racoma.netI love to write. I write to live. I live to love.

Recently, I’ve seen an upsurge in followership of my Twitter account. I used to just ignore these email notifications, except for those cases where I personally know the new follower (at least by name) or if the name or username seems interesting enough.

However, lately, I’ve also been checking the basic stats of those who have started following me–their friend count, follower count, and tweets. While these are rudimentary statistics, they give me an overview of the person’s tweeting habits.

For instance, if you’re following significantly more people than the number of followers you have, you’re probably not that interactive (and it’s likely that you’re only using Twitter for marketing or perhaps research). If your follower list is significantly larger than your friend list, then you’re probably a celebrity. If you have hundreds of friends, but only a couple of tweets, then you’re probably just getting the hang of tweeting.

Then I try to visit the new follower’s profile. I check his/her bio, and the latest tweets on the timeline. If the account looks like that of a real person, then great. I will likely follow. But if the account is most likely used for marketing or even spam, then sorry. (I do follow a few accounts used for updates on services, software or even corporate news, though.)

Twitter makes it freakishly simple to add a person to your friend list. Just hit the follow button, and you’re all set to go. But I think you shouldn’t stop here if you really want to connect. Most other social networking sites–and even instant messaging services–add another step, and that is adding a message to the person you want to add, saying something about yourself and why you are adding him/her. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If you know someone to be your classmate in high school, a former colleague, or a childhood friend, you would have no qualms about adding that person to your friend list.

If a total stranger starts following you, the first thing you would probably feel is flattery. But then you tend to wonder–are you being followed by a real person, or a bot, or someone who wants to spam you? Isn’t it better if a person messages you the reason he’s following you?

Message your friends when you follow them.

So here’s what I propose. When you follow someone, send him a message telling him a bit about yourself and why you’re following him/her–in 140 characters or less, of course. It’s nice. It helps you connect. And it gives you better chances of the connection being reciprocated.

Note: At this point, I realize you can’t DM people not following you, so I’ve edited the post to mean sending the person a @message instead of DM.

If you know someone already, you can probably say:

Hi, I’m Angelo. We used to be classmates back in kindergarten. Nice seeing you here.

Or if you’re following a stranger or someone you only know online:

Hi. I’m an avid reader of your blog and articles. Great to read your updates on Twitter, too!

And perhaps if you’re following a celeb:

I’m a big fan! Can I stalk you on Twitter?

I think I’ll start trying this on my next follow.

Image credit: Flickr