Is Twitter Auto-Follow Good or Bad?

by Chris Hall on May 11, 2009 · Comments

autofollow the leaer

Is anything good or bad? That’s a question for a different post. The question on my mind right now focuses on twitter. Is the twitter auto-follow function leading to an increase in spam and therefore potentially negatively affecting the long term viability of the service? Or is it an essential tool to allow everyone to connect to everyone? 

I stumbled upon an insight this weekend that has led me to experiment once again with my twitter following.  I think that I may be on to something better than Tit for Tat. A lot better. I’ve gained 365 followers since implementing this tactic today at roughly 7:56am EDT. And as far as I know, this tactic can be replicated tomorrow and the day after… until I decide to stop doing it.

I’ve seen both sides of the auto-follow argument and understand them both… but what if there was an interesting twist thrown into that debate?

Watching Joan Rivers on the Celebrity Apprentice Finale last night really inspired me, as lame as that may sound.  Here is an accomplished celebrity with a career spanning five decades throwing a charity auction together in 24 hours and putting everything she had into it to raise $150k and eventually win the show.

I think what put me over the top was just how fired up about it she was throughout the segment and then during the live ending.

Seriously.

So my question is, what if the ancient unlocked secrets to amassing a ridiculous number of twitter followers was packaged and sold in an ebook with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity of my choice? Would that be different? Would auto-follow still be evil?

Or would the donations serve as a carbon offset of sorts?

photo by: diveofficer

  • Chris Hall
    Peter,

    I love it. Definitely a debate around this topic. I was thinking about staying in single digits with $9.99 as a price point. ;) The goal would be to sell 1,000 copies... $10k.

    Greg,

    I have a follow everyone policy and screen / block after my tweet stream gets filled up with spam by individual users. To me, its easier that way.

    I see the demand for this type of information... and think that some good could come from it with the money going to charity.

    -chris
  • It's an interesting question. I think that if your goal is to increase your follower count, and you can do it while generating funds for a worthy cause, go for it!
    In my mind, the real question is why to have a large follower count in the first place . . . who is it you want to reach and why? That's why I don't autofollow, BUT I do spend time every day looking at every person who's followed me. And unless they're spammers or get-rich-quickers, I generally follow them back.
    But the people I proactively follow all have the same reason - we share some interest, and I'm likely to be interested in what they say. And there's no autofollow that I know of to guarantee that.
  • Hi Chris

    The tit-for-tat approach is certainly in vogue with spammers right now. Lots of static being generated.

    I'll steer clear of your Machiavellian question; perhaps you should address "what is a fair price?" next... :)
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