If you are reading this there is a good chance you came from my twitter page and are considering whether or not to click on that little follow button. If you are I would ask that you do it because you actually want to interact with me and not just because you are trying to add followers, or just because I happen to teach the same subject as you. I recommend checking out my blog posts, and scroll back through some past tweets. Twitterers with opposing viewpoints are welcome! If you do follow I would appreciate it if you @reply to me to share your opinions, questions, and collaborative ideas.
So what if you follow me and I don’t follow back or block you? It’s probably because of one of the following reasons:
- You are promoting a product or your services…educational services included(auto block!)
- You have no image or bio line…come on, put something up to symbolize who you are!
- You do not use your name on your home page (first names are fine!)
- You are following 500 people and only 1 is following you back
- You are only following 1 person and 500 are following you…all except you @alfiekohn, I am still holding out for you to follow me!
- All you do is tweet about personal stuff…I am one of those people who cares about your breakfast but not every day.
- All your interactions are with a small clique of twitterers
- You don’t have any tweets yet
- You curse…sorry, I often share my twitter page with my class and well…
- Your tweets are protected and you only have a name identifying yourself with no link to any personal information, and you bio line is blank–sorry, but just a name and a blocked twitter page does not make me feel safe following you!
So what would make me follow you?
- You have a creative bio line that is intriguing
- Your past tweets interact with a variety of people
- Your past tweets aren’t all links
- Your past tweets aren’t all re-tweets
- Your tweets show some insight into who you are, a blend of professional and personal
- You have @replied me!
Number 6 is a big one! Interact with me and I almost always follow back. Its just that sometimes I only get to checking out new followers once a week or so @replying to me is a great way to let me know that you are on board.
I tend to be a nighttime twitterer. Prime time for me is after 8pm Est. Just because you might see my tweets the next morning is no reason not to respond to it. I am also a firm believer that Twitter is not just a place to share other people’s resources by tweeting links you have found, or re-tweeting other people’s tweets. It can be a place for deep thinking and reflection and dialogue. Twitter is like a huge treasure chest, links and re-tweets can be golden, but interaction, dialogue, questions, and tweets that are origional thoughts and ideas are the gems in the chest. Never question your power to contribute gems to the twitter treasure chest.
Ok…this was all just a test…if you made it this far click that little follow button and let me know by@replying to me your nervous tick or idiosyncrasy that you have 
Mine is that I roll a pen between my hands and make it click on my wedding ring!
5 responses so far ↓
Great post, Paul. Thx for bringing it to my attention. I think we are both coming from the same place (http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2009/11/6/10-things-to-do-when-someone-follows-you-in-twitter.html)
I think your point #6 is really important, actually even regardless of sharing with your class. To my mind, professionals don’t curse in public, and certainly not on a network comprising several million people!
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I have to agree with Terry – as always an excellent post.
Also I will try harder not to tell you what I had for breakfast everyday
Please note since after 8PM EST is prime time for you and my twitter account may get a bit overwhelm at times (always) feel free to add an @suewaters in the occasional tweet.
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Hello. Saw you respond to Dr. Steve Perry about the union. I am following you but wanted you to know that if you check my Tweets from the past few days, there is not much education-related stuff on there, as the Atlanta area papers stop reporting during the break! I do have an education blog at Wordpress: EducationCEO.
I would like to interact with you because I do not believe that unions are a bad thing. I think too many ‘experts’ are pointing fingers in the wrong direction. They never consider the stuff that goes on in states without unions..I have a few horror stories to share on that!
Lastly, you are a Social Studies teacher! I majored in History/African American Studies but ended up teaching Special Education.
That’s a little about me and why I decided to follow you!
Monise
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I can’t go for number 5 in your second list. I personally have decided to break up my twitter life into three pieces. One is personal and protected, mainly because I’m on a job search. One is to interact with ESL teachers, because that is one of the occupational hats I wear. And one is to interact with historians and other academics interested in digital humanities. In this way I don’t bore people with posts irrelevant to our common interests. Admittedly, I started this before twitter began its lists, but I am finding it easier to operate this way.
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Mark Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 9:03 am
P.S. Why protect for the job search? I’m not sure. Mainly, I’m just reevaluating the whole thing about putting any personal information up on the web.
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