Who Should You Follow on Twitter?
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5 Ideas For Choosing Who To Follow on Twitter
After you’ve set up an account on Twitter, the next step is deciding who you want to follow on Twitter. This article will cover five ideas for choosing which Twitter users you should follow. Specifically:
- Follow Who You Know And Admire
- Follow Who Others Follow
- Follow Who Bloggers Recommend
- Follow Industry Experts
- Follow Companies You Want To Work For
Get Started By Following People & Companies That You Know
An easy way to get started with Twitter is to follow people that you know. You may be surprised to see that many of your friends, family members, business contacts and colleagues have Twitter profiles.
You may also want to follow people that you admire. I follow some of my favorite authors, companies that I like (ex. Panera Bread) and a wide range of industry experts.
To find people or companies on Twitter, go to the “Find People” page on Twitter and type in the information you’re looking for. The search results display below- and you simply choose the name you're interested in.
Here's a screen shot of the results when you search for me- "Marci Reynolds":
U2, I Will Follow (Early Twitter Users!)
Follow Who Others Follow
If you're not sure who to follow, you may want check out the power users on Twitter. These are users with a positive Twitter reputation and/or thousands of followers.
WeFollow.com is a website that continually updates the most popular celebrity, television, music, media and news Twitter Users.
WeFollow also keeps a rank list of the Top 10 Twitter users with the most followers. At the time I published this article the top 10 were:
aplusk (Ashton Kutcher)1,962,289 followers
TheEllenShow1,685,521 followers
cnnbrk1,608,204 followers
britneyspears1,607,664 followers
BarackObama 1,262,132 followers
Oprah 1,225,129 followers
johncmayer 1,184,375 followers
RyanSeacrest 1,123,597 followers
THE_REAL_SHAQ 1,100,772 followers
jimmyfallon 1,087,374 followers
Who To Follow On Twitter
Follow Blogger Recommendations
Another great resource for "who to follow" are blog posts. A number of top Bloggers and popular news magazines have published their Top Tweets lists such as:
100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter: A list compiled by GeekDad on Wired.com.
10 Journalists You Should Follow On Twitter: A list compiled on the 10,000 Words website, "Where Journalism and Technology Meet".
40 Sales Experts You Should Follow On Twitter, From The Sales Operations Blog
10 Bloggers You Should Follow on Twitter: From Jack Humphrey's Friday Traffic Report blog.
25 Media People You Should Follow On Twitter: From Advertising Age
The Most Interesting People to Follow On Twitter: From Think Vitamin, Nourishment to Help The Web Grow
Nonfiction Tweets- Top 70 Authors To Follow On Twitter: From Mashable
More Twitter Resources
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Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets
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Learn Twitter DVD
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Follow Industry Experts
Twitter can be a great learning tool, by following industry experts in your professional field.
For example, if you are a Sales Rep, follow Sales Coaches and Sales Trainers who often tweet great selling tips and best practices. If you are running a PR start-up, follow some of the larger PR companies to see what they’re doing to grow their business. If you manage IT, follow some of the technology companies like Microsoft or Apple to stay current with trends and product releases.
To find Twitter users that Tweet about topics of interest, try the Twitter search function located in the right column on the Twitter home page.
Here is a screen shot of a search for “sales training tips”. Anyone who recently tweeted about that topic is shown. To learn more about that user, click on the blue link to the right of their photo- with their Twitter user name.
Follow Companies You Want To Work For or Do Business With
If you are job searching, I recommend following companies that you may want to work for. This gives you a chance to learn more about them, their brand and how they interact with customers.
If the company does not have a presence, some of their top execs may instead. It could require searching a few different ways to uncover the Twitter user account.
Want More Help With Twitter?
Want more help with Twitter? Try these additional articles on Hub Pages:
"18 Tips For New Twitter Users", By Sande Saimond.
"30 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Effectiveness On Twitter", by Julie-Ann Amos.
"20 Ways To Get Followers on Twitter", By Kathryn Vercillo.
"How To Use Twitter For Business", By Andrea Kalli.
"How To use Twitter for Pre-Call Sales Preparation" By Marci Reynolds, The Sales Operations Blog.
Author Marci Reynolds, May 2009, All Rights Reserved
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Comments
Hi Birte.. Thanks for the additional tip. I agree. I only follow others who have a detailed profile and a real picture. (Expect for business logos that I know.)
Thanks for the article. I'm one of the few who don't yet Twitter. IF I decide to enter the great Twitter camp, this will be a good starting point.
Anthony, thanks for the comment. There are still millions of people out there who haven't joined Twitter yet- perhaps you'll join us soon!
thanks for great tips. I'll practice directly.nice hub
great info on a site I have not yet joined but may consider due to your great skills in writing and promotion.
Twitter has transformed the way I access information now. I have learned more in the past few months since I set up a Twitter account than I would have ever learned through old style googling and in half the time!
Good hub. I definitely follow only people I know. The twitter experience is so much better this way without all the noise and spam.
very informative hub, nice.
Thanks for all the great comments!
I am just getting started in Twitter and have not signed up to follow anyone yet. But it will be fun once I start to get the hang of it.
I thk u so much Reynolds-I'm so new 2 all this computer stuff, even though I've been using it 4 about 5mnths-and so worried about viruses and crashes, and false items across the internet-it still has me scared. I suffered 3 infections and numerous crashes since then. Again thx and also Oprah Winfrey.
Hi, I enjoyed reading your hub and am now tempted to join Twitter. In accordance with my fluke success on HP, I think that it would be a good idea, especially if it will generate me more views. Thanks for the tips! I look forward to reading more of your hubs.
BirteEdwards says:
6 months ago
I have one more rule about whom I follow: only those with a real picture. An avatar of any kind will not make me follow. I also check out the bio, especially the website. If the link leads to a sales page or opt-in page, I don't follow. I don't want to be spammed all the time.
Great advice for anyone new to twitter (are there still those around?)