8 Tips to Help You Pick People to Follow on Twitter

The decision of who to follow on Twitter can be a complex decision. It depends on why you are following people. We discussed that last time, so I will not deal with that issue. What I will deal with is that some people who own businesses or are involved in affiliate marketing are not as good on the pr game.

Twitter allows you to share who you are in 140 characters. That is not a lot of space, so it forces people to really get to the point. What I have found is that what you say on that line can make the difference of whether or not you get followed.

Here are some tips that I use in determining who I follow on Twitter.

1. They have to have a picture: If there is no picture at all, then I automatically assume it is a spam account that is just following me because I used a specific keyword.

2. They have a bio line: Can you really not come up with one thing to say about yourself that someone might find interesting enough to want to hear more about?

3. Have a website or blog: Sorry, but in 2008 very few people have nothing online to point someone to. Considering that Twitter is sort of a relationship building hub, why would you not have a place for people to go to read your articles or blogs? I generally will look at a blog or website to see what I think about that person or company.

4. Engages in conversation with others: Previous tweets that only point to something to buy, affiliate program or seem like spam is an automatic no.

5. Has to follow people. Accounts that have lots of followers, but is not following anyone may work for Anderson Cooper, but not so much for the regular Joe.

6. Following in proportion to followers. It is the first clue that a person is using a program, when they have an account that has been open 5 minutes, and is following 600 people, but has no followers. Nope, that makes it seem like spam would be the only thing that would come from following.

7. Positive attitude. This may be wrong on a certain level, but there are some that just depress me, and never have ANYTHING nice to say. I weed them out by watching them for a week or two, then going over their stream. A bad night is one thing, but constant negativity is another.

8. Recommendation and Introductions: Sometimes I just see who people are talking to, and look to see what they are contributing to the stream. Some on Twitter have introduced me to others. I have met some of my greatest twitter friends and mentors that way.

You may have your own methods for deciding who to follow, so please feel free to share.