It still happens.
Every once in a while I’ll meet someone who says, “I would have DM’ed you on Twitter but you don’t follow me.” or someone will post on Twitter how they’re deleting me because I don’t follow them back.
I’ve written about why I only follow a handful of people before (mainly because I don’t want to manage another inbox of Direct Messages – I have an email address, email me for the love!), but since have changed my strategy to become even more involved with conversations on Twitter. However, I still only follow a small group of people.
Let’s say all the people who follow me on Twitter and myself were in a big room at the same time.? My friend Joe is somewhere in this room talking about his wife who just had a baby. I’m across the room by the food table eating a cookies. And cupcakes.
And in between us are 3300 other people talking.
Now let me ask you a few questions:
Am I going to hear my friend Joe over all the other conversations?
Am I even going to be able to make sense of all the noise 3300 people talking at once?
No way.
Last night when I twittered someone, “I don’t follow people on Twitter…I follow conversations,” he replied, “How can you engage in conversations if you don’t know they exist?”
Fair enough. I used to be a web-only Twittergirl. I have since moved on to TweetDeck, which allows me to better manage my small group of friends, but it also allows me the option to create and save groups based on searches.
Searches on TweetDeck are amazing. For instance you can search for simple themes you may be interested in like “church” or “baptism” or for me, “church burnout.” I also have searches set up for “Mad Church Disease” so I can see who’s talking about it and engage with them. Other fun searches that can help you engage in conversations with people you don’t follow are “Just finished reading” to see what someone just finished reading and what they thought or “Great post by” to see great blog posts you may have never found on your own. Clicking on others’ RTs (Retweets) and Retweeting things yourself is another way to introduce your followers to a new conversation.
Overall, unless you have a real strategy behind Twittering, by following a ton of people, you’re not networking. You’re only following a lot of noise. Sure, you may occasionally find a nugget to chew on, but a lot of other well-deserving Tweets will fall through the cracks and be buried in the chaos of the masses.
For example, a friend I work with follows me on Twitter. It was three weeks into my online media fast before he knew what I was doing, and it was because I told him face to face. He hadn’t seen the flood of Twitters about me quitting for Lent. Even as a close friend, I got buried in the noise.
If you truly want Twitter to be an effective social networking tool, strategize *somehow* (it doesn’t have to look like mine) or clean house.? If you want it to be a flood of noise, keep hitting the Follow button and let the Tweets roll on by.
=====
Comments
50 responses to “Following Conversations – Not People – On Twitter”
Good Stuff Anne! I have been doing the same thing for a while now. I am following 500+ on twitter and I know it could be more. I almost stopped listening to those followers completely and just participate in conversations around topics, hashtags, and key words.
Anne, I remember you explaining some of this to me at Innovation 3. You have a specific strategy that you employ for making prudent decisions about your Twitter usage. I think many of us could learn a lot from the concept of “thinking strategically” about ALL our new media usage. That way, we are better stewards of the limited resources we have (i.e. – time) and can be more efficient/effective servants in the Kingdom. We need strategies to manage everything from our inboxes to our feeds so I appreciate your ‘not just jumping on every bandwagon without a plan’ approach.
Thanks for taking the time to shape our thinking!
Cynthia?s last blog post..Catalyst Hits the West Coast this Week
Anne, I agree with you 100%. And I follow people like you to see what you are saying to people like you. Following conversations you have with others I learn from help me to use twitter as another learning experience.
It’s almost like being a conversation voyeur. I’m learning, I’m learning. It’s helping me be better at what God has called me to do.
Blessings,
Dave
Dave Baldwin?s last blog post..Come-As-You-Are
I’m so glad I don’t Tweet. Or Twit. Or Twirk. Or Twooze. Or Tweeze. Wait. I do tweeze, but that’s not the point. Sometimes it’s good to be out of the loop. :)
Heidi Reed?s last blog post..Baptism
Don’t worry about the people mad that you didn’t follow them. It’s your right to follow (or not) anyone you choose. Its their problem, especially if they stoop low enough to post complaints about you not following them.
Joanna?s last blog post..Song of the week- Don’t waste your life
yep. i absolutely do the same exact thing. and thanks for stealing the post i was writing. shoot!
You make me MAD! You said that so well – I couldn’t have said it any better. Oh yea you are a writer – that’s why you write so well. Anyway, thanks for putting into words what was only in my head. Even if you did make me angry.
Good stuff – thanks
what you said. :)
more power to those who do, but there just is no way i could (or would want to) keep up with hundreds or thousands.
(dude – you leave for India in two days and a wake-up!!)
Anne,
Love the stuff in this post, and agree that just following tons of people with no purpose/organization is fairly useless. But at the same time, in your post it seems to come to the conclusion that those following tons are not having good networking and I would just propose that with Tweetdeck (or something similar) you can follow many people and use the same tools you mentioned (groups, searches) to have great networking at the same time. Not that I follow tons in comparison to some, but I definitely follow to many to just see them all in one timeline, so I use groups and searches to pull out the most important pieces, but still appreciate the number I follow because I still get a chance to occasionally see their tweets and benefit from them. Hope that makes sense, just couldn’t resist adding the thought.
By the way, were you at the Apple store in Dallas yesterday afternoon? Because if so, I was there (I work there), I think it was you but wasn’t quite sure.
Luke DeMoss?s last blog post..Small Steps Towards A Big Goal
LUKE..I was totally there!!!!! Getting my iPhone switched. A bearded guy with no name tag helped me!
The only reason I don’t follow more people is because I can’t disable the DM feature. Really, that is the only reason why. I think it’s great if people feel comfortable opening up that door. I just don’t! I’m kind of private like that, and DMs come straight to my phone. For a reason.
listen, i think it’s a more than a little rash to go saying something like your last couple of sentences, as if your way is the only way to do manage twitter effectively.
i follow a lot of people. but i use groups to effectively keep the noise down, and to allow people to DM me. you say “(use email for the love!)” but forget that americans are by design, lazy. if they have something to say to me and have twitter open and not their email, they’re going to DM me… for me it’s not that difficult of a thing to manage, because just like groups/conversations, it’s just another column in tweetdeck so frankly i don’t get the difference. you can turn off email and mobile notifications for DM’s, and just treat it like another “conversation” to follow.
additionally, i don’t want to filter people’s lives based on what’s important to me. i don’t view social networking as all about me (most of the time), therefore the follow conversations technique doesn’t work for me, because i don’t want to follow conversations, i want to follow people. if i did that, i’d miss out on some important events in peoples lives because i didn’t have a search set up for “having a baby,” or something similar. your real life friend could have missed that you were quitting twitter for a month because he didn’t have a search set up for “quitting for lent.”
i don’t presume to judge you based on your twitter strategy. and i think anyone who would is a giant tool. but i think the reverse should also be true.
joshua?s last blog post..what it means to be an ?open-source? photographer
Joshua,
My way isn’t the best for everyone. It is just what works for me. And I hope it can help others as well. For me, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on Twitter, so I need to find a way that helps make me engage with others in an effective way. And I think most people who engage with me (and me with them) would agree it seems to work okay.
anne –
and that’s wonderful for you. you don’t follow me, but i still follow you and i have problem with that. the only thing i take offense to is your last paragraph make people like me who follow lots of people sound like we’re the non-sincere ones.
“If you want it to be a flood of noise, keep hitting the Follow button and let the Tweets roll on by.”
comes off as downright snarky.
joshua?s last blog post..nate
OOPS!
i meant to say “i follow you, you don’t follow me, and i have NO problem with that.”
funny how two letters change the sentence completely :)
joshua?s last blog post..nate
Anne, I agree with you 100%. I have never understood how or why people follow like 3,000 people or worse more. I follow really more than I want, out of gilt I have added people because they where always commenting on my tweets or RT me. I have a core of people I like to follow (like yourself) and have conversations with, more than that is just a lot of noise that like you said hides the voices you want to hear.
That’s funny Josh. And no worries. it is more a call to have SOME kind of strategy (I just edited it to make sure it sounded like ANY strategy is good)…I just dont see how someone can engage with thousands of people and it be effective networking. If ya can, rock on with yo bad self!
Preach it Sister!!!
Lets all practice safe Tweeting and keep the signal to noise ratio high on the signal side.
CindyK?s last blog post..New meaning for the "Handshake"
I recently gave up on Twitter. Too much of a hassle. I will keep my Facebook, blog and email and leave the rest to others.
I do think the internet “noise” can clutter out real face to face conversations at times.
Rick Apperson?s last blog post..Respect Your Elders!
In my early twitter days, I would get up in the morning or log back in and try and get caught back up on all the conversations I missed. Then I realized I was missing the point.
Twitter is a conversation flow, and you flow in and out. Just like any group of people like you said. There is no way to stay up with everything everyone is saying, and you aren’t suppose to. It is not e-mail, txting, or even a chat room.
Also the tweetdeck makes searching for information so easy. The key is knowing good information from bad. However the real time nature of the info can be invaluable when in crunch or trying to solve and issue.
Great Post!!!!
ckroboth?s last blog post..What if they lose?
Yes, Tweetdeck IS the answer. I follow EVERYONE :-), but I only regularly read some of em. I figure if they need me, they’ll @ or DM me. This way, when I have time, I’ll read through the massive amount of Tweets and find interesting people that I put in a column that I read regularly. People like that Anne Jackson girl :-).
Toby?s last blog post..Look Out Susan!
It’s funny how I (and I assume some other people as well) wouldn’t have read this post if you hadn’t tweeted about it earlier.
Bo Lane?s last blog post..Petition: Bring Stryper to Salem
Oh the lost art of RSS.
Yes, I agree. This is some good thinking here! The whole point is “networking” and relationships, not managing more “noise.” Thanks, Anne!
Brian?s last blog post..Resurrection Thoughts: Easter Day 9
Absolutely! This is the only way for you to do Twitter. And it’s very effective. Your interest cannot be on every detail of every person’s life. Twitter can make it possible and impossible simultaneously. Long term conversations are where the leadership happens. You seem to be remarkable at it!
I think people are looking for permission to simply do what they are good at and not try to do EVERYTHING….. so thanks!! :-)
Evan?s last blog post..Rock your Pipe Dreams?
This…among other personal reasons…is why I chose to give up the Facebooking and the Twittering.
Now. I am not saying that I think it is wrong. I still read people’s twitter pages if they are linked off their blogs.
Different strokes for different folks.
I just became so addicted to the flood of information and the desire to “fit in,” that Twittering and Facebooking was simply an extension of that addiction.
It just got to be too much when I was ignoring the moment I was in because I was buried in my blackberry tweeting about it.
Steven?s last blog post..Photo
Steven, you said “It just got to be too much when I was ignoring the moment I was in because I was buried in my blackberry tweeting about it.”
I have felt that same tension at times and I think it is a good reality check (i.e. in my world, don’t ignore the kids because I’m blogging/tweeting about family time). Doesn’t happen too often but it can. Thanks for throwing that out there!
Brian?s last blog post..Resurrection Thoughts: Easter Day 9
I totally respect your de-noising strategy!
I definitely have a noise filter of my own. I especially like to protect my Twitter, now that my Facebook has just gotten irretrievably out of hand. (How did I get to having almost 700 friends??)
I met someone a few weeks ago who had a really bad experience working at a church as a worship leader; he doesn’t even go to church anymore due to that experience. I recommended your book to him. I hope that he reads it.
I think that people should have the common respect to at least comment back when commented to. It’s like going down the road or walking in town and speaking to someone, only to have them not speak or give a knod back. I do see where you are coming from of following a certain group of people, but then it begins to become “clickish” and it seems to leave others out. When you see that there are comments made back to others, and you are the one passed over time and time again, the whole conversation thing through any method seems pointless.
Joey?s last blog post..Impressions Of The Master Printer
You can also manage Twitter by creating groups on Tweet Deck. I rarely check out my All Friends column but I watch my groups (My Favorite Twitterers, Publishers and Booksellers, Media) and my searches (lnobles and Lindsey Nobles and Thomas Nelson). That way I can weed through the noise but still follow a lot of people.
I do get frustrated when I hear someone, who is not following me, talking about something that I would like to respond to personally instead of publicly and I can’t send them a DM.
The key is that we all use the Social Media tools differently and we need to stop judging others for doing it wrong.
Lindsey Nobles?s last blog post..No Envy and No Fear
Social media is producing a generation heading for a collective insanity. Your brain was only meant to track so many things at one time. Perhaps the people Twittering are actually teetering on the brink…
Paul Wilkinson?s last blog post..Does God Inner-Heal Today?
Anne
I go back and forth on this, but ultimately I think the strategy you’re suggesting is faulty. Here’s why:
1. It’s elitist. Sorry, sorry, sorry ?I cringe when I write those words!? but it is. I say that because there are manageable solutions to following and keeping track of the people that you want to keep track of. I’m following almost 1000 people right now and have a list set up for my “Must See’s”; people that I, well, must see!
2. You might say, “why follow those other people if I’m just going to make a list of the tweets I want see anyway?” It’s simple, it makes you accessible! That’s the whole point of social media, in my opinion, and it’s one of the reasons why people like Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, John Mayer, etc. have so many followers?people want access!
But here’s the difference between celebrities and influential leaders like you: You are different. When I say guys like Tony Steward, Carlos Whitaker, and John Saddington start following people back, I know it can be done and can be done effectively. They are amazing role models for young leaders in ministry.
I understand if you don’t want 1,000’s of emails telling you that you have a DM, but you can turn those off.
I understand if you want to see a select group of people, but you can make a group in Tweetdeck and solve that problem quickly.
Here’s my hope for you, though: I know, even in my little, teeny, tiny social media world, my ego gets a tiny little stroke when I log onto Twitter and see an inordinate amount of followers to following. Call me shallow, but that’s where I’m at. Which is the main reason why I said, “I’m not letting this elitist, haughty spirit creep into my life. If people think I have something to say, then chances are they having something to say too!” So I follow most everyone back who follows me. And like I said before, watching the guys I listed do the same (and pave the way) makes me feel like it was the right choice. Do I miss some stuff? Yeah, but the conversations I’ve had and relationships that I’ve formed because of that choice are well worth it.
Even if you never follow one more solitary soul, don’t let yourself become an elitist. You have started a ministry that is way too important to be toppled by the elitist spirit! You have a place of authority in this, Anne, my prayer is you will continue in wisdom in how to walk that authority out!
Justin
i dont mind the emails or texts telling me about them…i just don’t like DMs, period. people can @ me and i respond. or email me, and i’ll respond. i am far too easily obsessed by stuff like this, so for me, it’s not elitist. it’s just healthy.
anne jackson?s last blog post..Following Conversations – Not People – On Twitter
“Healthy” is the keyword, Anne. I appreciate that. I think we all have to do what we have to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially in ministry.
I took ALL Twitter and Facebook email/text notifications off, and I’m a lot happier now that I did.
Nothing beneficial to add, but to say, we are all working our way through this issue. At one point I followed everyone who followed me. Then I cut way back. Now I’m following most everyone who follows me. Though there are exceptions. If you are just pitching products, or you are some SEO expert, or you are self-proclaimed guru or social media expert, then most likely I’m not following you.
But I want to be accessible, so I follow most everyone, especially those in ministry or therapy, because I feel a certain kinship to them professionally and I want to collaborate and encourage.
But I turn down the noise. I don’t have FB message or Tweet messages come to my email. I don’t have Tweetdeck or Destroy Twitter on my desktop all day. I just have to set boundaries around it.
Tony Steward told me he thought Twitter was like a water cooler conversation at work…we just pop in and out of it, like they did around the water cooler at work…or I guess coffee shop now. I pop in and out of the coffee shop throughout the day, but only at certain times.
I do try and be accessible to everyone though. But I also have way less followers and traffic than you, so up to this point, I haven’t had to worry about that.
good post…let me know next time you are in Dallas. my wife and I will take you to lunch or dinner…Mexican food of course :-)
rhett
Rhett Smith?s last blog post..Bivocational Pastors: Are You One?
Justin Wise stole my thunder…:)
I really feel like influential church leaders, like yourself should make an effort to follow people on Twitter. I have been on Twitter for a long time and I suppose I am un-clear how one might go about following conversation void of following people? I am open to learning how, but most of my amazing networking and conversation occurs because of following people and engaging. Carlos Whittaker was a great example Justin. Being able to connect with someone like Carols from miles away (I live in Canada) was very humbling and rewarding.
Facebook for me is for real life friends whom I interact with and see on a regular basis. Twitter is for engaging and opening myself up to new people. If I am following you, but not vice versa, I see your comments, but you don’t see mine. Hence no conversation. No engagement.
To each his own when it comes to interaction…but nothing makes me smile more when I see a church leader following lots of people. You can filter the “noise” with things like TweetDeck, but what you never want to filter out are people. People who you might not ‘know’ but people who could enrich your life…
Even when they are just regular ole followers of Christ…they may have something to say, and I for one don’t want to miss that!
Carlos also has a separate account where he follows 30 people. :)
anne jackson?s last blog post..Following Conversations – Not People – On Twitter
I’m going back to pen and paper.
Bo Lane?s last blog post..The Greenhouse Project
And let’s be honest here, the “elitist” argument stems from everybody wanting to be on the “in.”
The “in” crowd way of thinking…
Which leads us to the “more followers = popularity= success” way of thinking.
Which is definitely not true.
The more we jockey for “position” and “attention” on here the more we miss out. If we are upset that someone isn’t following us, or not following “enough,” or not “@ replying enough,” just get over it.
Twitter is not the most important thing in life.
Are we missing the conversation around us b/c we’re so intent on being in on the conversation with the “cool kids” on the block?
This is where Twitter is like High School, and let’s not let it be that way.
It’s not personal, guys. It’s just Twitter.com…on the internet.
to be fair, and to put things in context anne, he keeps that account for mobile use though, as there is no current mobile app that supports groups like tweetdeck, which is totally understandable.
joshua?s last blog post..jared
I follow everyone…. except for the occasional self-proclaimed internet/real esate/marketing/media ‘gurus’ ….. but…. I think the real question is…. Why?
Why do we need to follow anyone back? Why is it important? Who cares? Is it really a stain on Anne’s rockin’ mission/purpose/ministry if she doesn’t? Is it like ignoring a handshake? Or is it like a megachurch pastor who can’t speak to everyone after the service?
Does it matter? What is the point in following someone back? To please them? To keep up with them? Are we pleasing men or are we pleasing God? I don’t think it’s immoral to not follow someone back. Why can’t it just be, ‘to each their own?’
Main point: How many people was Jesus effective with on a day in-day out basis? How many people did he pour into 24-7?
We’ve got to be careful not to make Twitter our ‘real world.’ Just sayin’….
Evan?s last blog post..Rock your Pipe Dreams?
I absolutely agree. Especially when looking for the link to this post, I scrolled down your twitter page through dozens of @replies to people. When it comes to more personal #’s like who you follow, I think it’s your own business what that # looks like, regardless of who follows you. Even if that interaction is held as an example because of your position in the church, I think there’s a strong example to be given in quality over quantity. Especially from one INFJ to another.
Hey Anne, We’ve been chatting a little on Twitter about this, but noticed a comment you made in response to someone here, and you said that you would follow more people if you could disable DMs.
Guess what? I believe SocialToo.com gives your that option to “opt-out” of DMs … I might be wrong, but it could be worth considering.
Now … time to prune that “follow” list!
Rob?s last blog post..Porn & Paper Pastors
I think the bottom line is it hurts peoples feelings when you follow someone who you consider important but THAT person doesn’t follow you back, which says “what YOU are saying is not as important to me as you wish it were”.
Saying that, when people like yourself, who have thousands of people following you, don’t follow everyone back, I understand that. It’s ridiculous to think you could have a conversation with all of them.
I know people who follow me, along with 4000 other people and they lump me into the “other people” group on their tweet deck but never read what I am saying.
The advantage is the DM but then again, if they have me in the “other people” group, they obviously don’t really care even what I have to say in a DM.
SO what Twitter does is hurts peoples feelings who want to be important to people but aren’t. Bottom line.
We are all grown ups, We can all get over it.
Carole Turner?s last blog post..Adoption
Okay…I’m by no means online stupid, but I can’t get into twitter. I have an account and follow some people but I never use it. I’ve been thinking I should try more, but I don’t know!
danielle?s last blog post..Disclaimer: Family Photos
I think it was said best by Evan and Aaron.
This is a social networking site…on the internet.
Not real life.
People can have different philosophies and different ways of using their personal social networking site.
No on is right. No one is wrong.
Anne… I think you are doing well with your article. For me, and I don’t claim to be an expert, I only follow those specific people that are of interest to me. If I followed everyone and their mom I don’t think I would gain very much of anything from twitter. I also use “search” and have specific rss feeds the certain searches for tweets that interest me. If someone that I am not following wants to talk to me…pick up a phone or shoot me an email.
All I can say is that befroe i ever heard of you, you found me through your fancy google mind reader adn emailed me. i just have to be careful not to use the author’s name if I want to judge theri knowledge of cows. I still appreciate your honesty and words to me.
Good post Anne! I totally agree. I don’t follow everyone the follows me on twitter (not that I have a gazillion peeps following me…..but truly I don’t really need to follow everyone.) I follow those that I know, those I am interested in hearing from and those whose blogs I follow. I try not to use twitter as a popularity tool but mostly just to stay my, well, tweets! lol!
BTW..praying for you and the rest of the team heading to India!!!! Can’t wait to read up on all the updates and what God is doing over there. Blessings!
Tiffany?s last blog post..Has Anyone Seen My Feet?
I wish I could use TweetDeck but it eats a lot of resources. I love Twitter. For my purposes, it has really connected me more tightly to the people who I want to be talking with. I generally don’t follow people who don’t follow me (I think you might be the exception along with a few author who will @reply) for the very reasons you mention in this post. If someone isn’t following me, I think they don’t want to engage with me. So why should I let their noise bury the people who do want to chat?
Amy @ My Friend Amy?s last blog post..Twitter: Friend or Foe?
My issue with the whole deal is the fact twitter isn’t the only time that people reach out to you and don’t reach back. I have done it a couple of times here on your blog and I could never get a response from you. It’s quite saddening and disappointing to read someones posts that wants people to follow her so bad, but yet doesn’t spend the time to give the same to others-especially a church leader such as yourself.