Twitter Tips: Who to Follow & Who to Block

I've been active on Twitter since 2008. When I meet people, they are often surprised at my large twitter following (currently over 192,000 and growing at about 100 new followers a day). If you want this type of audience, it does not happen organically (doing nothing). I've been transparent about my five every day actions that I take on Twitter. Years after creating it, I'm still taking these actions every day and encourage you to do so as well. Several of my authors from Morgan James are following these actions and growing their followers on Twitter. It doesn't consume lots of of my time but it takes consistent effort.

Years ago, I made a decision to follow everyone who follow me—which is a basic of twitter. Some of my friends are amazed that I follow thousands of people—and they can direct message me. Also I include my personal email address in my twitter profile.  It makes me easy to reach and I answer my email. Why? I want to be accessible to people and I want to help as many people as I can with the volumes of information that I have online.

I use the tool Refollow to follow other people's followers—yet I'm not just following anyone. I'm following people who are in my target market (publishing, writing, etc.). This tool only takes a few minutes to use. Yet sometimes I find I'm following people who I don't want to be following. In this article, I'm going to give the details of how I check my followers and then who I block.

Usually about once a day, I click the “home” button on my twitter page and scroll through my twitter feed. As I take a few seconds to scroll through this feed (with hundreds of posts and images), I'm looking for several things. First I'm looking for people who are not tweeting in English. If they are using a different script or language, then I right click, open a new tab for this person. Next I block this person from my twitter feed.

Also I'm looking for porn and foul language (either in text or in images). When I find this type of material, again I right click the name of the person that I'm following (even if it is something they have retweeted), open a new tab for the person, then block them.

If you are not taking these actions, then you are sending a subtle message to others (who you don't want as followers) that they should follow you. I'm looking to continue to grow my followers but I want those followers to be the right type.

My system for social media isn't perfect but I have created a system or a regular pattern of behavior.  I'm always open to learning something different and making modifications.  If you have some idea for me, feel free to comment below or reach out to me and let me know. It is important for everyone to develop your own system and process for handling these details of social media.

I don't waste a lot of time on social media because I don't have that time. The bulk of my day is being an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. Notice the link on Morgan James which takes you to a two-page information brochure—and notice my work contact information including my phone number is on the second page. Many authors are struggling to find their way in the publishing world and if I can help you, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Tweetable:

For Twitter, how do you know who to follow and who to block? Insights here from @terrywhalin. (Click to Tweet)