Why I Won’t Follow You Back on Twitter

A few years ago I wrote two articles that became very popular on my blog – 8 Reasons I Won’t Follow You on Twitter and 8 More Reasons I Won’t Follow You on Twitter.

Since it’s been awhile, I thought it was appropriate to back and revisit those 16 original reasons and see if anything has changed.

Before we get into the reasons, let me state, I love Twitter. It is the platform I’ve gotten the most clients from and that I spend the most time on. I tweet for business and personal and get followed by a lot of people. I do not, however, follow everyone back. Some commit the Twitter sins below, some just aren’t people I would not normally follow. If you are doing any of the below, please stop. Now.

     1. You do not have a profile picture.

This is still my #1 rule. People want to connect with people, not eggheads. If you have a business account and use your logo instead of a person picture, that’s fine, at least there’s something there.

     2. You have #teamfollowback or “I follow back” in your bio.

Ugh. Yes, this still holds true. I run far and fast from bios with these in them. You should be connecting with intent, not to get your followers numbers up as high as you can.

     3. #You #use #hashtags #way #too #much.

As a general rule of thumb, use no more than 3 hashtags. Two would be the sweet spot. Also, make sure your hashtag isn’t something like this – #ijustlovegeorgiafootballicantstandit. No one is going to read something that long.

     4. All you tweet is your affiliate links, a product you are selling or tweets guaranteeing me thousands of Twitter followers for $10.

I don’t see tweets with this as much. Unfortunately it’s all moved to the Twitter DMs. If you are still tweeting your DM-ing this type of stuff, STOP. Your first interaction with someone should NOT be a sales pitch.

     5. You tweet in a foreign language.

I’ve given some leeway here over the years. I used to not follow anyone who tweeted anything in a foreign language, but I’ve meet some cool people on Twitter who tweet in both English and their native tongue. I could remove this one from the list.

     6. You’re not a real account.

Yep – spam accounts are still out there. Want to know how I know you’re not real?  http://fakers.statuspeople.com.

     7. You post derogatory or offensive content.

No one should ever post content like this. For one, social media is not the place and two, we just don’t have time for that. This is a permanent rule.

     8. You’re in middle school or high school.

All social media platforms have an age minimum for a reason. I know parents who lie about their children’s age so they can be “like all their friends.” This momma won’t. If I know you personally AND you’re social media legal, I’ll follow you. If I have no clue who you are…well, sorry.

     9. You use True Twit Validation.

OMG this drives me crazy. I can understand wanting to prevent spambots, but I shouldn’t have to prove I’m a real person to follow you. If I get a Twitter DM asking for True Twit validation, you’re getting unfollowed or blocked.

   10. Your auto-dm is nothing but a shameless plug for me to download or buy your latest product.

This relates to #4 above. What grinds me the most is when I get a DM from someone offering me services I already provide. There is a bio for a reason, READ IT FIRST.

    11. You tweet me telling me you can buy me followers.

Fortunately, I do not get these anymore. However, I do get followed by people who now have it posted in their Twitter bio. At that point, I go to Settings> Report/Block and report their sorry you-know-what. I’m a rules person and doing something like buying followers will get my account deleted.

    12. You tweet every.single.minute.

Okay, so if you’re involved in a Tweet Chat you’ll have period where you are tweeting every minute. This really depends on what they are tweeting. If it’s from a chat and it’s great information, that’s fine! If it’s nonsense, then well, buh-bye.

    13. You haven’t tweeted in over a week.

This is my rule #2, except I now look at the past 2 weeks. If you’re not actively using Twitter you’re not going to see my tweets or anyone elses. I prefer to follow only active tweeters.

    14. Your profile picture is vulgar or inappropriate.

Enough said. Still.

    15. Your tweets are all posts from Facebook.

I still see this – accounts where 100% of their tweets are Facebook posts. I know it’s cutting out a step and making it a little bit easier, but rarely are your Facebook posts less than 140 characters. Plus only auto-posting from Facebook shows you aren’t actually using Twitter.

    16. I take the time to personally tweet you a thank you for following me and you ignore it.

Okay, so this is a bit of the pot calling the kettle black here. I get people thanking me for following all the time and because of time, I cannot respond to each and every one. I do, however, favorite the tweet so they know I’ve seen it and appreciate it.
Not much has changed in the past couple years. There are a few I would remove and some I would modify, but these pretty much still remain true. People on Twitter are supposed to be vocal and active, not passive and non-existent. If you are doing any of these, I urge you to please stop. You may be hindering your own account’s growth, and if it’s a business account, you could be losing business.

Did I leave anything out? Is there a reason you’d like to add or challenge? Let me know in the comments below!