I joined twitter.com at the end of February 2009 and have been experimenting with how to use this fascinating social media tool. In the beginning, I started following people via the “search” function found on my main page. I started writing simple posts about what I was actually doing. Strangely enough, people were interested in my every-day goings on and I started getting followers!
Once I got followers, I started following back and commenting on peoples’ comments. That led to more people following me and me following others. Eventually, my twitter feeds led me to http://www.twellow.com where I could search for twitter users based on my personal interests. Aha! That seemed like a more refined approach to gaining followers!
Based on this new, great search tool, I began the process of unfollowing people and simultaneously, I saw that I, too, was losing followers. Hmm. How come? I really didn’t know why, I just knew that it was happening. Throughout this crash-course three weeks that I’ve been on twitter, I’ve seen lots of people follow and unfollow me. I admire (and thank) those that follow me, but don’t stress about those who choose to leave my updates. Why? Because, just like the process of following people, it takes a bit of trial and error and time to read through peoples’ posts to see if the majority of their posts matches your interests.
If people see one post I make that they like, they may follow me. Then, within the next two days, as I post more information based on my varied interests, those who originally followed me may change their minds and unfollow me. That is okay. Let’s not get uptight or discouraged when others unfollow us because we may choose to do the same! With twitter, just like with anything else in life, it takes a bit of time and patience to see if you really like something.
Enjoy getting to know twitter and keep searching for those whom you’d like to follow with a happy, positive attitude. And if you happen to lose followers, focus on those who continue to follow you and keep posting!
