Fine Print

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington blogged today about the Fake Follow: “The Fake Follow looks like a normal follow to the other person, but to me it’s like I didn’t follow them at all. This solves the ego stroking issue (and related problems) that so many people have.”

Can’t recall the last time I had my ego stroked, but it must be nice. How about you? When someone reciprocates a follow on Twitter, I see it is a polite, courteous thing to do. If they don’t follow me, I don’t mind — that’s their call. I follow people because I am interested in their views, the things they chat about relevant to my line of work. If they somehow get an ego boost out of that act, then good for them! Glad I could help out.

I have some followers too, not many. Some people I know, some I have no idea who they are or why they chose to follow me. But if they see some value in that, then again — good for them! Glad I could help out.

Arrington’s Fake Follow idea is taking things a bit far, in my opinion. Why should we be offended if someone chooses not to follow us back? I don’t get that aspect of Twitter. There’s a lot more things to concern ourselves with on a daily basis than trying to keep up with multiple streams of wisdom in 140 characters or less.

You follow?

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada