I Won't Follow You Because I Don't Believe You

“If you don’t follow people who follow you, you’re arrogant”.

I’m sure you’ve heard many Twitterers make this claim to justify their quest for follower immortality. At a glance, it makes sense. If you’re interested in what I have to say, but I don’t care what you have to say, I must be anti-social, arrogant or a social snob. Right?
Absolutely not.
The majority of the people I see following me I think are liars. That’s right I said it. They’re underhanded social parasites and not only do I refuse to follow them, but I resent them.
Why do I say that?
If someone who begins following me is following 7,500 people and has 7,500 people following them (with 50 updates), is it unfair for me to think they’re interested in using me to pad their total? Should I think I’m not on a 1 week (or 1 day) ‘follow me or else’ probation period? Yet, someone is going to say I’m arrogant for this. Give me a break.
They’re taking my time to trick me, or have me join their newly formed Twitter Ponzi Scheme.
Unfortunately, this is the majority of the random followers I see. It’s probably the same for you.

For this reason, I’ve adopted my own Twitter Following Policy.

1. Every Friday I look at the #followfriday list of those I tweet with. I follow every one on their lists as I catch them. I don’t care if they follow me back. Yes, I don’t care if they follow me back. They don’t know me! I simply watch what they’re saying over time and, if I like or agree with them, @ or RT to get their attention. If they choose to not engage me, that’s ok. I’m enjoying what they have to say and, in time, perhaps I’ll catch their attention. Or maybe not. That’s ok, too.

2. People who @ me or RT my tweet. If you engage me, as a human, I’ll most likely follow suit. I’m quite friendly and love people.
Note: If you’re one of the folks above trying to trick me, and do this, it will work. I applaud you for taking the extra effort and will actually believe you’re willing to work for your cause. To me, even if your goal is just to pad your stats, you’ve shown the willingness to trick me fair and square. Well done.

3. If you come through my stream via my followers, via an @ with them or their RT of your tweet, I’ll probably follow you. To me, this is an endorsement.

4. When I remove the people I follow, it comes from the stream and not the follower screen. I do not hunt for people to remove, I simply remove them if their tweets don’t match my interests. Usually, this has to happen pretty often.

5. If you want to follow me. find me on Twitter @mjleonard.