Content written by Rodney Alsup and published by the MBA News Digest.
I created the MBA News Digest Twitter account in April 2013. I did so with little forethought and understanding of how to use Twitter to help me achieve the goals I had set for the MBA News Digest. Early on when someone followed the News Digest, I followed them back. It was an automatic response and the News Digest ended up following hundreds of other Twitter account holders. Then about a year ago, while reviewing the News Digest’s timeline, I found that most Tweets appearing on the timeline had no relevance to what I was trying to do with the Digest. At that point, I thought about what it means when you follow someone. In this article, I want to share with you my reasoning for being very selective in following other Twitter account holders.
What does following really mean?
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When I follow someone, I am subscribing to their Tweets. This means their updates or Tweets will appear in my home timeline. Following a heterogeneous group of accounts will cause a timeline of Tweets that are less relevant or newsworthy. While, a homogeneous group will cause a timeline of Tweets that are more relevant or newsworthy. Most of the time I can control what Tweets appear in my timeline by being selective in my decision to follow other account holders.
How do I decide who to follow?
When deciding to follow someone, I start by reviewing their profile. If their profile shows our interests align, then I review their recent Tweets. I want to see if their Tweets have the potential of leading me to something I may want to share with Digest followers or an article I could share with the MBA News Digest subscribers. If so, then I will consider following them. My last step is to review the list of who they are following and their list of followers. I want to see if both groups interest me or have a similar interest to the MBA News Digest followers. Then I decide if I will follow them.
Can I access Tweets without following someone?
Yes. I have two approaches I follow. The simplest is to visit their Twitter account page. I can then view their Tweets. Or I can add them to a list. I discussed using lists in an earlier article, Do You Know How to Use Twitter to Listen to Your Students?
What does this mean for MBA News Digest followers?
When followers view their own timeline, they will see Tweets from me. I Tweet the title of each article I post on the MBA News Digest blog site. These are the same articles subscribers receive via their email subscription. Sometimes I Tweet or retweet something that would interest followers. Then, when a follower visits the Digest’s timeline, most of what they see is likely to be of interest because I am now following a narrow group of Twitter account holders I have screened for relevance.
Follow the MBA News Digest on Twitter by clicking on the following icon and then click follow after logging in to your Twitter account.
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Question: Do you have criteria for following someone on Twitter? Do you follow anyone that follows you? Click here to share your response or email me at RGAlsup@MBANewsDigest.com if you prefer to respond without sharing.
Rodney
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