Rarely will I unfollow someone on Twitter. There have been a
few occasions where an account looks “legit,” and suddenly turns into spam.
But, I’ve come across a few different types of unfollowers, and some really
display bad manners.
Now, I realize that this topic treads upon some touchy
territory. I don’t mean to complain, really, and I don’t want to attack. Maybe
my skin needs to get a bit thicker because sometimes it really hurts. I feel
like, what did I do?
So here’s my breakdown:
1) The Mistake – Twitter has this nasty way of dropping
followers for users. There are some people who I swear … absolutely know for
sure … that I followed, and suddenly they’re gone. And yes, I notice. I’ve
heard the same thing from friends, so I know it’s not just me.
2) The Professional – Mention house hunting, and realtors or
Realtors (cap R) start following. A comment about my daughters, and suddenly
it’s the Chess Coach (Waves: Hi, who has followed and unfollowed me about five
times). Unless it’s a topic I’m genuinely interested in, I probably won’t
follow back, and they’ll drop me within a week.
2a) The Spammers – I admit, I use
“Who Unfollowed Me.” More than half the time, those who dropped off had their
accounts Suspended or Deactivated. If you’re promising 10,000 followers, I’m
not going to follow back.
3) The Newbie Friend – My Tweets tend to vary. Some days I’m
high activity (Tuesdays when I work from home). If you’re only following 10 people … yep,
you’ll see me a LOT. Hang on, follow more … I promise I won’t overload you.
4) The Shocked – My bio clearly states I write erotic
romance. Sometimes, the Tweets get a bit racy, especially if I’m RT’ing
(reTweeting my friends’ “spanking” posts). It’s not everyday, all day … mostly
Saturdays for Saturday Spanks. And yes, I’m saying spanking a whole lot. It
happens, and sometimes … I lose Followers.
5) The Poorly Mannered – Here comes the sensitive category.
What irks me the most are the fellow authors who follow me, I follow back, and
drop me within a week. I understand that not all will appreciate my Tweets, but
when they have 8,000 followers, and only follow 2,000, there’s something askew.
It’s a pure marketing tool. The main reason they follow is to attract
followers. Note that use of Who Unfollowed Me. Every few days I run it, and if
I notice a certain “Irish Erotic Author” I recently followed back has dropped
me, guess what? Yep – I’m clicking “Unfollow.” Odds are, I’ll “see” them back
in a few months.
Now, none of this means I’m perfect. Every time I run the
software, I find a few people who I would normally follow and depending upon
what’s happening in my life, I missed … Most of the time I remedy the situation
with a quick, personalized Tweet.
What hurts the most? Those friends I know in real life who
drop me … and honestly, I hope it’s more of Twitter’s mistake. Yeah, that’s
what I tell myself.
So tell me: What have I missed? Any personal experiences to share?
Oh, and I guess this would be a good place to put my Twitter account, just in case -- you know -- you might want to follow?
Until next time!
Louisa
