Twitter: force me to accept new followers Oct15 '08

Screenshot of Gmail

I get so much Twitter "follow" bacn, I've completely suppressed such messages in Gmail. Instead of being displayed in my inbox, they immediately get archived - poof! Gone from sight. It became too much to keep up with.

It would be different if my new followers were legitimate people looking to network over shared interests, but 99% of my new Twitter followers are spam, bots, link hoards, or anyone looking for any type of audience to sell or speak their crap. I'm only interested in meeting real people, thanks.

It makes me wonder why Twitter doesn't act more like Facebook, where I have to approve a new "friendship." Twitter does include a private mode, but then your tweets are completely hidden from public view. That's not what I want. I want public view to remain, but I simply want to approve new followers.

Screenshot of Twitter home page

My "followers count" is out of control. As of this moment, I have 725 followers, and I guarantee only about 50 of those actually know they are following me. The rest are junk accounts.

Plus it looks bad. To potential new followers, it appears as though I don't reciprocate friendships on Twitter. In other words, I appear to be a snob who only follows a select group of people, and ignores the rest.

In my opinion, if someone follows you, it's only right to follow them back.

Following others

Since I miss all "follow" emails, the only way I know of a new legitimate follower is when they send me an @ reply. I prefer this approach anyway. If someone sends me an @ reply, it means they are actually reading what I'm saying, and are interested in connecting.

It's got to the point where I've changed my Twitter bio to this:

I don't receive Twitter follow emails, so just @ me and I'll follow back!

This approach seems to work out just fine for now.

Categories: Bacn , Ideas , Rants , Spam , Twitter

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matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

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