Okay, this is on a LOT of people’s minds and I’ve been asked several times now what my take on the situation is.  Let me get you up to speed on what’s happening.

Several days ago, a good friend of mine, Mike Dillard, send out an email to his list:

I Have A Dilemma…

I have a dilemma Raymond…

It’s been the source of an internal debate for a few weeks now, and I’d like to get your thoughts…

I’m talking about Twitter, and the single question that we must all eventually answer…

Do you follow someone just because they followed you? Or do you only follow people you genuinely know and want to follow?

Over the past few months, I’ve done both.

After talking to my good friend and social media maven, Perry Belcher, I decided to “reciprocal follow” everyone who was following me about two months ago.

There are two reasons you’d want to do this…

1: It’s polite.

2: It helps you gain exposure, which will help increase your number of followers.

As of today, I follow around 10,000 people, and have 11,900-ish followers at http://www.Twitter.com/Mike_Dillard

Looking back, I’m not convinced that was the best move to make, and here’s why…

It’s not the number of people who follow you on Twitter that matters, it’s the number of people who actually listen to you.

And if everyone is just “reciprocal following” everyone, not because they WANT to listen to that person, but because they’re trying to increase their exposure and number of followers, then we have a problem…

Everyone’s following everyone, but no one’s really listening.

When I had 8,000 followers and followed 50, I knew that all 8,000 people subscribed to my “Tweets” because they genuinely wanted to plug into my life, and hear what I had to say.

That’s no longer the case.

And it gets worse…

Once you follow 500+ people, you have to start using specialized software like www.TweetDeck.com, just to filter and manage so many messages.

And if you already use TweetDeck like me, you’ve probably set up a custom sub-list of real friends so you can separate all of their messages from the masses of people you don’t know.

How genuine is that?

In the end, reciprocal following simply dilutes the power of an application like Twitter because it’s a behavior that’s motivated by greed instead of authenticity, just so we can all enjoy the illusion of having “more followers”.

That doesn’t sit right with me, so after many days of thought, I’m going to do some surgery on my Twitter account and * gasp * “unfollow” the 10,000+ people I don’t truly know.

If you’re one of them, please do not take it personally. It’s not.

I’m sure I’ll lose quite a few people during this process, but that’s fine. If that’s what it costs to be authentic, then so be it.

And if you continue following me because you truly have an interest in what I have to say and offer, then THANK YOU. That’s what this tool is all about.

My Twitter address is http://www.Twitter.com/Mike_Dillard

In the end, I feel that any true “following” you build in your life should be based on providing real value, not the perpetuation of an illusion daisy-chained from one person to the next.

(If you feel strongly about this as well and would like to share this letter, you’re welcome to do so as you wish).

Sincerely,

Mike Dillard

And boy did that piss some people off.  You know what I think?

I say bah hum bug.  This is what I think, please feel free to add your $0.02: “Give Me a Break: Stop the Twitter Vanity!“

Raymond Fong