10 (but in Reality 13) Kinds of Peeps I Do NOT Follow on Twitter

October 15, 2010 - Last Modified: April 1, 2014 by Ingrid Abboud 1,708

Straight Up

I’m not gonna beat around the bush. I’m simply not the ‘you follow me, I follow you’ kind of Twitter gal! If you like what you see and want to follow me, my tweets and blog, then by all means “Ahlan Wa Sahlan” [an Arabic saying meaning – you’re welcome, come on in….] But you can be damn sure that for every new follower I get, I will take the time to check their tweets and profile as well as their link if they have one (which I hope they do) to see whether the interest is mutual. I don’t mean to sound arrogant in any way, especially since I’m rather new to the blogosphere (almost 1 year) and am still learning everyday, but I’m not gonna’ lie and tell you that I won’t judge the quality of your tweets and general persona. I will!

I’m looking to connect and engage with like-minded individuals (individuals being the key word here) who have useful or interesting things to share – which in turn I can re-share with others. So if your Twitter stream consists solely of:

Shameless self-promoting tweets of your blog posts or brand
Advice on how to gain a billion followers in a month,
Adult content (porn)
Or any of the other No No’s that I’ve listed below

Then please don’t take it personally if I don’t follow you back. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m just not that into you :)!

My Not Sooo Shameless and Justified Self-promotion

A few months ago I wrote an article called “Twitter No No’s: To Tweet & Not to Tweet”. It pertains to my personal experience with Twitter, what I do and don’t do and what things to share and not share. It’s actually quite useful and very much related to this post. Now, that right here would be me shamelessly (or not) promoting one of my older posts on my blog nittyGriddy.com – but in my defense, it’s a sort of extension to what I’m about to communicate to you now.

Here are my “thanks, but no thanks” list of profiles. Please note however, that there are always exceptions to all of these.

Why I Don’t Follow you

1- You have no avatar

As pretty as the Twitter egg may be, it’s not what’s gonna’ attract me to you. I don’t care if it’s a snapshot of you on your worst day, or one of your favorite cartoon character or even if it’s your blog or company logo – I simply care that you have one. Not much else to say here since this should go without saying.

Bottom line – come out, come out, wherever you are!

2- Your profile says zilch

If I don’t know what you or your blog/brand/company are about, then what incentive do I have for connecting with you? It doesn’t take more than a minute or two to fill this field out. It’s not like you’re required to write a 500 word essay. How hard can it be to talk about yourself or your company in one sentence? Most people can’t shut up when they start talking about themselves! Heck, I can talk about myself for pages!

Bottom line – say anything, but say something!

3- You follow 41,734 people but only 86 follow you

I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but how interesting can you and your tweets possibly be if only 0.0001% (too lazy to calculate the actual percentage) of your connections follow you back? And that’s if they’re following you back.

Bottom line – work on the ratio!

4- You follow 58 people but 1 gazillion follow you

First off, I’m flattered and super excited that you’d like to include me in your elite and worthy list of people to follow. That’s where my exception comes in. If you’re a news service or someone like @mashable, @techcrunch, @tamar, @ViperChill, @chrisbrogan, @ProBlogger, @FamousBloggers, @ladygaga, @aplusk, @Oprah, @TheEllenShow…and not someone who’s just looking to grow their list and then later unfollow, then hell yes – I’ll follow you (if I don’t already)! I don’t quite see what Lady Gaga and I have in common and why she’d want to follow me but it would rock if she did! But Ellen on the other hand…I think she could relate to my sense of humor :D.

Bottom line – you’re too cool for Tweetschool!

5- You haven’t tweeted since the first “Twilight” movie came out

I’m not the biggest vampire flick fan, but it seems that many people are these days. I’d like to think that 4 or 5 weeks of a Twitter free life is somewhat acceptable – but not more! It may just be that you’re on vacation and that’s fine – I took a pretty long one myself this summer. There’s always a valid reason for taking a break. But if I visit your page and I see spiders crawling through webs or I see that your last tweet is as old as Edward Cullen (the 104 year old hottie vamp from Twilight), then I’m not interested in engaging with you since it seems you’re not interesting in engaging with anyone.

Bottom line – come out of your coffin!

6- Your tweets are in a foreign language that I don’t understand

I’m lucky to have followers from all around the world. But they tweet in 1 of the 4 earthly languages that I speak. Actually, 99.99% of them Tweet in English as do I – I just wanted to toot my own linguistic horn by telling you that I’m fluent in 4! Fellow Peeps of the Twittersphere – I don’t speak Hindu, Farsi or Chinese. I also don’t speak Swedish or German, so you’ll have to please forgive my first name for misleading you to think that I may.

Bottom line – no English, no follow!

7-You’re a self-centered twitterer that doesn’t RT or @ reply

This may be hard for you to swallow, but the Twittersphere does not revolve around you! The whole point of Twitter is to share and engage and not simply self promote. So if that’s all you’re interested in doing, then I’m not interested in you. If I look at your stream and you haven’t RT’d or @ replied to anyone in 3 pages, then why on earth do I want to follow you if you don’t seem to be engaging or interested in others? There are loads of fascinating, insightful, talented, funny…people out there with awesome stuff to share. Help them spread their word because they may just reciprocate your gesture. If you think about it, this is pretty good relationship advice as well :)!

Bottom line – don’t act like a spoiled little brat who doesn’t want to share his toys because if you do, none of the other kids are gonna’ want to play with you.

8- You’re all about where you are

I’ll be honest here. I don’t give a hoot about where you’re currently located and what town you’re the Mayor of. I’m all for people using Foursquare and other location based services – they’re great – but if that’s all you’re willing to tweet then Twitter off! Having a few of these in your stream is totally cool but don’t over do it.

Bottom line – you’re nowhere but here to me!

9- Your profile rocks but we just don’t click – Sometimes it just happens. You may have an awesome profile and seem like an A+ guy or girl, but it may just be that I’m not interested in the same things as you are.

Bottom line – please don’t take it personally, but we just weren’t meant to be!

10- You are a self-proclaimed “guru”, “master”… of Social Media or other

I love Social Media too, but I’m simply an enthusiast and avid learner! I’m not a guru, master or expert of any kind. Having these ‘greater than God’ type adjectives on your profile don’t tell me much about you – because after all, in this day and age, who doesn’t like Social Media? The folks who actually have a proven track record in that field don’t refer to themselves in these ways.

Bottom line – guru’s are so passé!

I’m sure there are many more of these kinds of Peeps and Tweeps that I missed. What other one’s don’t you follow?

image credit: Woofie Twitter Icon

About Ingrid Abboud

Follow @nittyGriddyBlog

Ingrid Abboud aka 'Griddy' is a whole lot of things with a ridiculous amount of interests. For one, I'm a Social Media enthusiast with a tremendous passion for writing and blogging. I'm also a pretty cool Copywriter but a more serious MarCom Consultant. But most of all, I'm the proud owner and driving force behind nittyGriddy.com - A Kinda Social Media Journal with Net News & more.

{ 127 Responses }

Mark says:

Hi Ingrid, Good points about what not to do to get followers on Twitter. I once set up three PHP scripts on my server, one to auto-follow, one to tweet and one to auto-unfollow those that didn't follow me back. It automated the building a high catalog of followers, but the account was worthless. It just turned out to be a ton of bots having conversations with each other. For any social media platform to be a viable source of traffic, whoever owns the account has to be there interacting with people and that's the only way it will work. Thanks for the great article. Mark
David Leonhardt says:

...and anybody else that I don't see a reason to interact with, because I already follow too many people to have a positive relationship with even half of them.
Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter says:

Hi Ingrid: I read your tweet today on March 18, 2011, regarding this post on my site and I came here, since I read your post, it was impossible for me not to write a comment. Here I am writing a comment for you. I read the post, surprised that you know that Arabic phrase, and its meanings. Well, I like your post about following on Twitter you have certain rule that you follow. I do that too. It is very important for me to read the profile. Good read Fran A
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Fran, Thanks for coming over here and sharing. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Oh, and I'm Lebanese - so besides English, French and Arabic are my mother tongues :). Have a good weekend. Cheers
Riad Afyouni says:

That is actually one of the few articles that I have read without skipping some text. Good job. I would add one to the list: I wouldn't follow you if you have an IDENTITY MISS-MATCH, in other words, if your profile description states that you are a social media guru and all about tech-stuff, yet your profile pictures shows a hot babe wearing a sexy bikini with your last tweet being "I feel lonely tonight"....Then don't expect me to follow. PS: Am not saying that social media gurus are not sexy...but I like things to match :) Thanks.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Riad, Ha! I didn't think of that one actually - thanks for sharing :). And I'd definitely have to agree with ya. Well, that and the guru thing. I'm glad I kept you captivated enough to not skip around. Thanks for stopping by and sharing. Appreciated. Have great weekend. Cheers
Sergio Felix says:

lol Ingrid, I just died a little bit inside after reading "the 104 year old hottie vamp from Twilight" but you are still one hot appealing blogger! On the other hand, I find your rant (or post) very VERY good. In my short experience I have tried auto following and auto DM's and honestly every freaking marketing course out there tells you to automate everything. Marketers will tell you to automate all you can and bloggers will tell you to NOT automate anything. Bottom line out of it? Decide what you're doing online and go with it. I personally would never EVER automate ANYTHING on my personal twitter account, really. Stay great Ingrid! ~Sergio
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Sergio, Awesome of you to stop by and share your thoughts here. Thank you. I"m glad you liked this post and what can I say - I may not know that 104 year old dude's name but it seems he's got all the ladies going gaga over him lol. Honestly - whatever! I'm sure it must get confusing going back and forth between those 2 different point of views. And when you're both a marketer and a blogger - yikes! haha Look - I know a lot of people automate stuff - and to an extent - it's fine - as long as it's getting the job done and the results you want. But I truly believe in talking with those same people you're automating. Show them you are human. Show them you are there if they need you or have questions. If you're only selling and your entire stream is about you - then I for one am not going to be interested. I'm far from being a Twitter expert - or an expert of any kind - but I know what works for me (so far) - and that is ENGAGE - SHARE others work - REPLY - show them you're genuinely interested - make the effort with those that make the effort with you. However - the automated DM's - the one's with FB page links or whatever - those I'm not interested in. If I get one - I don't delete the person - because if I followed them back in the first place - it means they are tweeting things that interest me and they are doing a few of the things I mentioned in this post. Anyhow - whatever you do - best of luck to you. And in all honesty - I think you're doing a heck of a job connecting with folks - at least with me you are :). And I appreciate that as well as all your support. Have a great weekend. Cheers
  - Sergio Felix says:
    
    You just totally rocked my morning (1:00am) Ingrid! I will get some very cool sleep after reading this, thank you for your awesome reply, I never know how I manage to get such great replies but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart... I freaking love each and every one! Really, I appreciate it a lot. PS. I thought that being a marketer was going to be hard, but being a blogger is just insanely harder! I'm definitely going to delete the "blogger" bit of my twitter description, I really don't deserve to have that term there (plus I murdered my blog -long story-) if somebody asked me to say only one thing about bloggers I would immediately say 'RESPECT'. You guys are just that awesome. Take care señorita ;-)
Kali Readwin says:

Well said! I operate by the same rules. One other thing that turns me off (sorry) is people whose tweets are always full of swears and unending typos. I know there are only 140 characters, but come on! It's possible to sound like an adult online and still have fun with it! Great list, Ingrid.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Kali, I'm glad you share my thoughts here :). Ha! I didn't think of the swearing tweets - thanks for mentioning it - and yes, you're right about that. I think a few here and there are fine - as long as there's something of value within the tweet - but if all I'm seeing in the stream is some rap song from the 90's (excuse my terrible analogy lol) then I'm not so interested. Great of you stop by and share. Thanks. Cheers
Mark Harai says:

Hey Ingrid -- thank you for sending me this link... I figured I would give you my feedback here. I agree with every point you've made here. I can't help but reflect on where I started on my Twitter journey just a few short years ago. I've certainly learned a bunch and continue to learn to this day - mostly because, well, I'm slower than most : ) I think sometimes, myself included, people in social media get caught up in the social media bubble so-to-speak. Because we've figured a few things out by participation for a while, we may assume others have as well -- and the truth is, the Twitter community at this point represents a very small fraction of communities we live in and/or the global community as a whole. There are many new people on the platform everyday who, like ourselves when we started, don't get it at all! That's why I've started sharing a bit of my Twitter experience on my blog. Maybe, just maybe someone new to Twitter will get some insight and value out of my experiences and insight. That's my hope anyway. Keep moving shaking up the community with your words and actions Ingrid - you really rock and roll!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Mark, Wow - I'm glad I stopped by here today :). I'm pleased you liked this post and although it leaned a little on the humorous side - I actually do abide by those little rules that I've made up for myself and for whoever cares to follow them. As for Twitter - I learn more and more everyday. I only started using it about 6 months ago - although I signed up for an account about a year ago - but didn't make much use of it. Ahhhh, if I could only do a few things differently when it comes to blogging - seriously - if I knew then half of what I know now - then I would have made better use of all the tools that are staring us in the face. Oh well...better late than never I suppose. I think it's great that you share your Twitter experience along the way and I'm sure - actually I know - that it will help many folks. More people should use Twitter the way you do my friend! :) I really appreciate you taking the time to come over here and sharing your thoughts. Don't worry - I won't apologize for being a month late in replying - to the date!!! LOL Have a super weekend. Cheers
Wayne John says:

What's so wrong with porn?
Darren Scott Monroe says:

On number #10 those who really know Social Media seldom go around "acting" as if they do. In fact they do the opposite of what many people are trained to do. Masters don't have to say their are such put another way.
Brad Harmon says:

Like the list Ingrid, but I love that cartoon. It's hilarious, and true. My favorite example is the bot that has 150,000+ followers, and has only tweeted twice. What's the point? Why would I follow that bot? More importantly, why the heck are 150,000 people doing it? Thanks for the list and the chuckle.
Cheryl from thatgirlisfunny says:

Lol! I am definitely guilty of auto-posting my blog tweet links. I live to shamelessly self-promote my blog. I struggle with not following everyone who follows me. At first, I felt guilty. Now, I look to see if I am interested in their twitter stream or not. If it's interesting, then I follow. If not, I don't . Pretty straight forward really.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Cheryl, Glad you got a kick out this post :). Well, what can I say - I think deep down we all want to promote our blogs any which way we can - but I also think you should promote others much more than you promote your own. People tend to reciprocate at times - but don't do it expecting anything in return though. At least I don't. And right on about the Twitter stream! I do the exact same thing - the stream, the profile, the url link - I put them all under the Griddy scope haha ;). We all have different interests I suppose. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your pennies. I appreciate it. Have a good week. Cheers
Haley Weaver says:

I couldn't agree more and love your blunt tone. Beating around the bush is for pu*sies! Another annoying one is the auto-responder when you DO follow someone. I definitely re-scour those people's accounts looking for a reason to block them. Oh, and congratulations on your success. I can't believe you've only been blogging for a year!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Haley, LOL Glad you liked this piece. I actually had fun writing it, but meant every word and still abide by the little points I mentioned until now :). About the auto DM's - although they annoy the heck out of me - I usually don't unfollow the person that sent it. The reason for that being - if I followed back the person in the first place, it's cause they have something that interests me or that I like. So I figure - what the hell! Thanks so much for stopping by here. I really appreciate your supportive words and the overall coolness of your comment ;). YaY! Yup - it's been a year already. And loved every minute of it. I'm looking forward to the coming ones. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Cheers
dee8 says:

great article....i can't stand the ones that are a CONSTANT stream of affiliate links #10 is so true lol
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi, Thanks a lot for stopping by. Glad you liked the post :). Cheers
tina says:

I was trolling the web for some top blog sites to read. Seeking some inspiration. I happened to come across your post. I liked your name "Griddy" and so I continued my visit here. I started to read and mid way asked myself, who is this woman, why am I reading this and why should I care who she follows on twitter? I continued reading. Along the way I began to find your guts and confidence in writing this quite refreshing. Although I do tweet, I don't follow many on twitter. I mainly like my communication tangible. Old fashioned things like words written in ink on a sheet of fresh paper or acrylic paint underneath my fingernails or playing a D chord. Not to be misunderstood, I don't sit around all day sipping melancholy tea , reading Keats. I may be babbling. The point is, in an unexpected place, I found a blog that was honest, funny and has some style. Thanks Ingrid. Well done.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Tina, Your story like comment is indeed super refreshing to read. Love it :).Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful and kind thoughts here. Much appreciated. I love your "who is this woman and why should I care who she follows" comment hahaha. I'm glad you decided to keep on reading and even happier that you were pleased with what you read. As for my nickname Griddy - I've had since my first year of college (a while ago lol) and since then it's pretty much stuck everywhere I go. Needless to say, I kinda like it. After all, my blog is named after it haha. As for the babbling - please, I do more than my share of rambling on my posts lol. And yours was very entertaining! I hope the post was somewhat useful to you. Thanks so much for your sweet compliments. I look forward to reading more of your Diary. Hope to see you around these parts or my blog more often. Have a lovely weekend. Cheers PS - Nothing wrong with reading Keats and the likes of him lol. Wonderful poet and writer. Shhhh, don't tell anyone - but I read that stuff too ;).
Allie says:

Well, it looks like I need to clean my following out of all the narcissists. They are so boring. I am always up for great advice but, really, do you need to plug your posts every 5 minutes!? I am going to follow you now instead of @ imasocialprofollowme (I made that up, lol) and I would totally understand if I don't get a follow back. lol. Great post!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Allison, Thanks for that original comment lol! If just for that, I will follow you back then :). That, and your blog is indeed interesting. Thanks for sharing your 2 cents here, much appreciated. Looking forward to reading your tweets and the Ramblings of a WAHM! Cheers
Vee Sweeney says:

It is easy to tire of Twitter for the reason of this article. You make awesome points and I agree because Twitter has essentially become a popularity contest. Who can get more followers, who can get more retweets etc. If people followed your line of thinking, the annoyance of the Twitter popularity contest would be no more. It is important to look out for yourself and your reputation online and by following people who do not share the same interests can end up associating a person with the wrong people.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Vee, Thank you for your insightful comment. I'm glad you agree with the points I made :). You make 2 very good points yourself. About the popularity contest - it's almost like Facebook now lol. It's not the quantity or tweeps you have it's the quality. There is a saying that say's if you want to know the character of a man, look at his friends. I don't recall who exactly said it off the top of my head - but it is a quote from someone. In the case of the online world it could go as: If you want to know the character of a man, look at his tweeps and followers lol. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to share your thoughts. Much appreciated. I hope more people start to follow this line of thinking too :). Cheers
Olin Hyde says:

I read this... ignored it... then realized that I had to take responsibility for the deafening noise pollution coming into my Twitter account. Better to have one true friend than a world filled with casual acquaintances. Similarly, a Twitter account filled with massive numbers of irrelevance is worthless to my career while wasting a fantastic amount of my time. Thanks for posting.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Olin, Appreciate you stopping my by to share your 2 cents :). I take it by that by saying "take responsibility" you mean - winter cleaning of your Twitter wardrobe :). One true and good friend is sometimes all it takes. But I suppose it depends what you (meaning people in general) want out of Twitter. YOU may care about the one true friend but others who still think that having a massive following is more advantageous to their business may disagree. Sometimes it's the quality few that are better to have than simply the silent quantity. You said something on your latest blog post - which I really liked and would like to share here if you don't mind. "We love signal and hate noise". I second that all the way! Thanks for your valuable input. Cheers
Claire says:

I recently did use Twitter and I was following people of interest, random people not celebrities and I did use a picture and a description. I think number 3 may have applied a little to me, not in the thousands but I did add a few 100 and no one followed me back. I deleted my account but I may try again with your useful tips, thanks.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Claire, Thanks for sharing your Twitter experience. I hope the second time round will be more fruitful for you. Just remember that Twitter - at least for me - is a "sharing is caring" type of philosophy. There are people out there who are sincerely interested in you and what you have to put out there. Make sure to engage and reciprocate. But don't just do it because you have to - do it because you want to. Also, it could just be that #9 came into play - where it simply was that the interests were not the same. And that's ok. No hard feelings there. Best of luck. Keep me posted on how it goes. I hope my points will be of some help. Cheers
Michael Anderson says:

The worst one for me is those that I follow only to find that they are a constant stream of affiliate links. If you are going to provide links for me to read, at least give me links to decent content before you try to sell me a garbage eBook.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Michael, Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. For this reason and more is why I did some serious house cleaning with my following list! I take a good hard look at someone's stream and even press more if I have to before deciding whether to follow back. Couldn't agree more with you on that one. Cheers
Salman says:

Hahaha OMG. I loved the picture and its true in reality we don't do this but things are different in real world
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Salman, Glad you found the post and pic entertaining :). Thanks for your comment. Cheers
Tia says:

This list pretty much sums up all of the no-no's! I think it's just like it is in life - courtesy and interest go a long way. In order to be interesting, you have to be courteous, and if you're courteous but not interesting, that won't work either. The other languages one is always a weird one for me. I do the same thing - and usually don't follow back someone with a Tweet stream in a different language as it does me no good. At the same time, they're following me so I assume they speak English and hopefully get something out of the tweets! Good list, Ingrid! Tia
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Tia, How are you? You've made an excellent point - thank you! For me, it's pretty much common sense. These are basic rules of everyday life. I completely agree with you on that. As for tweeting in another language - I totally get it if foreign tweeters who speak/understand English want to follow me (or any other person for that matter) - it means they may be interested in what I have to share - but unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. Not because I'm not interested - but because I wouldn't even know it if I were. Thanks a lot for adding some very valid points. I appreciate you stopping by :). Have a lovely weekend. Cheers
Melinda says:

What a great list that also made me laugh out loud. You are right on. Haven't we all experienced the people that do nothing but check into Foursquare and announce it on Twitter? LOL My favorite I have experienced is someone who preaches on Twitter about using it to have a conversation and then doesn't do that himself. If you ask a questions..or start a convo..there is no reply.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Thank you for your enthusiastic comment Melinda. If I managed to to make you laugh out loud as well as agree with the points I made - then I've achieved my goal YaY :). Thankfully, I rarely see any Foursquare updates on my stream any more. I recently did a bit of house cleaning - as you can imagine. Yes, it's always interesting conversing (or not) with people who don't practice what they preach. I'm a victim of that one actually - but not for Twitter! Just this one: I tell my sister's friends (one generation younger than me) or other teens I know, that smoking is just the dumbest thing a person can do at every level - plus it's the farthest thing from cool...! And yet sadly enough, I may be holding a cigarette in my hand when I give them the "bad for your health" spiel :(. I know, I know, very bad!) As for me, if you ask me something (appropriate obviously) I will reply. As you can see, I have made it a point to reply to every single message both on here and on my blog. Why? Because I would expect the same thing in return. Thanks a lot for stopping by. Enjoy your day. Cheers
Ganesh Maharjan says:

Thanks for pointing out these checklists.. I never thought like this way. I will try to follow this points.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Ganesh, I didn't use to think that way either when I first joined Twitter. However now...different story. I hope these few tips will come in handy for you. Thanks for stopping by. Cheers
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Gloson, I'm glad you agree with the points I made. As for your suggestion, it is a good one indeed. However, I believe I did somewhat cover it in #7 - but a bit differently lol :). Thanks for your comment. Cheers
Gloson says:

Great post, Ingrid! I really agree with all your points! :) Another point I'd like to add is 11. You don't engage with others If your twitter page has no @'s at all, then I'm not going to follow you because you don't engage with others and are probably not very friendly :) . Cheers! Gloson
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Gloson, Sorry - for some reason my reply to you didn't go under your initial comment and went as a comment along above- so I am reposting it for you in case you missed it. I’m glad you agree with the points I made. As for your suggestion, it is a good one indeed. However, I believe I did somewhat cover it in #7 – but a bit differently lol . Thanks for your comment. Cheers
John says:

It is about time more people started using the way you do. It has gotten way out of control and half the people out there don't use them for anything but spamming others.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hiya John, I like your straight forward comment - No BS! Pretty much my style/motto :). Thanks a lot for sharing your 2 cents. Couldn't agree with you more about the spammers! Cheers
Christina Kingston says:

Well done Ingrid!My favorite is the "self proclaimed" guru action. Great flow and a great piece giving the personal take on what's not so follow worthy. Especially the tweeters who rarely almost never share a link or engage with an @... it's hard to understand why they are there, but I guess they have their reasons to be stingy in the feed. I won't follow though... Pfffft. Too many good people to follow who do use it as a "social" network. Thanks for the post.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Tina, I just left you over at my blog lol :). Wow, you've really spoiled me today with all your positive energy, feedback and general self - YaY! BIG Thank you for your support! I'm not sure which one of the points is my favorite but I totally like the 2 you mentioned. It's funny, only a few months ago, this kind of advice would have sounded like gibberish to me. "What, Huh? So what if they don't RT or @reply?!" I'm pretty big on that one. I really think the main point of Twitter is to share and engage. So... why the heck (not sure if saying "hell" is okay in the comments here - ooops just said it :)) would I want to follow you if you only seem to be interested in yourself (more good relationship advice lol). I'm also pretty anal about having some kind of a profile. If I just see a name with no bio and no link - then how in Tweet's name am I suppose to know who you are, what you do, what you like bla bla bla... Anyways, I had my chance to rant in the post already - so I'm not gonna' write another novel here :). Thanks for your thoughts on this one. Much appreciated Ms. Kingston. Enjoy the rest of your day. Cheers
Diana Adams says:

I love this post! It's so well organized and thought out. I agree with you on all of these points. Lol You are so funny with how you word some things. Sooooo good! I'm going to tweet it right now. ;)
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Diana you're da BomB - thank you so much for that wonderful, ego-boosting comment :)! Your feedback and the fact that you took the time to stop by here to read this means a heck of a lot to me. Much appreciated. As you well know, I'm a big fan of both your work and the BitRebels Network. Needless to tell you that I'm thrilled you enjoyed the tone of the post as well as the content. I must admit that I had fun writing it. Once I started, I couldn't stop lol. Many thanks for your tweet! Hope your day is filled with smiles :). Cheers
Linda says:

Hi Ingrid- The 4s and 7s of this world drive me crazy(er). It amazes how narcissistic and lacking in self-awareness and common courtesy many are. I would and will RT this to those Tweeps is my industry (psychotherapy), but I fear many will be too self-absorbed to notice... Great stuff-thanks for sharing ;) ~Linda
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  LoL Linda! What can I say to that fabulous rant? I suppose that self-awareness and common courtesy can often be quickly negated when one has reached celebrity status - it may be the size of the inflated head/ego/shoe size/breast size... that gets in the way - I don't know. But I'm not gonna' generalize and say they're all like that because not all are. Don't get me started on the 7's lol! Being a psychotherapist yourself, I'm sure you may have dealt with your share of 7's - both the Tweeters and especially the Twits (referring in this case to the last sentence in #7). May the force be with you :). Thanks a lot for your refreshing comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Cheers and good luck.
Kiesha says:

Hi Ingrid, Awesome post! I'm rooting for you to win this one! :) Anyway, I totally agree with all of your points. I don't feel I should be forced to follow someone simply because they followed me. I like to take the time to check profiles and if things look shady, I'm going to keep pushing. I like to follow who I like to follow, I can't be concerned about who's going to unfollow me in two days when I don't follow back - there's just too many other things on my To-Do list to care about that.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Kiesha You ROCK - thank you:)! I really appreciate you taking the time to stop by and comment. And I'm thrilled that you agree with me (and what seems to be many others as well) on all these points and the fact that you're rooting for me :). I'm gonna' totally have to second what you added. If I'm gonna follow someone - regardless of whether they follow me or not - it's because I want to. If someone unfollows me - I'm not gonna' lose sleep over it - like you, I have way too many other things to do and worry about. You know, when I first joined Twitter, I really had no clue about "Twitiquettes" (my attempt to combine Twitter and etiquette and make them sound professional in a cute sort of way lol) or what the awesome information network was really capable of. *I thought it was rude not to follow someone back (even if it was a Forex or get a gazillion followers in a month type of Twitterer) * I thought it would only be useful to promote my blog and occasionally share a few good articles * I was confused as to why everyone put a number sign before a word (the almighty hashtag) * I thought it was just about following celebrities (because that's what my friends who were already on Twitter told me - and I love them dearly, but not many of them are left on my follow list lol) *I wasn't interested in having friendly conversations with people I didn't know (my hard-ass Facebook philosophy for my personal account - to this day) * And the list goes on... Boy was I ever wrong and totally off base! I have met some absolutely wonderful people with useful, insightful, interesting, amusing... things to share. Needless to say that I have learned so much from them. And I'm grateful for that. Also needless to say, is that you are one of them :). Okay, my reply to you is rather long - maybe I should have made it another guest post haha. Thanks again for you uber cool and super supportive comment. Much appreciated! Keep rockin' it at WeBlogBetter. Hope your day is full of smiles. Cheers
Suresh Khanal says:

I should have read this post a few hours earlier. My friend has recently started a blog and opened an account in twitter with a hope to engage in community. You know how it feels for a new twitter account, somebody would hardly believe that twitter is that useful network. He was anxious and really wondered how it works. Hope I explained him well, but I need to send this post to him as well. Let me tweet him. I agree with you and ever wonder how some of the people got thousands of followers when they are following only a few dozens. Why would anybody be interested to the fellow who is not interested to follow you back - somebody who likes to speak and loves everybody hears him/her but won't listen to me never? You are right to point to the other extreme type of people who follow everybody and there is nobody following them. I sense a sort of spammy thing in their account?
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Suresh, How are you today? I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us here. You've pretty much covered it - hence, I have nothing more to add except to agree with you. My only point of difference is that I do make exceptions for certain people who have a gazillion followers but who only follow back a few. Sometimes I do follow them (even if they're not following me and never will) because I feel that they may have interesting things to share and that I may learn from them in some way or another - or they may just simply be amusing or entertaining. You might agree with me in this case (at least I hope lol). As for your friend - I wish him the best of luck as a Twit newbie. I'm sure with your wise advice and guidance, he will have the hang of it in no time. I wish had read more of these types of articles when I first began - it would have made my life easier and I would have benefited more from Twitter my first couple of months. In any case, I hope he will find this post useful as well as the other one that is linked inside "Twitter No No's..." You've got some greatly useful and interesting content on your blog. Good for you! Keep it up :). Cheers
  - Suresh Khanal says:
    
    That's what I often feel - why I did not find it earlier before making hard effot - and its people like you who makes life easy by sharing your great experience. I'm trying to help him understand Twitter. I wish to avoid him the mistakes I made. I hope my profile now is acceptable to some extent.
    - Ingrid Abboud says:
      
      You are too kind Mr. Khanal, thank you :)! I learned that a great way to learn is by reading the experiences (both good and bad) that others have encountered and are willing to share. In turn, I am trying to mimic that philosophy by doing the same - sharing what I've learned with others in hopes that they may find my thoughts useful - all while being open to learning even more through their insightful feedback/comments. I have no doubt that your profile is more than acceptable and that you will be a great mentor to your friend. Have a happy day :)!
Ryan says:

Haha, I totaly agree with #5. Like many others I'm sure I watched (read suffered) through the Twilight movies to see what all the hype was about. I already expected the worst so I wasn't dissapointed :)
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Ryan I hear ya buddy. I really don't get what the whole Twilight hype was about either. I saw 2 of them I think - and they were entertaining - with some pretty people to see - but that's about it. It seems that for the last 2 years it's been all about vampire flicks and series - Twilight, True Blood, Vampire Diaries bla bla bla. And although I'd love to say I haven't watched any - I often run out of movies and therefore fall back on these - painfully and out of sheer desperateness to watch something - also probably because I've seen everything else. Now I'm almost scared to get hooked haha :). Like you, I didn't expect much so I wasn't really disappointed - just surprised with myself for finishing them. Cheers
TJ McDowell says:

Let me just say that I really like your "bottom line" style here. I'm kinda a bottom line kind of guy myself. Reign in the words into something meaningful. Don't hate me, but I'm not into the Twitter scene. To each his own.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey TJ, I kinda like the Bottom Line's as well lol :). As you said - to each his own. I'm somewhat new to the Twitter scene - compared to many folks that is. But I have to say, that since I learned what it really can do and it's intended purpose, it has been very beneficial in many aspects. Then again, I speak for myself. PS - I don't hate you hahaha and I certainly appreciate you sharing your 2 cents - thank you :). Cheers
Kammy says:

Excellent post Ingrid. Love your writing style. Keep up the the good work!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Thanks so much Kammy! Very cool of you to say so :). I'm glad you enjoyed it. Cheers
Deepak Gupta says:

Unfortunately, there is abuse with everything. I don't let it deter me and I have still been able to meet some really cool people with Twitter that have helped me grow. Thanks Ingrid for writing this!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Deepak, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment here - thank you :). You have a point there. I have to say that I have met some of the most wonderful Tweeps on Twitter who have helped me grow as a blogger and as a better Twitterer conversationalist. I've learned a great deal of new things in the last few months that I've been properly using Twitter. The level of engagement that I have both witnessed and participated in is truly remarkable - and each day, it evolves a little more and each day I learn a little more. I'm actually very grateful to the new Twit friends I've made for their support and unique insights. There are some great and very helpful folks out there and I think these few tips are a start to getting to know them. I'm glad you enjoyed reading this post Deepak.
Jeevan Jacob John says:

Hello Ingrid, I agree with all of your opinions. I don't like to follow these kinds of people. But sometimes, I follow them just because they have great content. I like to Use my Un follow button when I realize who these people are. I have to say : You have a got an A++ post for your first Guest Article. You really got the darts at the right points. Great Article ! Thanks for sharing it with us. Jeevan Jacob John Note : Nice meeting you. Hope we can connect in the future.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Jeevan, Thank you so much for your super kind words. You just made my day with the A++ reference :). It's always nice to know that your work is appreciated. And of course, I'm glad you enjoyed the reading. You make a good point about sometimes following a few just because of the great stuff they put out there - I think I mentioned that in an earlier comment on here. I actually follow some people like that - but I do so because I find what they have to share interesting or useful in some way. And I don't say no to learning! I like your blog by the way. I came across it a few days ago actually. Good stuff :). Thanks again for your positive feedback. Cheers
  - Jeevan Jacob John says:
    
    Thanks, I am just appreciating what I evaluate as great content. Learning is a ig thing when it comes to blogging. My principle is to learn new things, apply it to my own posts. When I want to write an article, I try to Think differently and write differently which will help me in being myself (Unique from other bloggers). But you know, there are those people in the blogging world who refuse to learn anything and who act like they are the best blogger. Anyway, Thanks for the fast reply ! Thanks for visiting my blog. I visited your site yesterday, you have got some great content. Anyway, You can expect a regular reader from me !
    - Jeevan Jacob John says:
      
      Just realized that I had a spelling mistake. (Learning is a big thing - I just learned that I need to be more careful) Anyway, Thanks for the fast reply !
      - Ingrid Abboud says:
        
        Good for you Jeevan :), We can never know too much or enough about anything. At least that's what I believe. I love to learn new things in general, and everyday I learn more and more about blogging and all that comes with it - it's both exciting and challenging. As for my fast reply - you're very welcome. That's another thing I learned about being an active blogger. People don't want to wait days for you to reply to them - and in my case I'm always excited to read what people have to say about my posts and therefore am equally excited to reply to them. It's great to have something unique - somethings that differentiates you from others. As for me, I try to do that in my writing - I write the way I talk (on my blog). I try to make my posts less monotonous and more easy going to read - and as often as I can, I strive for them to be entertaining as well. People who know me personally and read my blog say that it's as if I was speaking to them face to face - and that's exactly the tone I aim for in each and every one of my posts (at least I try). I'll be looking forward to having you as a regular reader of my blog and even more so as a friendly and insightful commentator (both here on Famous Bloggers and on nittyGriddy :). Keep up your great work! Best of luck to you. Cheers
John Paul Aguiar says:

Great post Ingrid. I can agree with all of these haha
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey John, How are you? Very kind of you to stop by and comment :)! Thanks a lot! And super happy that you agreed lol! Cheers
  - John Paul says:
    
    I def agree.. there are right and wrong ways to get followed.. and you covered the negative perfectly.
    - Ingrid Abboud says:
      
      I'm glad you think so John. I left out one or two but they were covered by the good peeps who posted comments on here. So, all in all - I'd say a pretty complete list.
bryan says:

Lol Ingrid, I like it when you mentioned gurus are so passe. I think there are a lot of self acclaimed gurus out there who for some reason doesn't seem to be practicing what they preach or have done what they tell ppl to do. You're right I don't follow these kinds of ppl who have inflated twitter lists and tweets that are just useless information. Great post there Ingrid!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Bryan. Seeing the Lol on your comment - I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you enjoyed the reading hehehe :). Very true what you said about self-acclaimed "gurus" who don't practice what they preach. But just the "guru" part in itself is a bit of a turn off for me (even if they really are a synonym of that). Every time I hear or see the word it reminds me of the movie "The Love Guru" (if I'm not mistaken, that's what its called). And if you've seen it, you know how funny it was and how bogus the whole guru thing was. I know it's a silly analogy but I'm almost always reminded of it. Again, I'm all of for the words professional, expert (even that one is better), enthusiast... (even if they're not as exciting to hear). Thanks a lot for commenting. Good to know that you agree :). Cheers
Extreme John says:

Looks like I need to connect with you on Twitter, seems we have a lot of the same rules when it comes to not following and following others.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey John, Looks like you may just have to :)! I'll be looking forward to following back - since you know you know I've already put you under the TwitterScope (my sad combination of Twitter and microscope) lol! Cheers And thanks for your support - both on here and on my blog!
  - Ingrid Abboud says:
    
    Ooops - sorry for the double "you know". Silly fingers!
Mike Pedersen says:

Ingrid, I love your post! I'm serious. I feel the exact same way when it comes to Twitter. I will NEVER follow anyone who's ratio is so out of whack. For example, 1 million followers and 90 follow backs LOL! One that you didn't mention is self-promoted auto DM's. UGH! I have unfollowed many people after I received some cheezy auto DM promising me lots of money, etc... I hate auto DM"s anyways! Why do people continue to do it? Great stuff Ingrid! Cheers, Mike
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Mike, Thanks for all the LUV as well as your enthusiasm. Very cool and very much appreciated :). Lol - Very true. And as you know, there are some crazy out of whack ratios out there. From both sides actually. You're totally right, I did neglect to mention the "cheezy" and sometimes annoying and automated DM's - although I made up for it and mentioned them in one my previous comments on here - yay :). But great point! I know many people still use them but I for one, have no intention to do so. I know some of them actually mean well and are genuine but still. Then again, when I do get them, I don't automatically unfollow because often they are from Tweeps that I'm actually interested in who have great things to share. Even if I do accumulate 100,000 followers in the next XXX years, and I decide (if I ever do) to send a thank you DM to new followers with my Facebook link and other..., I will personalize each. But, heck, what do I know? I'm still somewhat of a newbie in the Twitterspehere lol. But a newbie that's learned rather quickly the do's and don'ts! As for the DM's that promise to "make tons of money", "get a million followers", bla bla bla...No Comment, simply No No! Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts Mike. Cheers
Jarret says:

Ingrid, great points! I find that after having used Twitter more extensively for the past several months, I'm pretty quick at vetting Twitter followers based on much of the criteria that you mentioned. The follower ratio is particularly telling. As you mentioned if someone follows 10 people, and has 100k+ followers, I'd have to be pretty interested in what they tweet to follow them. People that have upside down ratios (follow too many people) typically look either like spammers or people that don't maintain their account. Too add to yours list, I pretty much never follow anyone that lists OTC disclosure or has the word "forex" in their profile either. For those who're looking for an awesome free tool to manage their Twitter account, I recently started using Manage Flitter. You can unfollow inactive users, people who don't have an avatar, or people who don't follow back. Unlike most other Twitter services, at this point, you don't have to manually click check boxes either. Not sure how long that will last though since Twitter usually clamps down on that.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Jarret, You've made some fantastic points. Thanks for your insightful comment. I actually didn't think of the OTC and Forex followers - another 2 good ones to add to this list of No No's! And needless to say that I obviously agree with what you mentioned about spammers and follower ratios. In regards to Manage Flitter - funny you should mention that tool - I just started using it about a week ago - it's actually pretty good. But it is manual and I actually do prefer that. I don't want anything to unfollow or follow automatically. I'm a bit of a control freak in that sense. The first thing I did was click on inactive tweets and went through them one by one. It was like cleaning out a closet :). As for the Twits who don't follow back - I admit to keeping quite a few just because I admire their work or I find their tweets useful. After all, it works both ways - I may not follow back someone who follows me. I also tried a similar tool called who.unfollowed.me. But again, it is manual and I don't immediately unfollow anyone who has unfollowed me. It all depends. I don't take things to heart lol. Great advice Jarret, thanks again for your comment. I'm glad you agreed with the points I made. Cheers
Pritam says:

Hmm.. I like your straight forward approach for twitter but I have never thought like this way. I generally don't research so much to follow a person. I decide in just 10 seconds by seeing their profile if I want to follow the person who follow me. Thanks for this article. I will try to follow this checklist and see if it makes any difference.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Pritam, To tell you honestly, I didn't put them under the microscope either - at first. I was just happy that they were following me and even happier if they had lot of people following them. But then in time, I grasped the concept and purpose of Twitter a bit more. I began to know what I was looking for and what I wanted out of it. I also realized that for people who use Twitter for business, causes or other similar purposes (and not simply to update your daily status) - this check list - along with other great points that people mentioned here in there comments - is somewhat beneficial for them when looking at someone's profile. Then again - it all depends on the audience you want - the engagements you're interested in, the Twitter friends you want to make - the messages you want to hear and share...Each to his own, I suppose. In any case, let me know how this new approach works out for you if you decide to try it. PS - sometimes it takes even less than 10 seconds to decide! Cheers
Rahul says:

I just love your realistic attitude...Way to go
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Why thank you Rahul :)! I appreciate that! Cheers
R Gain says:

Really like your no-nonsense approach to who you will and won't follow. Okay, I'm a "self proclaimed" maven, and I do have one little correction to your post. If you meant plural, then "guru's" should be "gurus." My addition to your great post? I will "un-follow" anyone who sends frequent direct messages (more than one a week), especially when the message is "buy my product."
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Mrs. Gain (I took the liberty of adding the Mrs. - hope you don't mind), I'm really glad you liked the way I put things - my no - nonsense, no BS approach. First and foremost, thanks for the correction on gurus! It seems we are alike when it comes to little mistakes and typos like these. There's actually another small one on here that's driving me nuts haha! Great point about the frequent "buy my product" (promos) DM's. Luckily, I don't get much of those. I think it's because I'm taking my own advice (the points listed above) and choosing who to follow. But then again, I'm also not a big fan of any of the automated "thanks for following" style DM's to begin with. Although I know a lot of people use them. I appreciate you stopping by to share your thoughts. And thanks for the "great post" comment :). Maven - an excellent alternative. I like it! Cheers
Michele says:

LOL...I totally appreciate your no-nonsense attitude Ingrid! Great post...right on point and very entertaining to read at the same time. Not an easy task for sure. I'm pretty much with you on all counts. Bottom Line: My house, my rules! (OK, I tried. =) Ciao!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Michele, Thanks a lot for your positive and reinforcing comment. Much appreciated indeed :). Not only am I happy that you agree with all the points I made - but I'm thrilled that you found it entertaining to read. It means I succeeded :). I like to try to make the words flow - making them easy to read - in all my posts while at the same time adding a touch of umph or wit ;) whenever possible. I made it a point to actually write the way I talk on my blog. No nonsense - No BS - well, for my blog anyways lol! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks a lot for taking the time to stop by and comment. PS - Nice bottom line! Couldn't have said it better. Cheers
Karan Labra says:

Well I never gave such an intensive thought process before following the people I do.. I think this post has changed the perspective with which I used twitter
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Karan, I'm hoping that this post changed your perspective in a good way at least :). I like to think of it as a check list before hitting the Follow button. Hope it works for you too. Cheers
Alex Panait says:

Until now I didn't invested to much time in Twitter but it will be a big step for networking, your list will help me for sure to connect with people that worth to be followed and to connect with.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Alex, I hope that my list - along with some of the comments on here - will help you be well on your way to choosing the kinds of Tweeps that you want to interact with. There are some great folks in the Twittersphere with many interesting things to share. Twitter is indeed a fantastic networking tool if you Tweet wisely :). Best of luck to you. Cheers
Kimi says:

There are tons of Twitter users, and also tons of Twitter haters. I guess it is because of spam tweets, i will immediately unfollow them. Plus i signed up for making money with twitter a few days ago, but i don't use this account. I can't spam my followers just for a few cents..
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Kimi, Yeah, I'm not a big fan of spam like tweets either. And I have no intention of spamming mine. As you said, it's just not worth the few cents. Thanks for your input. Cheers
KyleWith says:

Ah, great list. Excellent actually. I'd know to, as I'm a self-proclaimed guru in the area of lists like this.... I'm being sarcastic of course. Still great though, thanks.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Kyle, Thanks a lot for your positive feedback - I'm glad you liked and agree with the things on the list! Funny comment :). Cheers
Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:

Great Points. Twitter is vital part of marketing today. However many have still not tasted success through tweets. Your points are the answers to them. If we tweet correctly and follow correct people there is no way why we can't be successful tweeters.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Isabel, You brought up some valid points yourself. Indeed many people still don't realize the benefits and the opportunities that Twitter holds. I for one, still continue to discover the power of Tweets everyday. Thanks for stopping by :). Cheers
Sayed says:

Hey Ingrid, Great points about twitter, I just started blogging about 2 weeks ago and I thought If I build a big twitter list by following people with blogs/sites related to my own, I would easily be able to get them to follow me. However to my surprise after the first 100 I followed who really had pretty decent sites, only about 20 followed me. Now I understand that the reason was mainly because I didn't have that much in my blog yet, was only about 2 days old at the time. Now that I started having quality content people follow me out of nowhere. :) Great points to keep in mind when building your list, thanks for sharing.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Sayed, First and foremost best of luck to you on your new blog. You seem to be on your way already, and have got a good amount of articles and interaction for someone who just started [And I'm not guessing - I just visited your site now :)]. Way to go! I too thought the same as you when I first joined Twitter (although I joined much later than I should have), but very quickly was hit with that same reality check. Until I learned how to use the little miracle worker that is Twitter and how to properly communicate and share with others. Although I may not have a million followers, I'm slowly but surely on my way to having the kind of Tweeps I like. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm happy you found my post useful. Cheers
Moon Hussain says:

"-You’re a self-centered twitterer that doesn’t RT or @ reply" Warning sign. That, and I hate 20 RTs in a row, when you take over my Twitter page.... argh. I guess I should watch myself in this case as well ;)
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey Moon, Honestly, I'd rather have the person who has 20 RT's in a row than one who doesn't RT or @reply at all! It's all about sharing useful or interesting things that your followers may like. Depending on the followers you have of course :). Thanks for commenting. Oh, and watch out! Your Tweeps are watching you haha ;). Cheers
A. Tatum says:

Very nice points. Its all about what you do and who your are. I like the cartoon, funny.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi, Glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks :). Cheers
Gera says:

Agree in all the points! In my experience, if you want to control also who follow with twitter-lists and good applications like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck you can manage twitters without following them directly. You don't need necessarily to follow either big worthy users like @ mashable but added it to a special list and your stream will not be overloaded of tweets, but you can be updated too. I don't follow you, if your last tweet was last year, either if all your tweets are only RTs or promos! Ingrid solid advices for the twitter-world :) Cheers, Gera
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Gera, I'm happy you liked the advice :). You bring up a very good point about Twitter lists and using applications like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and more - very true! Although I have both, I currently use Hootsuite and I'll admit to following people like @mashable lol :). And about Tweets that are promos - I almost have an allergic reaction to them lol ;)! I'm actually in the process of building lists (since I haven't yet) although I haven't been too overloaded with Tweets yet since I don't follow 30,000 people. Thanks a lot for sharing your valuable input. Much appreciated. Cheers
element321 says:

Ingrid, great article. Nice to see you posting here :) Using your points are good ones to follow. You get to choose who you follow and why. I follow those basic points when choosing who to follow.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hey there Mr. Element 321, Thanks for your support :). This is indeed my first guest post on the awesome Famous Bloggers site but I do intend to publish more - as long as Hesham likes them of course :). I'm glad you found the tips useful. Good to know you apply them when choosing who to follow. Cheers
oz says:

..hey thanks for sharing!! I think we (readers and I) share some of this points. Let's keep in mind we all are individuals and sometimes we have common interests and sometimes don't. Honestly I don't even follow some people I know in real life, because they think (or say) twitter is 'like' facebook or simply a chat.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Oz, You're most welcome. Glad you found this post useful. I agree about about the fact that we sometimes don't share common interests - and that's fine - there are others who will. I actually don't follow many people I know in real life as well. Not because I don't like them hahaha, but some of them are using Twitter to simply update their statuses (Facebook style) and I'm just more interested in learning other things. Bottom line - I love my real life friends - they rock - just not all of them rock on Twitter :). Cheers
Alex says:

I wont follow someone if they: have too much hashtags in their tweets. have tweets on a suicidal in tone. use obscene language, yeah I dont need your everyday rant I have my own. This is what comes into mind right now, maybe there are some other reason but I can't remember them now. P.S. I know 3 foreign languages and understand an other!
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Alex, I'm gonna' have to second all the No No's you just added here! Hashtags are good but let's not overdose. Suicidal sounding tweets - no thanks! And as for using profanity - I'm okay with a couple here and there, but if that's all you're tweeting, then Tweet OFF :). Thanks for sharing these! PS - Good for you - always nice to be able to speak more than one language. Comes in handy - at least for me! Cheers
Mani Viswanathan says:

You've listed some pretty valid points. I take into account each of those points when I followback a tweep. Perhaps the 4th point is very important.
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Mani, It's nice to know that you take these things into account when following someone back. Number 4 is kind of an exception I suppose. It's always nice to have one of these people follow you - especially if you're a fan of theirs. Thanks for your comment. Cheers
Jamie Northrup says:

I totally agree with your list Ingrid... specially loved the Guru / Master part, I look at these people and I'm like really a Guru of social media, that's hilarious, I love social media and use it to communicate and market stuff, and even teach some people how to use it, but I'm not the God of Social Media, most people that even use those terms are the same people that don't get the proper way to use SOCIAL media, how social is someone that goes to a party and starts telling people how he owns the this and that, and knows everything, that's not a Guru, but a douche bag... Sorry for the rant, but I've been cleaning my list lately because I'm following way to many people lately and have been taking my time to clean up who I follow, still have a lot of weeds to get rid of. All that to say great list, and agree with pretty much all your points there. Thanks, Jamie
- Ingrid Abboud says:
  
  Hi Jamie, Wow, great comment. And no worries about the rant - we all do it lol :) - plus you have a valid point! I'm all for you being an expert, professional or specialist, or connoisseur of something or other - especially Social Media - but a GURU?! Really?! I learn more and more everyday - so automatically that cannot possibly make me a Guru of anything cause if I were, it would would mean that I have nothing left to learn - and that's highly unlikely. I've also been doing a bit of Twit cleaning lately. Realized that there are a lot of folks out there who have tons to say but stuff that I don't always want to hear - I'd rather focus on the one's who have useful or interesting things to share and who are willing to re-share what others have to say as well. Good luck with your winter cleaning! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Cheers

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