Why Twitter’s Who To Follow is missing the point
It’s very good of Twitter to keep on suggesting that we follow Jonathan Ross, isn’t it? Not to mention some chap called Stephen Fry.
Who To Follow is such an odd little feature to introduce because it goes against the principles of social media that have made Twitter so successful in the first place. As we know, gone are the one-size-fits-all shouty marketing messages that you simply block out, and in are recommendations from people you trust. Here’s three reasons why it’s missing the point.
Twitter doesn’t know you
I want to follow people I can learn from, engage with and who make me laugh. A key way of finding these people is through recommendations and retweets from people I’ve conversed with several times and whose opinion I’ve come to respect. The enduring Follow Friday hashtag already has this covered.
The law of diminishing returns
The more followers a person has, the less opportunity they have to respond to all the messages they receive. This leaves the assembled masses with that slightly peculiar feeling that they’ve been snubbed by someone off the telly who a couple of years ago they would never have thought of chatting with anyway. And the celeb Twitterer only has time to concentrate on the people they were friends with before they signed up. So why only highlight the people who already have substantial numbers of followers, when this doesn’t offer increased value for either side?
A two-tier social network?
One of the problems with promoting the people who already have a high follower count is that it reinforces the idea that there should be some sort of Twitter elite, which again goes against the spirit of a medium where, say, a stay-at-home mum or lorry driver’s posts can offer just as much wit and worth as one of the comedians, politicians and journalists Twitter is now so keen for us to follow.
All Comments
I’ve actually not had a single famous person recommended to me so clearly the algorithm is a bit more complicated than just shoving celebrities in our faces.
I’d be curious to know why I don’t have celebrities…I don’t follow any to begin with perhaps that is why?
I still don’t find the feature useful as I like to maintain diversity in those I follow and the suggestions are all very similar to some of the people I already follow.
Can’t decide if it is a poorly designed program, or just a lazy attempt to throw something new at us.
Since it seems to be based on who is followed by those I follow – supporting the lazy theory – the suggestions so far break down like this:
> most are already known to me and I have deliberately chosen Not to follow them
> some I already follow
> some I’ve tried and unfollowed
> exactly 2 I didn’t know about and was curious enough to check a profile page – listed one but didn’t follow either
Summary
1 – waste of my time and an annoying presence at the top of the column pushing down the stuff I do use .. like my lists !
2 – if some people like it -fine – but give us an Opt Out . . I’m perfectly capable of finding my own accounts to follow BASED ON MY ACTUAL INTERESTS !
I agree! It’s the engagement, the sharing of ideas, the funny bits- and the sometimes serendipitous finds. Also feature is a little, ‘Wow, here I am’ in the sidebar. And oh, Twitters follow suggestions, ‘right’ on point- Rush Limbaugh & Glen Beck. I’m just sayin.
btw.. Twitter if you’re reading this, I do luv all your other bits
Nice quick analysis. I got so annoyed with the damned thing at the point it suggested I follow someone who *has blocked me* that I figured out how to block it.
So many people liked that that I figured out how to kill the feature in every browser. The entire list is here: http://bit.ly/9aR9sr (That’s a good link, the original is LONG, but I am not sure about your policy on links in comments…hope it’s okay.
They wanted me to follow Sarah Palin. Shows how much they know. But beyond that, it’s pretty offensive and stupid. I really don’t require any help to choose my own. #p2
It doesn’t show me celebs, apart from the ones that I have previously followed (Stephen Fry and John Cleese flashed by). Instead it gives me friends of friends, quite a few people I have previously followed, and the kind of people I honestly want to follow but didn’t know existed on twitter yet. In my account, I have chosen to follow real pals, ad agencies, and people in the business I know/admire/wish-I-had-their-job.. And the twitter who to follow is showing me an overwhelming majority of friends-of-friends, the occasional ad agency, and creatives I’ve didn’t know were on twitter. If I cared to follow these friends-of-friends, I might consider it “working”.
That said, I find it annoying, so thanks kitchenMage for showing us how to block it.
I’ve never had a celebrity suggested. Until today. And strangely enough, it’s Wossy!
Who people follow should be based on their personal criteria..They should engage more, and find people who add value to theeir life and their followers… Most of the celebs, simply broadcast, and never engage with their followers, so why follow them in the hope of getting a response…unless all you want to do is to be told what they are up to…. Find people that do listen, and engage back… they are so much more fun…
best
Mark
The system recommends you people your followers follow and or the people you follow, follow. That means that if you’re following a relative just for the courtesy, or something like that, it will get some of its information wrong.
It’s not that anyone would really know will you or will you not like to follow Sarah Palin, it’s just math and statistics. I found a lot of my friends and a couple of their professional connections to follow via the ‘who to follow’ algorithm, so it’s not all crap.
Some interesting feedback. It’s probably most useful for newbies. Twitter search remains the most useful for me when I can be bothered to go on a big follow recruitment drive. Keywords related to what you’re interested in have to be the way forward. Takes time but worth it.
Curious. I’ve actually found a few friends through the list. Like others, I haven’t seen any celebrities that I know of, though I have had suggestions for people about whom I’ve known nothing.
Maybe I’m having a bad day/night but this irked me.
What’s the harm in recommending people? The issue is if the recommendations are not relevant. That’s a problem. This feature (paid or not) helps people based on people they have CHOSEN to follow. That’s a recommendation (not a forced action) based on an active choice made by the user. GOOD THING!
Other points:
1) Most people don’t know what FF is or do FF. The vast majority of people who use the service regularly have shallow relationship circles on Twitter – they’ll tweet their friends/regular news sources but the discovery activity etc is still in its infancy for most users.
2) I would not be so bold or naive to suggest this is for continued PR of the service or profile raising of either party at all. It couldn’t possibly behove Twitter at all to have powerful/influential people using it’s service. Nope. Not sure why they continue to promote them/this…
3) Ok here I am with you – what’s with not promoting the little guy etc. That said – people are usually big for a reason we are tarring with a big stick brush here I think – quality usually finds an audience (hate that word!).
I think the beauty of the service is that there is not specified use for it and the focus is on the individual for discovery – as with most social media – you get what you put in, it takes time to set up properly and it’s a constant process to refine.
@munkyfonkey
It’s missing the point because it’s WHOM you should follow, not WHO.
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