Comments on: Why Automatic Follower Services for Twitter are Crap

By: Today I Revisted JohnChow.com - Same Crap, Different Day | Marketing, Business & Technology News

Tue, 11 May 2010 13:00:04 +0000

[...] Barry Wheeler on May 11, 2010 After blogging about why John Chow’s Automatic Twitter Follower service was crap in January, I made a decision to stop reading some of the more notable [...]

By: Was I Wrong to Criticize John Chow's Twitter Follower Service? | Marketing, Business & Technology News

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:01:29 +0000

[...] bwheeler on January 21, 2010 After writing the article on Why Automatic Follower Services for Twitter are Crap, it seems that I struck a nerve with a few people and I’ve received some pretty interesting [...]

By: bwheeler

bwheeler — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:39:45 +0000

Laura, I pretty much do the same thing. There is a method to using social media sites to promote products and businesses, but I still want to be engaged. Thanks for the great comment. What’s your Twitter ID?

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:35:26 +0000

I hand pick the people I follow based on what I see them doing on Twitter and their own sites. I don’t mind some promo posts if they are posts I would like to read.

I did try a couple of Twitter follow app things. My impression of them was very negative. No one seemed to care who they followed, as long as they could see their own numbers go up. I left those services quickly. For awhile I was still getting spammers by the truckload too.

I don’t spend time checking who has elected to follow me now. I wish I could cause I am sure I would find some interesting people among the rubble. It is just too time consuming cause I still get a lot of spam/ anonymous friends following.

I really don’t like those direct messages from people I choose to follow either. It’s too impersonal for a thank you. I’d rather just not be thanked versus something automated that feels less than sincere.

By: bwheeler

bwheeler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:39:15 +0000

I’ve tried some of these services to test effectiveness. Not a great result at anytime. I do try to openly engage and build some form of true connection with the people that visit my sites or at least follow me on twitter.

By: Manal Assaad

Manal Assaad — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:27:20 +0000

Well said!
I am a bit new to Twitter so I didn’t know all the rules, but still had the sense to know that automatic followers is the crappy way to go, because as you said, all they seem to care about is promoting their stuff. I still get irritated every time I get a DM to go to a blog or make money or buy whatever. And I just ignore. I don’t want to TELL people to go to my blog, which I really built just for personal reasons. I want them to get to know me and to talk to me, and if they were interested in my opinions, then they would click on my links and go to my blog without me looking desperate and begging them to do it!
Thanks for sharing your opinion,
@TheManalyst