Comments on: The Friendlist/Followers Manifesto

By: Kemp

Kemp — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:51:25 +0000

Seen so many apps that auto follow and auto friend one has to be careful who you accept or as you said before long your social profiles become a mess of useless information.

By: joe

joe — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:29:51 +0000

great thoughts. couldn’t agree more.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:30:20 +0000

This is good. Although i was hoping it would be funnier. It’s shockingly level headed and minimally sarcastic. You’re probably having some UNR J-School flunky ghost write for you again based on midnight voicemails. (sad)

Still, I agree. And is the social media douchebageratti ready for the inevitable conclusion that it is NOT all about the conversation? Or, if it is about conversations, it’s about small conversations, between big-F Friends and not some scoblistic circlejerk. (OMFG did you see what @lancearmstrong tweeted this morning? I bet his glutes were SOOOO tight!!!)

Thanks Ed. Keep up the good work.

-M

By: Dave Johnston

Dave Johnston — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:09:55 +0000

@Pickering

“You have to be a cocky SOB not to follow a real person back…”

Respectfully, you’re very wrong.

Nobody dictates to me – or anyone – how to use Twitter or how I should control my own information flow throughout the day. This service is a tool, that’s it. The community is merely the one we make out of it, and nothing more. There is no obligation on any of us to take on someone’s info flow merely because they hit that Follow button.

I don’t really understand the douchebag comment, it’s an odd, sweeping verdict on people you have absolutely no data on.

Recommended: The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz.

By: @yacht_charters

@yacht_charters — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:07:39 +0000

Loved @jetwithanya’s comment…short, sweet, and to-the-point! (”Following/unfollowing can be related to age, mood, religion, politics, gender, parenting or even hormones (PMS).) It IS frustrating to follow someone only to have him/her turn around and send spam. Why not disclose honest reasons about twittering before subjecting people to that?

By: Ed Adkins

Ed Adkins — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:20:32 +0000

Thanks to everyone for your feedback- this all came from conversations I’ve either had or overheard where people have been stressing over the consequences of unfollowing people. I think it’d be great if we all agreed that it’s no big deal to follow or unfollow anyone.

Thanks again! Great responses. Hopefully this gets some real traction in how we all feel about this stuff.

By: Stephen Pickering

Stephen Pickering — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:22:50 +0000

I can’t think of any reason to follow someone who doesn’t follow you back. If you’re interested in what they have to say you can just go to their site. If you have to get a tweet from them about what desert they’re having or their latest blogpost to remember your interested in them, you ain’t that into them. You have to be a cocky SOB not to follow a real person back, unless they have some obvious marketing, political, or other agenda that annoys you. Otherwise you’re a douche bag. The world is flat. That’s the only thing Friedman is right about.

By: Phebe

Phebe — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:05:16 +0000

Ha! I laughed out loud reading this piece. It really gave me perspective…..

As a newbie on Twitter, I have wondered about all of this.

I love having this context. And the humor? Priceless!

Thank you! Phebe

By: Andreas Matern’s Weblog » Blog Archive » The Friendlist/Followers Manifesto | EDADKINS.com

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:50:58 +0000

[...] The Friendlist/Followers Manifesto | EDADKINS.com. [...]

By: @CRYSTAL911

@CRYSTAL911 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:33:35 +0000

great post! love it ed!

By: Jenna

Jenna — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:21:30 +0000

Heh, you rock, my friend. That was awesome, can I forward?

By: @JetWithAnya

@JetWithAnya — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:50:38 +0000

Nicely put. Following/unfollowing can be related to age, mood, religion, politics, gender, parenting or even hormones (PMS).

Who’s best to follow? Who would you unfollow?
A really “kewl” twenty-something may seem like an immature kid to a CEO.
A fantastic mother may seem obnoxious to a single bachelor.
A successful corporate executive may seem boring to a traveling nomad.

And yet they ALL can relate at certain times if they experience (and tweet about) migraines, traffic, weather, flight delays, or iPhone issues.

Instead of obsessing about numbers, interact with those who can relate to where you are and what you have to say. At least that’s how I use Twitter.

By: Ricky Cadden

Ricky Cadden — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:39:54 +0000

Haha, I got here because Scoble ‘liked’ it on FriendFeed and it then showed up on his Twitter, and someone RT’d it.

By: @gcrush

@gcrush — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:24:00 +0000

you are blogging again! yahoooooooooooooooooooo

By: Robby

Robby — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:10:46 +0000

This should be part of the TOS at every social networking site.

By: grahamGrafx

grahamGrafx — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:49:27 +0000

Everyone has their own definition of Follower and Friend and within that lies the ultimate virtual social network conundrum. I agree that too much weight shouldn’t be placed on the relationship, but in my experience that can be said about almost everything in life.

And is it just me or does this read like Baz Luhrrmann’s “To Wear Sunscreen?”
http://tinyurl.com/cbqmsr

By: corey d

corey d — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:44:29 +0000

love love love this. so awesome.

By: doctor popular

doctor popular — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:39:11 +0000

I agree with all points covered here. I wish this was required reading before getting a twitter account. I actually recently lost a real life friend apparently because I unfollowed them on Twitter, how douchey is that? Very. It’s very douchey.

I even made a watercolor about it http://www.flickr.com/photos/docpopular/3361110650/

By: Tremens

Tremens — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:08:37 +0000

Here here! Very well put. I was just having a similar discussion with a friend of mine earlier in the day in regards to people following us on various social networks.

Cheers!

By: MorningMist

MorningMist — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:27:40 +0000

If you follow someone for the express purpose of hoping they will follow you so you can spam them with your advertisements be prepared to not only be unfollowed but blocked. Spam is Spam no matter what buzz words you use to color it.