I am new to Twitter and am not sure of the etiquette here.

When others choose to follow you -- should you follow them all? What about Block & Remove -- what does it do, when is it appropriate.

I see on my twitter page that I am following more than are following me which says not everyone follows all their followers (I think of the celebrities -- they can't follow all their followers!)

I see so many "ads" from those I am following; seminars, books, other things they are selling -- is this the purpose?

Just confused by this -- any words of wisdom?

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Cindy
www.eoseasy.comThe Chrysalis Plan

Hi Cindy,

This might help, good luck!

Top 10 Cardinal Sins of Twittering and Some Twitter Etiquette Tips

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

Thanks Kate, I was wondering some of these things myself. I followed a few people who seemed to have an interesting business/life but after watching their messages i find that they are all spam so I unfollowed them..

I get a little irritated at the auto direct messages thanking me for the follow.. why do people do that? It may seem like the polite thing to do but in actuality, it just congests my email with worthless jabber. I guess I need to change my settings... and probably have another cup of Joe.

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www.sageva.com
Shelley Halpain,

Thanks for the link to the article, these were great tips!

I feel the same way about auto emails. I always look for the genuine email but so far it hasn't arrived in my email box. People don't feel special when they are getting the same emails everybody else is especially when they are marketing their products & services to you. I guess that it's all about quantity vs quality. Twitter is important today but I just get the feeling that if everybody is talking then who's doing the listening? Or is it just a big waste of time? Thoughts

Hi Jo-Carolee,

When I first started using Twitter, I used the auto DMs, but stopped after I received an DM from a lawyer who had actually taken the time to look at my website and we had a bit of a chat about my services and where I lived. While he didn't turn into a client, it made me realize how special that single DM was as opposed to all the auto-DMs I get every week. I now try to send a personalized response to any Tweeps following me although in the interest of time, I simply can't do it for everyone.

I have had an excellent response to this and even if I don't get clients out of it, it gives you a connection that you would otherwise miss. It is obvious from the responses I get that it is a rarity for people to get well-thought out, relevant DMs thanking them for following someone.

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

Thank you for the replies and article. I have to admit I am still stumped -- I have been on Twitter for about a month now and have yet to see any value from it.

Those I am following are mostly ads for something or another but no real benefit to me nor me to them.

Either I am missing the point with Twitter or I am not seeing any real value from it -- haven't been able to tell!

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Cindy
www.eoseasy.comThe Chrysalis Plan

Cindy,

As far as the follow, unfollow, block, remove etc, it is all personal preference. Myself, I do not follow everybody. I look at the profiles and see how many people are following them and how many they are following and what they have posted about and their picture. If they don't have some kind of a profile pic and only a few posts but several that they follow and that follow them, I usually don't follow back simply because it's a waste of my time because they don't post much.

I was trying to go to all my followers websites but it got to be too time consuming. The one's that you want to block are the one's that keep spamming you through DM and **** people (they are on there also)

If I follow somebody and all of their posts are spammy or the same posts over and over, I usually unfollow them because again they are wasting my time.

As long as you don't do it for all your posts, it's okay to announce a new blog post, a new service etc.

The thing with twitter is you HAVE to be active. You need to find people who interest you and follow them and then start a conversation with them. Also, if somebody that you follow says something of interest you should do what they call Retweet. It shows people that you like what they have to say as well as helping them get noticed more. They really appreciate it.

Then on Fridays they have what you call follow friday it is a way to recommend to your followers and others people who you find interesting and enjoy talking to.

Twitter takes some time to build relationships and get business from it but it does happen.

It's just like you are at an offline networking meeting it's just online that's all.

HTH,

Tracy

Cindy,

As far as the follow, unfollow, block, remove etc, it is all personal preference. Myself, I do not follow everybody. I look at the profiles and see how many people are following them and how many they are following and what they have posted about and their picture. If they don't have some kind of a profile pic and only a few posts but several that they follow and that follow them, I usually don't follow back simply because it's a waste of my time because they don't post much.

I was trying to go to all my followers websites but it got to be too time consuming. The one's that you want to block are the one's that keep spamming you through DM and **** people (they are on there also)

If I follow somebody and all of their posts are spammy or the same posts over and over, I usually unfollow them because again they are wasting my time.

As long as you don't do it for all your posts, it's okay to announce a new blog post, a new service etc.

The thing with twitter is you HAVE to be active. You need to find people who interest you and follow them and then start a conversation with them. Also, if somebody that you follow says something of interest you should do what they call Retweet. It shows people that you like what they have to say as well as helping them get noticed more. They really appreciate it.

Then on Fridays they have what you call follow friday it is a way to recommend to your followers and others people who you find interesting and enjoy talking to.

Twitter takes some time to build relationships and get business from it but it does happen.

It's just like you are at an offline networking meeting it's just online that's all.

HTH,

Tracy

Sorry about the double post. My internet was acting up and posted it twice.

Tracy