When people join Twitter, most of them are caught up in the ‘must get thousands of followers’ syndrome. So they start following anyone, hoping that they will simply follow them back. Approx 30 – 40% will follow you back, but what have you actually achieved?

Follow those that add value to you, based on your criteria

When I first started on Twitter some 18 months ago, I adopted this approach, I did however try and target those that I wanted to follow, by using several websites – inparticular Tweepsearch

I also adopted the approach of auto following all those that followed me. I thought it was polite and the right thing to do.. I was wrong.. I changed my approach several weeks ago, and the difference to me has been massive.

It has made me realise that who you follow, and who follows you do not need to be the same people. Who you follow and are interested in may be people that are not interested in what you are saying… there is no problem with that.

Yes, there may well be a small percentage that you follow and that follow you back. These are the people represented in the middle of this Venn Diagram ( I was useless at maths, so please dont ask me to explain Venn Diagrams ).

But the vast majority should be simply people that you are genuinely interested in hearing about, due to your criteria, which is whatever that is – and that is totally cool.

Its rude to not follow back?

I really don’t believe its rude to not follow someone back. People email and say to me that because I am not following them, that they cant communicate with me any more. That is ridiculous.. If you @markshaw  me, I will get it, if you simply send a message and use Mark Shaw in there somewhere, I will see it, you can of course email me, Skype me or how about this… phone me on my mobile, which I freely give out.

So don’t feel that you must follow people back. Be selective, be picky, and you will maintain a Twitter stream that is exactly what you are after. The people that simply unfollowed you because you unfollowed them, were never really listening to anyway. In deed many will simply have auto unfollowed, so they never knew they were following you, and they never knew they unfollowed you… how bizarrre is that?

Focus on building relationships with those that are listening to what you are saying, and focus on following those that you truly want to based on your own criteria.

Right I am off to start following Ben Stiller