Drew Burden

I promise I will never again use a title as lame as this.

Anyway, I’m working on a few criteria to use when determining whether or not to return the favor when someone follows me on Twitter. Most people I will follow back. You must remember the key word there is “people”. Bots get the boot, obviously. Here’s a short list of surefire ways to prevent me from following you back (with some help from my trusty Twitter crowd):

• You use twitterfeed OR all you do is post a link to your latest blog entry. If I think your blog is important enough to read, I’ll subscribe and/or check it myself. You can follow me all you want, but if that’s all you use Twitter for, you may not be reading what I say anyway. Note that there are some legit uses for twitterfeed. When used correctly, it can be a great tool.
• “Keyword” followers. You do not have the slightest clue how much this annoys me. This is why. One day I mentioned that I was driving to Henderson (in Kentucky, a town about 30 miles to the west of where I live). I was immediately followed by some Nevada-based social networking group. Apparently there’s also a place named Henderson in Nevada and these people thought I was talking about that. UGH. Annoying. It’s not fun when you mention a single word and you get six new followers who do nothing but promote their services because of it. This may even earn you a block!
• You follow 10,000 people, maybe 100 of them follow you, and you’ve updated less than about 200 times. This is a big red flag. I am not blind. I see this. And it will definitely result in a block. *Thanks to @willendorfvenus, @Kendra311 and possibly @Mr_Bloggerific for this one*
• These so-called “SEO/marketing experts” that seem to be everywhere these days. This and other spam should really be called “Litter”. (If I have coined this phrase I will not only be surprised, but quite pleased.) All they do is spam links to their own web sites everywhere, follow their own kind, and occasionally the random victim who is not a “marketing expert” like you or me. It’s one huge circle jerk that does not belong online. Or anywhere, for that matter. *Aforementioned twitterers also agree with me here.*
• Last but not least, and I received a lot of feedback on this one, you have to Twitter about stuff that actually interests me. For example, if you are really into shoes that have black soles but brown tops, and that’s all you talk about on Twitter, I am really not likely to follow you back. It’s nothing against you, I just don’t care to see that crap in my stream.

There you have it. These are just a few easy ways to make sure I do not follow you on Twitter. If I think of more, I’ll be sure to add them here.