Twitter followers, for Some The Grail of Twitterdom: RfL New Media Sceptic

Photo by NiallKennedy

We all see the Twitter “following and follower” numbers racked up by Brogan, Calacanis, Kawasaki, and Scoble, and they are impressive.Some, however want to take the next step and be that popular as well. Others just want to follow those that share interests and don’t care as much about numbers. To others, having huge follow and follower numbers leads to missing a lot of the stream.

Still, for those that want those kinds of numbers, the first step is figuring out how to collect the followers.

Here is where the Twitter experts come out of the wood work. Some share their knowledge, or theories, in their blogs and such. Others want you to pay for their golden information. Yep, pseudo-informational marketing has come to Twitter. I say pseudo as there is a legitimate market for informational products on the web and not every marketer is just out for the quick cash.

Some of these pay for information folks actually do have huge follower lists, even though they don’t have all that many Tweets. Of course, they usually disproportionately large following counts. They are the direct descendants of those folks that claim to be able to teach you how to make millions online, even though they themselves have not yet done so.

But, you say, they DO have huge follower and following lists.

Yes, but a follower is not always a good follower. A lot of people that are finding Twitter right now are not like those of us that have been around since near the beginning. They don’t value the conversations and the free sharing of information, they are more like those that collect huge friend lists on other sites such as Myspace, Facebook, and such. The relationships are secondary to the list.

You see, hidden in that knowledge,  to some people it is only about the collection, is the true secret to getting huge follower lists overnight. Totally free information and from a non-guru like me to boot.

We are all getting followed by these marketer types springing up on Twitter. When one follows you, go to their profile. If they have few tweets, are following a huge number, and actually have a few hundred to maybe a thousand followers, you have struck gold. Those that are following these Twitter users are usually those “collector” types that will generally follow without much thought.

Find yourself a couple of these guru types, grab their follower lists, and start to follow away. You should have reciprocating followers in short order, and in turn, develop a very impressive list.

Now, this will not be a valuable list. Not at all, but it is the secret  those guys that will tell you how to gain followers have used themselves.

As for me, I have almost 800 followers. That is seeming like a bit much too me at times. It is nowhere near the kind of numbers that impress, but it is what I can handle. If you are on my follower list it means one of two things:
1. I enjoy your tweets and feel that I get something out of following you.
2. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, and you show the promise of being interesting

It took me well over a year to build that list of followers and those I follow. It is a valuable list, to me, and I enjoy interacting with those on my list.

Those like Scoble, Brogan, and the others did build the lists fast, but there are a lot of people that value their insight and information. If you really want their kind of lists, you need to work on the value you bring to the table.

If you choose to go the route of building the list the cheap and fast way, you may not have the same fulfilling relationships, but you will have impressive numbers.

One other thing–and this is just my opinion and could very well be off a bit–people don’t seem to mind when you promote your your creations and ideas on Twitter, as long as you add value beyond just promoting what you create. However, people tend to have a lot less tolerance for the those that are trying to turn Twitter into a quick cash and info marketing type of place. Keep that in mind.

There you go, what a value, eh?

Cheers,
Eban