Tag: Twitter

A few folks have been talking about how following works for them on Twitter – do you follow back everyone who follows you (minus the spambots)? Do you selectively follow some people? How and why?

Here’s my rationale. As I said in a recent post, Twitter is my AP Newswire. As such, I look to Twitter to learn first and foremost – I watch Twitter and see not who’s interesting or attractive or fun or whatever. I look to see who has the information I need most in their Twitterstream and follow.

My day job at the Student Loan Network requires me to stay on top of current events, to keep an eye on markets, to have discussions with the smartest people I can on a regular basis to keep myself sharp. I look to Twitter for folks who work on the inside of firms like Merrill Lynch (ticker: MER), Citigroup (ticker: C), JP Morgan (ticker: JPM), and many others. I look to Twitter for folks as avid about economics and finance as I am. Twitter is my Bloomberg terminal.

My hobby job as PodCamp Co-Founder along with Chris Brogan requires me to stay on top of trends in new media, social media, marketing, PR, and much more. Twitter is the conference that never ends.

My focus on Twitter changes, too. Lately it’s been focused on macroeconomics, politics, marketing, and PR, but back in February it was heavily focused for a couple of weeks on object oriented classes in PHP, and I followed/unfollowed a lot of people when my focus changed.

Just as I have a choice between CNBC and Bloomberg on TV or the Boston Globe and BostonNOW, I have choices about who I follow on Twitter, based on what I need Twitter to teach me. If I don’t follow you, it’s not because I don’t like you or because you’re irrelevant. It’s that what you’re doing right now isn’t necessarily in my field of focus – but may be in the future.

I try to keep the number of people I follow between 300 and 400 – any more than that, and Twitter becomes unusable because I lose more information than I gather.

To keep balanced and make sure I don’t miss anything, I check my Replies tab religiously.

That, in a nutshell, is my follow policy. What’s yours?

Lots of debate lately about Twitter – what it is, why it matters, how to use it. I’ll throw this thought out there:

Twitter is my personal AP Newswire.

Here’s the thing. I can’t afford a Bloomberg terminal ($1,800/month) or an AP newsfeed in real time and I’m unwilling to even spend on real time stock quotes, since by and large I don’t trade in equities. However, there are LOTS of people on Twitter who either work at or have connections in the companies and industries that I follow and study.

A few examples:

• On the day of the Bear Stearns crash, a Twitterati told me about conditions at Merrill Lynch and what was the thinking there
• Jay Moonah tipped me off to Google AdWords Demographics before the post showed up in Reader
• Pick any major newsworthy crash/disaster recently, like crane collapses or aircraft issues. Twitter has it long before CNN.
• A Black Hat SEO recently disclosed a VERY cool trick for gaming Digg on Twitter. Never would have seen it otherwise.

Scoble‘s on track – it’s about who you follow that gives Twitter its value, and not who follows you. Being popular is fun, being informed is valuable.

For me, Twitter is my AP Newswire…

…I’d wager, in fact, that it’s faster than AP.

Names of some parties have been withheld for their protection, and in some cases, you won’t even find them in my public “people I follow” list.

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