Are you too good to follow a hubber that follows you?

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   woolman60posted 14 years ago

   You get a comment from another hubber, you comment back and you click on to follow them, should they follow you? After a few weeks, and they don't follow you, should you "quit following" them. A fellow hubber said to me they have so many followers they can't be bothered, with new ones. What do you think.

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      PackSecureposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Here is an interesting thread about following hubbers.
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/40240

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      IzzyMposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I think you shouldn't worry about whether a person is followig you back or not.
      You chose to follow them because, I assume, you liked their writings and wanted to see more.
      They may have looked at your stuff and not liked it, or they may have looked at your stuff and thought 'I'll follow that person later when I have the time to sit down and write a message to them, but not just now because I have a million things to do'. Then later they may have forgotten about it, like I frequently do.
      
      At the end of the day it makes no difference to you, or to your hubscore if you write well.

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         woolman60posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         IzzyM
         I agree with you , 100%
         
         thanks

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      Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I hope people follow me becasue they want to. I follow people Im interested in.

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      mtsi1098posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I do not mind if someone does not follow me...I follow because I like the reading or the interaction in a forum or a gut feel...

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   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   With such a huge number of Hubbers and so much coming and going (as far as signing up and leaving go), I think the purpose of following sometimes gets lost.  Sometimes, too, people don't realize that, while having lots of followers can increase potential exposure, having a lot of followers doesn't always translate to HubScore, traffic, or earnings.  I find the idea that newer Hubbers may be offended by not being fanned back kind of unfortunate (because I'm not someone who automatically followers everyone in return, and neither are a lot of other Hubbers).  This post is long, but I thought a little "public relations effort/diplomacy effort" might be worth it:
   
   The "too-good factor" doesn't have much to do with it for most people (I don't think). 
   
   If someone follows me I'm complimented (but not "overly" complimented, because I know a lot of people also follow others for reasons other than liking the writing).  Even being aware of that reality, though, I'm a little moved/humbled if someone becomes a "follower".
   
   When it comes to anyone I follow, most of the time I go with the generally "established" policy on HubPages, which says people shouldn't only follow other people "in return", and following is supposed to be about actually wanting to read what the other person writes.  I see a lot of people who have a great Hubs, but I may not be interested in the subjects they write about.  At the same time, there are a lot of people who write about things I'm interested in, to the point where I couldn't "genuinely" follow of them.  If I think about the fact that it isn't a big deal to just click on "follow" and be added to a zillion other Hubbers' number of following, I suppose it can seem pretty "unfriendly" not to just reciprocate with the following thing.  I suppose I've always imagined that too much reciprocal following might show up whatever measures "Hubtivity", and imagined that too much reciprocal following might detract from my HubScore. 
   
   If "official word" wasn't "You're not supposed to just follow others because they follow you"  (I recall one particular forum post of Paul Deeds, a long time ago), I wouldn't think regularly automatically following back might hurt my own HubScore.   As it is, I just go with the HubPages program, as I understand it.
   
   Sometimes I'll have the time to look and see if the other person's writing is on something I like to read about.  Sometimes I don't have time to look, and go back later.  I follow people who don't follow me, and, knowing how I operate, I just assume a lot of others operate the same way and don't expect anyone I follow to follow back.
   
   It's pretty clear that a lot of people go on "famming sprees", thinking they'll collect more followers.  Sometimes, too, people get the idea that one Hubber may be earning well and start to follow them, not because he likes the Hubber's writing but because he wants to see how he does things in order to earn. 
   
   So, I think a lot of Hubbers do what I do, which is making following/being followed two completely separate things.  Once people have been around long enough to have, say, 500 or more followers - just following all their followers back wouldn't result in getting a whole lot those Hubs read anyway, because people only have so much time.  People who have been on here long enough usually know that number of followers can be pretty meaningless under a lot of circumstances.
   
   Should you un-follow people who don't follow you back after you follow them?  Maybe - if the only reason you follow someone is to get follows for yourself.  If you want to do things the way we're generally supposed to do them on here, then no.  Do people who don't automatically follow back think they're "too good"?  No, and it's unfortunate anyone would be under that impression.

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   pinkyleeposted 14 years ago

   honestly i probabaly follow at least 200 hubbers and only have 141 followers from hubbers i followed to hubbers who have followed me and there are plenty of those hubbers that dont follow me ... it just means that what i write about they might not find interesting, they are busy, or they just dont keep up. there has been plenty of time i thought i followed someone but really hadnt.
   
   in answer to you question no i am not to good to follow someone that followed me, nor do i delete or quit following just because they arent following me

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   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   The purpose of being a follower/fan is because you're interested in their work.

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   BeccaHubbardWoodsposted 14 years ago

   I will only follow people I find interesting. The hubs I don't find interesting are the picture hubs (you know the one's I'm talking about). It's nice to be followed, but I don't follow for the sake of being followed, nor do I follow someone simply because they followed me.
   
   Besides, I don't like the term 'follower' anyway.

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      Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Im your fan. 

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      Lisa HWposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm fine with the term, "follower".  I just think in terms of "following" someone's newspaper column, as opposed to following some weird religious guru-type.  I'm fine with a whole lot of people not wanting to read what I write too.  I'm pretty much fine with most of what goes on here.  I just don't like to think that the idea is out there that if some of us don't automatically follow others back, it's a matter of a "too good to follow anyone else" attitude.  Every so often some version of this question comes up, usually because someone doesn't have a good reading on how following is supposed to work.

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   cosetteposted 14 years ago

   no one is "too good" to follow anyone else. although some people sure as heck act like it.
   
   i try to reciprocate and follow people who follow me, but i heard that makes your hubscore drop, so i don't do it right away and by the time i can do it, i forgot

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   sneakorocksolidposted 14 years ago

   Any Hubber that suffers through my grammer and spelling deserves a medal! So the least I can do is show them some love.

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