Jasz
VIP Contributor
Things to Consider Before Following Back on Social Media
This is a great question! I've received so many messages asking basically this same thing, and I always have the same answer: it depends. For Twitter, it's generally considered polite to follow back. The people who follow you will probably see if you don't, and it can make them feel left out or unacknowledged. But before you click that button, let me tell you what to look for:
- Does this person only have one tweet? If so, they're probably a bot. Don't follow them back.
- Is this person an obvious spammer? If their bio is just website links and no actual bio, they're probably not worth your time.
- Are they human? This may seem like a silly question, but some accounts are actually run by robots. Automated accounts won't engage with you, so there's no point in following them back.
- Was their last tweet five years ago? If so, they might be inactive. You don't need to keep up with inactive accounts—they won't be keeping up with you!
- Do they post things that are also important to you? If not, do you want to read their tweets anyway? If not, don't feel obligated to follow.
This is a great question! I've received so many messages asking basically this same thing, and I always have the same answer: it depends. For Twitter, it's generally considered polite to follow back. The people who follow you will probably see if you don't, and it can make them feel left out or unacknowledged. But before you click that button, let me tell you what to look for:
- Does this person only have one tweet? If so, they're probably a bot. Don't follow them back.
- Is this person an obvious spammer? If their bio is just website links and no actual bio, they're probably not worth your time.
- Are they human? This may seem like a silly question, but some accounts are actually run by robots. Automated accounts won't engage with you, so there's no point in following them back.
- Was their last tweet five years ago? If so, they might be inactive. You don't need to keep up with inactive accounts—they won't be keeping up with you!
- Do they post things that are also important to you? If not, do you want to read their tweets anyway? If not, don't feel obligated to follow.