I have 884 Twitter followers as I write this. It’s not a lot, but it’s not a few. I have a very active and engaged Twitter following. They are good peeps. Thanks all!

I follow 324 people. That’s not a lot either. But, it’s a 324 people who have impressed me with their tweets and their online engagement.

I use Twitter for information and to build relationships. Relationships and information are how I determine who to follow, who to RT and who to engage. I don’t fish for followers. I don’t follow people in hopes they follow back.

When someone follows me, I check out their profile, read their recent tweets, check out their bio and their blog and then determine if I want to follow them back. It’s pretty simple.

Lately, somethings been happening that is bugging me. I’ve been getting followed a lot and when I go check out their profile they are no longer following me. There have been times where I liked someone, and followed them back, only to have them have to refollow me, because they stopped following me after they started following me. I don’t like when people manipulate the system like this. It is in authentic.

In social media, authenticity is everything. Trust is paramount. I don’t trust anyone who appears inauthentic. Baiting me to follow you is inauthentic.

Don’t follow me unless you like my tweets, you like this blog, or you find me engaging. I don’t need my email cluttered with follower bait.

I’ll follow you if you tweet good stuff, and are engaging; whether you follow me or not. To me it’s not about the follow, it’s about the engagement and that’s authentic.