How many people do you follow on Twitter? More than 140? Just like your tweets are limited to 140 characters, imagine if the number of people you could follow was also limited to 140 “characters”.
Now 140 is really an arbitrary number. The basic idea is to set the following limit to a small number, anything below 300 or so. This limit however, does not affect the number of people who can follow you. For example, your Twitter stats can be 3000 followers and 140 following. This could greatly improve the Twitterverse. Here’s why.
Reason 1: Reduce Spam Accounts
There are many spam accounts on Twitter. As reported by Twitter, the spam activity has decreased in recent months, but there are still many spammers out there. By restricting the following limit, spam accounts will be restricted to following 140 users at a time.
You might be thinking, this type restriction would not prevent spam accounts from rotating users through their following limit. A spam account could follow a user hoping to attract a follow back. If the spam account receives a follow back, the spammer immediately unfollows the user and follows a new user.
This is a legitimate concern and is related to the second reason. Since all users have a following limit, they are less likely to use up one of their following spots on a spam account. Users are more likely to follow only accounts they find valuable.
Reason 2: Measure of Value and Influence
The number of followers an account has will become a greater and more accurate measure of the account’s value to users and the influence of the account. This is because with the limited following spots, users will only follow the top 140 users they find valuable. If an account has 2000 followers, it means 2000 people find the account valuable enough to “vote” for the account with a follow.
Reason 3: Promote Twitter’s Other Features
With the 140 following limit, users will have to find other ways to discover and promote content on Twitter. For example, Twitter lists will become a greater asset since users will still be able to create Twitter lists to aggregate information from users they can’t follow directly. Twitter’s advertising platform (Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends) will get a boost with legitimate users since it will be more difficult to mass promote messages.
Reason 4: Encourage Real Conversations and Relationships
Lastly, but probably most importantly, the following limit will help bolster real conversations and relationships on Twitter. This is what social media is meant to do. Users who are following more than 300 people are probably not conversing with all of them on a regular basis. Users who are following more than 300 people, are probably not reading all the tweets in their stream. So what is the purpose or value of following all these people?
Businesses and accounts wanting to gain influence through their Twitter account and to gain followers, will have to build real relationships, engage in real conversations and provide real value through the account. Otherwise, it is unlikely they will successfully attract followers.
So do you agree or disagree with a following limit?
Victor Chan
eMarketing Strategist
Tags: conversation, following, influence, limit, promoted trends, promoted tweets, relationships, Social Media, spam, Twitter, value
Renee
July 29th, 2010
I follow around 400 people and vice versa. I kick off spambots; but I know most of the rest, except like three celebrities and a few biggies in my field. It’s true that I often miss some of the “stream,” and moreso once I hit 300 or so. But so what? You hang out with friends and “miss” things they do when you’re not around. But I can say I’ve had @conversations with almost all of the people I follow.
It’s a cute idea, but is ultimately needlessly arbitrary. I think the key message is to make sure you *do* have relationships with the people who you follow, and treat the digital world like the real one.
Stephan Wehner
July 29th, 2010
If you don’t also restrict the number of a twitter user’s followers, then the twitter user may not be able to follow some of their followers back. Would look a bit odd, wouldn’t it?
But, I think, if both numbers are restricted like that, you will see a “breakdown in flow”, or a kind of congestion. I think systems like twitter are quite sensitive in that way.
Stephan
Victor
July 30th, 2010
Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate the feedback about the post.
@Renee, you are right in that the key message is to make sure you have real relationships with the people you follow, but without a mechanism to encourage, persuade or influence users to have these relationships, I would think more of these spambot accounts will proliferate. What do you think would be a better idea of encouraging real relationships on Twitter?
@Stephan think of the following and follower stats as a voting system. Each user will have 140 (following) votes to cast. The higher the ratio of followers : following a user has, the higher score it receives from Twitter users. In this sense, I wouldn’t think it would be odd.
Yes, you won’t be able to follow back everyone that followers you, but with the invention of Twitter lists, it really isn’t necessary to follow someone in order to “save” and view their tweets. You can add a user to your Twitter list without actually following them back.
Stephan Wehner
July 30th, 2010
Then Twitter lists would replace the conventional followers list, no?
Stephan
Victor
July 30th, 2010
The Twitter lists could replace your following list – ie. what you see in your main stream. I see having both as a bit redundant with the current system.
Erin Garrity
August 4th, 2010
I agree with Renee. Treat the online world like the real one. What an excellent phrase to live by.