Twitter DMs - Stop with the Invites to Increase My Followership!

I guess I should be out celebrating this fine, summer holiday - but I am quite happy indoors, thank you. I've done my share of picnics and beach parties and traveling to the relatives' for fireworks. Maybe we'll do something more 4th of Julyish next year.

This year, I'm working on the house. The one we're selling. And, I thought I'd rant a moment on this blog, to give readers who are also not out doing the 4th of July thing, something to read.

Here goes: I have not been on Twitter a whole lot in the last few weeks. Travel and work and fixing the house up have all commanded my attention. Despite my MIA status from Twitter, I'm still getting followers on all three accounts (@y2vonne - @mypetblog - @lipsticking) and I'm also receiving DMs from folks I follow and...

I'm Sooooooo tired of DMs inviting me to increase my followership by "clicking here." I'm so done with new followers who insist THEY have the magic formula to increase my followership by thousands, with just the click of a mouse. I'm so sick of them all.

Here's the scoop: I follow the people who show me a valid profile that has content I find worthwhile in it. I follow people who are pet lovers or make pet products; people who are into shopping or marketing to women, or talk up women's issues; and people who prove they have value by tweeting truly worthwhile content.

It's nice when these people follow me back, but it's not necessary. I don't follow in order to get followed back.

What's annoying is when I have followed someone I found thoughtful, interesting, or smart...and the DM I get in response says, "Thanks for following me. Want to increase your Twitter followers by thousands? Click here - link."

NO THANKS!!! If I had the time I'd go into my account and immediately UNFOLLOW YOU, @#$%! That's right - I'm cursing at you, all of you who think you have the answer to improving my Twitter stats! Because it's not about how many followers you have - it's how many people you meet and build quality relationships with! (like Rhonda Shasteen from Mary Kay...click the pic and read her latest blog post)

Today, to my surprise, I got THE VERY BEST DM ever. It was from http://twitter.com/Elsom - and it said, "Thank you for following :)"

That's all you need to say. Thank you for following. Got it? To Elsom, I say a hearty, "Thank YOU! You have my support and attention."

Comments

[marcus]

Wow! this is a very honest article. i also have twitter and what im actually doing is just follow them. but with what you have said, you made it very clear and with a point on following and unfollowing. I also get irritated with people telling me, that my twitter stat will increase when i follow him/her. I enjoyed reading this blog.

By the way, you can post this to http://www.freepressreleasecenter.com/
, so everyone can read about this.

marcus
Online Learning

[AC Service Brea CA]

Great post!

<3 Lindsay

[JJ]

I have Dm followers with a thank you,to no avail.. How can they when they have a following of thousands!Thanks.

For Natural Horse/Pet
Care Products, Click Here...

[La Grande Dame]

Hi Yvonne, Bruce;

I hate those DM's as much as you do and if I were on my own personal twitter account I would immediately unfollow those who send those annoying, unsolicited messages. But, as @lagrandedame, my account for www.lagrandedame.com, I can't just unfollow people willynilly because they may really be customers. I tend to just ignore those messages and look for the messages that really add value to my business. I can't risk alienating a potential customer.

Best Regards,

Catherine Wood Hill
www.LaGrandeDame.com
"Making Skinny Women Jealous"

[Bruce Peters]

Yvonne,
Thanks for posting what I've been thinking. It is incredibly annoying to have the DM essentially attack.
Sure is an impediment to real conversation and learning. Would love to hear from your readers how they deal with it?