing ‘guru’ and like everyone else, learns from his mistakes. 
He joined Twitter and decided that auto-following everyone who followed him was the way to go.
For anyone who has been using Twitter any length of time and started following any number of followers can tell you – the more you follow, the louder your tweetstream and the more difficult it is to actually ‘hear’ anything and engage people without some serious tweet organization and effort. Then of course, there’s all the spam, and tweets that just simply don’t interest you.
Apparently John Reese had an epiphany and realized that following everyone who follows you is not the best use of Twitter. He gives 5 Reasons Why on his blog, but I can give you my two reasons why I have never auto-followed anyone:
- information control
- improved social networking
Information Control
I want to have some measure of control over what I’m viewing in my tweetstream. I don’t care to see porn – period; and tweets about topics that I have no interest in – there’s nothing wrong with underwater basket weaving, but it’s just not my thing.
Improved Social Networking
If I have selectively chosen those whom I’m following, it’s because we have a common area of interest, either via a recommendation, same field of interest, or possibly a similar hobby – something. Since you can have as many Twitter accounts as you want, it’s good, perhaps even advisable, to keep those you chose to follow for each account specific to the purpose for that account and your Twitter bio clearly detailed to that to help folks find you in that niche, hobby or field of interest. It makes tweeting more interesting, enjoyable and yes – profitable for everyone.
So why did John Reese only ‘sort of ‘ have an ephiphany on Twitter, as my post title indicated? Because he’s now only following 50 people. He’s gone the other extreme and following practically no one, in comparison to how many follow him. While true, one can not reasonably follow and keep up with 10K peeps; if you use the organizations features in some of the Twitter apps like the TweetDeck Group Function or Seesmic Desktop Userlists, you can sort people easily so you don’t miss certain tweets from those you definitely want to keep up with and can catch tweets from others as you see them. You can follow more than 50. I mean come on – he still has 23k people who have followed him, even though he says nearly 10k unfollowed immediately (although most likely due those folks using auto-unfollowing) and he has chosen just 50? That’s going to the opposite extreme in my opinion.
Everyone has to find their own way to use Twitter, and clearly Twitter is not for everyone. However, if the sole purpose is to connect with other people in two-way conversations, if seems only logical to connect with a greater number and organize and sort them to make it easier.
But hey – I’m not the ‘Twitter Police’, nor a guru, so take my words with a grain of salt. I just prefer to actively network with as many peeps as I can daily. I’m following a lot of smart and innovative people and am always looking to not only help people with their blogging and/or social media questions or issues, but also to encourage them as people in their daily lives; I’m also a business woman and on the look out for potential joint venture partners.
Sound off….
So what do you think of John Reese’s move to stop auto-following?
Do you think John went too far and has unfollowed too many?
What do you think of gurus who have thousands of followers, yet only follow very few?
Do you now, or have you ever, used auto-follow on Twitter?
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About Traci Knoppe
I’ve never autofollowed anyone, simply because I believe that it is against the spirit of ‘true’ social networking.
And yes, I do believe that he went too far in reducing the number that he was following to 50.
I can understand the desire to quieten his own Twitter stream, but in cutting the number so dramatically he’s shown that he is more interested in getting his message out than interacting with others.
I’ve come across quite a few of the A – Listers in my stream who have done this, and I have given up following them as a result.
People who simply use Twitter and other platforms as a broadcasting service put a dampener on interaction, and could eventually drive people away.
Cheers,
Allan
(@Ozegold on Twitter)
Hi Traci,
John Reese is a top-gun marketer and I’ve been a subscriber of his for years, but, I think he’s missed the mark on Social Marketing on Twitter.
IMHO, I think he thought Twitter could be used as a new resource for “Old School Marketing”. I came to that conclusion when I first started following him and remember him ‘complaining’ that Twitter was not for chat.
I agree that keeping up with 10,000+ people is something that only a few can do successfully, @barefoot_exec being one them that does it remarkably, but whittling down to only following 50 people does appear as a drastic move.
John says that it wasn’t a “diva tactic” and I believe him, but it certainly does have people talking about him, doesn’t it?
As @CoachDeb and @WarrenWhitlock say, “The only rule on Twitter, is that there are no rules”. Everyone has there own purpose for using Twitter. And the greatest thing about Twitter is, that if I don’t like or agree with the way someone is using it, the unfollow button is only a click away.
@SharonMcP
Thanks for your input Allan. I tend to agree that when someone has so many followers compared to how many they are following – it gives the appearance anyway that they are there to just broadcast out their one-way messages. Whether that’s their intent or not, it does give that appearance.
I agree Sharon – there are no rules on Twitter, except those that Twitter themselves would put into place. Yet, I believe most are trying to use this tool effectively, responsibly and with some meaning and/or purpose, and in doing so – people share what they have found works, and what doesn’t. Nothing wrong with sharing your results, thoughts and opinions so long as everyone realizes that ‘your mileage may vary’ and we’re not talking rules here, just results, preferences and opinions.
I think it was a great move to stop auto following everybody. Some of those people that follow us are spammers. so following a spammer is not really a good things.
To tell you the truth I personally feel bad when I don’t follow people. Sometimes I don’t follow them because I think they truly won’t like what I have to say. I know I shouldn’t but I don’t like hurting anyone’s feelings ( or have them feel rejected) but that’s just me.
Anyways- I totally have to go learn Tweetdeck or Seesmick to make my time on twitter more productive- 4 sure.
And for that I’ll be learning through your videos.
All the best,
Eren Mckay
.-= Eren Mckay´s last blog ..Weight Loss Motivation Tips Lose Weight Encouragement Quotes =-.