Please see addendum at the bottom of this blog.
I joined Twitter about a year ago and hated it. I saw no need to share "urgent updates" 24/7, like, "Damn, I stubbed my toe. It hurts!" or "Just bought gas. Prices up. Again." (Seriously?)
I quickly subdivided all tweeters into categories: The insipidly mundane; the "I'm-going-to-break-a-news-story-before-CNN;" the impersonal, but sickeningly sweet nonstop quotes; the in-your-face sales/self-promotion tweets; and the rest: i.e., entertaining, informative, enlightening, and personalized.
Unfortunately, for my taste, though I continually checked for months, the latter, (and the only group I was interested in) was in the vast minority. So I stayed away.
One of my favorite comics, @benthemorrison was a HUGE tweeter- revelled in all things twitter, tried to sell me on it. I gave it another try, digging in and telling myself to give it a chance. (I am not known for great patience in anything of extreme disinterest to me. I mean, life is short, after all!)
I set out just being me, as I only can be, always am, on my radio show (Link: "Olivia Wilder Times") and as I am to strangers, friends, and everyone in between, unvarnished, unpretentious, just me.
Along the way I have annoyed some who have "un-followed" me, grown to know many new friends, and learned a lot about a lot of different subjects. There are still the same categories, but the latter has grown by leaps and bounds. I actually care about many new people in my life, and have gained a new respect- and with it- a new set of rules, which I will put forth here:
DO'S AND DON'T'S OF FOLLOWING (Me) IF YOU WANT ME TO FOLLOW BACK:
DO's
- Be a real human being, not a bot.
- Interact, respond personally, and RT.
- Have a profile and/or link to more about you
- Have a sense of humor!
- Post a variety of things- not just the same old, same old, day afer day.
- Be a nice POSITIVE person!
- Follow me to unfollow me over and over again. It's a 3-strikes deal. If you unfollow me after you chose to follow me in the first place, don't come back again. One time it can be a mistake, two times- you get one freebie. The third time- you're out.
- Force feed me constant "feel good" quotes, news flashes (I will stick with CNN, thankyouverymuch, sales pitches and/or self-promos, or "how to get more Twitter followers," and nothing else. Borrrrrringgggg!
- Be a bot
While I am not "twiddicted," (don't have an addictive personality- thank God!) I am thoroughly at one with this whole Twitterverse and the great tweeple I have met and continue to tweet up with. I hope that I can bring half the enjoyment to them as they do to my Twitter experience.
Thank you, Ben Morrison. You were right... this one time :-) www.benmorrison.org
*Addendum:
I carefully look at each new potential followers tweets, profile and websites, etc., before I follow, to see if we have anything in common and we are a good fit. This takes TIME! I do 40-50 per day. If you are wondering why I haven't followed you, and it seems an inordinate amount of time, please give me a shout before you simply "unfollow!" Thanks!
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