Twitter Expectations

Twitter Expectations: What to expect from @threew

The Tweets

I begin most days reviewing the thoughts of others as well as my own experiences in the process of energizing and motivating myself for the work to come. The habit of positive thought and creative reflection is one of long standing... What's new in the mix is Twitter.

Twitter has become an important a tool to help distill those thoughts... flush out inconsistencies and expose errors. Reducing goals, processes, lessons learned, and insights gained over the course of decades down to succinct statements of less than 140 characters is an exercise leading to clarity and insight. I enjoy it, find it useful... Twitter is a critical part of the daily routine.

While I tend to think most often about project management and software development, process improvement and the processes that lead to improvement are frequent subjects as well.

My interests are varied and numerous; I mentioned a few (above and below) but won't list them all here. I tweet, on the average, anywhere from 6 to 20 times a day during the week; usually less on the weekend. I re-tweet about half as much as I tweet. I also @reply and @DM but not as often as I tweet and re-tweet.

I participate but I won't clog your pipes.

I hope you find these distillations entertaining, informative, and useful if you chose to read them.

The Follow

Typically, I follow people on Twitter because I find them personally or professionally interesting. Sometimes because I think they may prove helpful in some way with problem solving... or potentially so. Other times because of association -- geographic, interest in music, or the like. Conversations with others leads to growth, knowledge, understanding, and the potential for reciprocity.

Typically I find most interesting the thoughts of others offering clarity and insight within the 140 character boundary... on life, work, whatever.

Since I am an IT Project manager primarily involved in software and web development, I have an affinity for those of similar nature, in related endeavors, as well as people and organizations to which project management is a part of the solution. Because I work in PMOs and play a role in IT governance, I have an acute interest in management and governance in addition to PMI, the role of project managers in general, and the processes related to project management. Even though I am "in technology" I am not an uber-geek but I respect and like them.

Most of the time if someone follows me on Twitter I follow them back... but not always. Most of the time people who follow me find me of interest for the same reasons (stated above) that I find others of interest and wish to engage in conversation. That means we have something in common and I'll probably follow... and engage in that conversation.

I am not on Twitter to become someone's "target market" anymore than I have a telephone so sales trolls can more easily ambush me about vinyl siding or vehicle warranties. I also skip commercials on television and throw away junk mail and catalogs without reading. If I want something you sell, I'll find you myself.

It's not about "love," tweeple. Love has nothing to do with selling the newest version of vinyl siding, vehicle warranty, or marketing the "SECRET key to success" website. If you want to "love" me, then quit calling; stop clogging the pipes with your effluvia... kill the infomercials. I won't follow you and, if you persist, will block you and also report you for spam.

I follow a lot of people that once seemed of interest but are no longer in that category. Most of those are internet marketers... some of them really big names with followers in imaginary numbers. The reason that these people lost my interest is because they are repetitive. After a few weeks, I've seen their "message" and nothing new is forthcoming. They drop off the radar pretty quickly.

Advice: Keep it fresh and keep the self-promotional garbage down to near zero. If I want Spam, I can find it in the grocery store.

The No or Un-Follow

I usually do not follow anyone with a profile containing:

• Protected Updates
• No posts and thousands of followers
• No photo or an obvious fake photo
  
• No real location (e.g. "somewhere in the world")
  
• No real name (unless you are CNN or Apple)
• No bio, meaningless gibberish in bio, obviously fake bio
• References to yourself as "funny," "interesting," or "intelligent"
  
• Anything remotely resembling pornography
  
• Profane or foul language
  
• Any of the following buzz words or phrases
  
  • Guru
  • Network Marketing
    
  • Affiliate Marketing
    
  • MLM or Multi-Level Marketing
    
  • Internet Marketing
  • Work at Home
  • Law of Attracting
  • Personal Branding
    
  • Psychic
    
  • SEO
    
  • FREE
  • Want more followers?
  • The Twitter Trick (or any variant)
    
  • Fitness and weight loss
  • Slowing/reversing the aging process
  • Debt Reduction
    
  • Your success is my number one priority (or anything similar)
    

Anyone who tweets

• Way too much -- (broadcaster)
  
• Way too little -- (lurker)
• Repetitive content - same tweets over and over (broadcaster, junk)
  
• Only URLs (links) without commentary
  
• Only self promotional (junk)
  
• Consistently boring or inane (junk)
  
• Nothing relevant (junk)
  
• And never replies (broadcaster)
• With more than one exclamation point per word
• About nothing but how to use Twitter
• Nothing but Re-Tweets (a broadcaster with nothing to say)
  

Are you on that list?

If so, there should be no surprises (setting expectations here): I will not follow you.

Continual, multiple follow requests: When I received your first follow request, I checked you out. I reviewed your profile, read your recent tweets, and visited your website if you have one listed. I'm looking for reasons to follow you. I do this with all follow requests; I take them seriously.

If I didn't follow you back within 24 hours, it's because there is a good reason... probably one of those listed above. Your second, third, and subsequent attempts (on a daily basis) simply validate my initial conclusion and add an additional reason not to follow. You are now nothing but spam in my inbox.

I will block you. Where appropriate, I will report you for spam, porn, other illegal activity, or violation of the Twitter rules.

Turn your bots off and get real.

Wrap it Up

Some people become upset and irritated that I unfollow or refuse to follow them. That's OK, it's simply justification, in my opinion, that I did the right thing. If increasing your follower count Or "tweets for cash" is more important than conversation, then that is reason enough to avoid you. If something I tweet annoys a follower, if they find me inane or boring, or there's something in my profile they just don't like, I believe they are perfectly justified in unfollowing or not following me as well.

Less, not more, irritation is needed in our lives: Both yours and mine.

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