Scobleizer - Latest Comments in The secret to Twitter

Re: The secret to Twitter

Passion Chou — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:26:01 -0000

the secret of twitter

Re: The secret to Twitter

from_within — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:32:01 -0000

This is a very helpful explanation of Twitter. So few people seem to be good listeners.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Sandy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:16:21 -0000

I agree and disagree.

I follow a fair amount of people (475 currently) and have a fair amount of followers as well (661 right now.)

Following a lot of people makes sure there is always something new to read, not just the same posts you saw 5x today already because there aren't enough posts to roll it off your page. Since I follow a variety of people in a variety of interest groups, I have a variety of different info presented to me all day.

On the flipside, having a lot of followers, is important too. Now I probably don't need 100,000, but it is nice to have quite a few. Why? What if I need an opinion or recommendation? More people = more input. What if I am trying to find info on a subject I am unfamiliar with? Again, more people = more input. And more input = more conversations = more knowledge. Plus, when you have something to say it is nice to know that at least someone heard you.

Sometimes to be able to listen, you have to be able to engage a convo. So I think both your followers and your followees are important numbers as they both enable you to be more interactive and to learn more :)

Re: The secret to Twitter

tri5tan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:41:00 -0000

i try and follow roughly in equal amounts as i find if i am following too many people i just cant keep up and maintain relationships with them, i do dseem to get a few followers coming from my website www.chewingbrokenglass.com which is always good, but most of my followers are people i have followed

@tri5tan

Re: The secret to Twitter

Wouter Plevier — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:43:08 -0000

Spread the word...twitter allows to give away knowledge...and start listening to knowledge of other people. What a great way to learn about life, people, your work, your interests.

Re: The secret to Twitter

drunkmunky81 — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:02:17 -0000

I try to listen more than talk!

Re: The secret to Twitter

Luis — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:53:25 -0000

great stuff scob... im following you in twitter !

Re: The secret to Twitter

Laura R Gullett — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:26:45 -0000

Following a lot of people does not mean anything negative just because you want to do so. It is only negative if your 'why' is for spam. Because of encrypted twitter names and other variables, it is necessary to choose many to follow in order to find out more about their value in their tweets to you. It is a way of learning who is out there in Twitter, and finding a variety of topics to discuss with new people you meet.

Because of the Twitter scrolling format of displaying the tweets, it is not reasonable to expect to keep up with everyone you either follow, or are following you, all the time. The whole world online moves too fast, and how these types of apps help or hinder, are still relatively new on the Internet. Also the word Spam is way overused anymore. I think AOL always SPAMMED the universe with their stuff since the beginning of AOL, but hey, people say no not so because they paid money for it all. Well today there are many types of communications that do not require money upfront in order to get your message out there, so people will take advantage of it.

Today SPAM is all relative anymore.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Laura R Gullett — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:14:32 -0000

I like freedom and when people start dictating a million rules as to what to do, or not do, then it does not feel like American freedom anymore. As soon as something is created like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. people write up stuff that ultimately sets the stage of judging your worth on that site. We are all worthy and just might not fulfill the politically correct platform, which is really what FREEDOM is all about in America. In turn, I take what is said in stride, and go checkout the profiles, etc on my own terms. I also always support the underdog that does not fit the politically correct format.

Twitter is here to post whatever you want, as long as it is within proper guidelines, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a celebrity so I have to work harder of course. Usually celebrities do not respond either, so following them is not that beneficial, but more for fun I guess.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Bud Gallant — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:42:33 -0000

What does following a lot of people say?
It says you're full of shit if you think people will consider that a positive thing.

It also indicates you're using auto-follow applications, and are probably a spammer.

If you are following people in the thousands, you are not watching anybody's tweets. The timeline moves too quickly. This is just common sense. I have 500 followers and follow about the same. At any given moment, I am always receiving more tweets than can appear on my screen. Using groups, in TweetDeck, I have a seperate tab for the users I am really following. There's about 30 of them under "friends". Sure, I catch the odd tweet here and there, but miss 90% unless I've marked you as being of interest.

This is an odd article with an odd sort of apologetics to spamming. I imagine you're writing it to explain why you're using autofollow and spamming techniques? I can see no other reason for this kind of spin. If you're following thousands of people, it's not showing us you want to learn, it's showing us that you want followbacks and that you're missing 99% of your tweets.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Glenn Hilton — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:38:38 -0000

Great article Robert! I really like your focus on listening over just talking. A very good reminder for me. thx!

Re: The secret to Twitter

Zelimir Graf — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:29:08 -0000

twitter has become so much spam nowadays, I received like 10 eben pagan follows in like 2 weeks, and it`s really loosing it`s effectivness because of it. Although folks at twitter are trying to weed out the spammers and it really shows that they are making an effort. hope they get better in time

Re: The secret to Twitter

shannon — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 10:03:27 -0000

Just wanted to point out my auto friend follower software. I'v used it sucessfully very often.

I have noticed that your follow to follower ratio needs be good or twitter will investigate your account for autofollow reasons, but if you only target people you would normally follow.

Take a look at it here http://tinyurl.com/autofoll...

Re: The secret to Twitter

hiro bachani — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:22:02 -0000

You have hit the twitter nail on the head! Very few celebrities like you would venture such statements- they all would love to have as many followers as possible- very few people listen to others- so they learn very little- regards- hiro bachani- mg. director- http://www.merlin-me.com - i am on twitter as--- rajnihiro----- and on facebook as hiro bachani- our Merlin products are becoming hotter , and more hot-

Re: The secret to Twitter

Jim Burch — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:58:36 -0000

I follow a lotta folks, but most of 'em aren't talking.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Jerry Roberts — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:26:08 -0000

Just picked up info on another blog that following/follower ratio is less of an issue now. Can anybody confirm that Twitter has backed off on enforcement of this?

Re: The secret to Twitter

Jerry Roberts — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:57:14 -0000

Does anybody have a clue as to how unbalanced your ratio can get before Twitter suspends your account? I want to follow a ton more in the 2-3 niches I monitor, but I'm already about -200 (1122 to 911) and don't feel like getting zapped for being a good listener, as Robert suggests.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Kevin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:11:06 -0000

I find it helpful and interesting to follow lots of interesting people, but often worry that when folks assume a profile is spam-following to get followers when they see a profile that follows 3x as many as follow back.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Susanna K. Hutcheson — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:19:17 -0000

You make an excellent point. I had thought that myself. I've found that the person who does all the talking doesn't learn anything. All he hears is his own voice, which is useless. But the person who actually "listens" to others will learn new things, get new ideas and have more value going forward.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Madhu — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:38:12 -0000

Yes I agree with you that it is also important that how many people am I following.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Fayza — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:06:31 -0000

I suppose it could be said that following a lot of people makes one indiscriminate. But that's just playing devil's advocate. The more I delve into the annals of Twitter, the more I find that I want to know - and people that I want to learn it from.

Re: The secret to Twitter

shrestha12 — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:40:00 -0000

yup

It's better to follow than to get more followers. If u are content with urself then it's alright but if u want to explore and learn then find others. There are People waiting for U.

________
Pratul
Wide Circles

Re: The secret to Twitter

neweduk — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:25:10 -0000

FAIL.

Quality, not quantity.

1. You’re trying to learn more.
No. the people following 30,000 users are trying to advertise or be cool because they are not. You will not learn from them.

2. You’re trying to meet more people.
You want to meet people? Try using the 'track' function and your city name.

3. You’re trying to be a better listener.
LOLFAIL

4. You’re communicating to the world that you’d like to be listened to (golden rule: treat people how you’d like to be treated).
A more effective way would be for a blogger to comment on other blogs. Cause if you really have something to say, you will say it in more than 140 characters.

5. You’re trying to find out about more stuff. More events. More stories.
Public timeline. Public timeline. Public timeline.

Follow quality individuals, not the next guy who adds you using twitter adding bots. You want the best variety and the most information, public timeline.

Twitter is having a lot of trouble coping with the demand right now. All these new guys springing up adding everyone means more strain. I have no problem with having a busy and interesting timeline with the small number of people i follow. One might say that gives me a very narrow few on things. NOPE. I also watch the news, read blogs, ect. twitter is not your only source.

It's like those randoms that add you on Facebook because they searched a random name and thought you were cute. Ew. Not cool.

Its social networking, not a numbers game. Connect to the people that you ACTUALLY connect with.

Anyways, don't want to go on too long, you get it...

Respect. Love your articles.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Richard McDuff — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:47:05 -0000

Hello, I feel so much better. I follow over two thousand people. It is actually quite interesting to read some of the comments over at twitter. This is also the most productive site for traffic to my website. It took me a while to figure out twitter, but I am slowly getting the hang of it.

Re: The secret to Twitter

Freaky Steve — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:16:19 -0000

Yay Twitter!