@Fayza: The Politics & Practice of “Following” on Twitter

November 9, 2008 by James D Kirk
Filed under: Notes 
Image removed at the request of the copyright holder due to this author’s ignorance for assuming (albeit not asking permission to use a non-Creative Commons licensed photo) what appeared to be an attractive, snappy photo of subject, with accompanying link back to subject’s post would have been appreciated in its application herein. My sincerest apologies for what I can only assume was harrowing damage to the 3 visitors that saw it prior to my compliance with the removal request.

First and foremost, allow me to express my most sincere gratitude to have been a “featured” aspect of a post on Fayza’s blog. Believe me, reader, when you see your name in print, you pay attention. (Presuming, of course that you are one of the 99.9999% of people that don’t necessary see yourself in print often, if at all.) People I know seem to take it for granted that since (most of them are online folk) they live in the online spaces, seeing them selves in the “bright type” is the most natural thing. I, for one, still allow myself to be awed when it happens to me (and I wasn’t the one responsible for putting it there, of course!)

In a quick recap of events (from my perspective) that has led to publishing of this post:

  • Here’s Fayza’s first post that I ever responded to. After 7 months, memory fails me exactly, however, I believe I stumbled upon Ms. Fayza while reading someone else’s twitter stream. She struck me as an intelligent, witty, attractive sort of person, so I jumped to her stream, @replying to her following tweet:
    fayza-post-i-first-replied-to
  • To which I, being a recovering Scooby Doo Fanatic, was impelled to reply with:
  • jameskirk's direct responses to fayza

    jameskirk's direct responses to fayza

    Over the ensuing 7 months, you’ll see the ten @replies I made towards Fayza. Oh, and I had followed her right after the Scooby reference, so I’ll have to presume that she was definitely getting my @replies. Plus given the volume of tweets that come from her, I thought it safe to assume that the ten times I did reply, she likely did actually see more than one of them:
  • Fayza's direct responses to jameskirk

    Fayza's direct responses to jameskirk

    Over the same span of time, here are the @replies that Fayza sent me (note, she still had not, nor never has, followed my twitter stream. Also worthy of noting, that last @reply from her was simply to directly notify me of the blog post she wrote, to which this post is my reply):

Okay, so enough of the show and tell. Hopefully, you’ll admit that this was clearly a one sided twitter affair from the very first mention of Scooby Snacks ;) Onward.

Please note that Fayza’s use of the term “Qwitter” was totally and completely misinterpreted by me. You’re hearing me admit it now; as such, please accept my apologies. The assumption made on my part was that she had coined a new term for those that unfollow you on twitter. They are in effect “quitting” you. So, my take was that Fayza had created a groovy new term, “Qwitter”, a play on the words twitter and quitter (I’m sure there’s a name and description for what these concatenated terms are called. Someone please enlighten me!)

To my recollection, prior to the blog post Fayza created (again to which this post is my response) I had never observed her mention this new service Qwitter, and as such, I was completely ignorant of what she was referring to in that last tweet she made, referring to how she would quit you since you quit her. Again, due to tweeting in the dark and not completely understanding why she would thank the “Qwitter” (in my mind this was the person that had unfollowed her, and subsequently she had unfollowed; not the service) I thought it was a bit on the rude side, even for Ms. Fayza.

So, I responded with what I thought was a relatively level headed @reply:

“They are a Qwitter if they drop you, but what if you’ve never bothered to follow them (me?) and we follow you and then we qwit u?”

(You’ll note that the context of that tweet even indicates what I thought a “Qwitter” was)

Another interesting aspect is to note that I did not unfollow her right away, as she even indicated in her original post, “The Politics & Practice of ‘Following’ on Twitter“. It was another five (5) days of receiving her twitter stream and a final @reply on my part, that was not responded to which pushed me to push the “unFollow” button.

My “follow” philosophy is much like some of the commentors on Fayza’s post, specifically,

Geakz

Geakz


I very much agree with Geakz assessment on the “how to” of following someone on twitter (but have to admit to following the “A-Listers” out of form as well. Though I’m getting tired of Kawaski’s 99.99% alltop marketing tweets.)

 

I follow those I find interesting and whom I reach out to with hopes of getting a bit closer to them via the technologies of social networking. For all the reasons known to most of Fayza’s followers, I too followed. She is witty, poignant and often times so blunt that it just makes me chuckle to see her 140 characters or less. Until this incident, I didn’t realize that she even had a blog which contained her extremely engaging writings. You may say that I wasn’t “really into her” since I didn’t do any research to find out if she had created more of an online representation of herself. I didn’t do any research; and I rarely do that for anyone else I follow on twitter unless they give me the reason. By this I mean, I had never observed a tweet from Fayza indicating that she had a new blog post just published, or anything from any of the other 19 (yes, that’s NINETEEN) other social networks she has listed on her blog.

And cheers to her for taking the time to interact with so many other online communities. Seems like a full time job to me, and I am sincerely in awe of those that are able to spend the time and energy in those pursuits. You’ll note from some of my tweets that I like to keep the number of folks I follow on Twitter to right at 100. In fact, I just culled a bunch of non-responsive types from my list, and I have plenty of spots (32 as of this writing) should anyone be interested in “applying” ;)

In conclusion, I’ll ask you, my friends and readers, based upon the other links and posts included in her article, why should Fayza be “lamenting” about losing a follower (especially one that she never followed after almost 8 months, and ten direct responses)? Her recognition that she had not engaged me is partially right on. I would be more likely to have continued my following of her twitter stream had she chose to respond. After a few more days of her (admittedly, entertaining and) out there posts, I opted to make more room on my twitter list of folks I follow.

Fayza shared her philosophy regarding “all it takes for her to hit the ‘unfollow’ button” with us in her post. My question is how much more must it take for you to hit the “follow” button?

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Technorati Tags: fayza, twitter

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Comments

Viewing 6 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    Wow, I've known about your effect on women, and it seems to go beyond proximity (i.e., when you date them or spend more than 20 minutes with one). You can reach them through their computer screens! This convo sounds like a drawn-out break-up.

    I suggest a disclaimer on your Twitter profile, Web site, etc...

    "My online presences are for males only. This is not sexism, but for the protection of general female mental health. Exposure to me by females, in direct or electronic form, leads to disorientation, confusion, hormone imbalance, fits of rage, cognitive dissonance, dementia, memory loss, loss of coherent speech, mild and situational psychosis, and Tourette's Syndrome."

    I just based the symptoms on what you've told me about your ex-girlfriends and dating experiences ;-)
    • ^
    • v
    Hey, thanks for the well-researched, well-argued post! You've given me a lot to think about.

    I am in the middle of washing my cat right now (I plan to video it!), but in the meantime, let me think on your points and craft my own response. However, would you please remove this photo? You didn't ask to use it beforehand, and it's not Creative Commons licensed.

    To be continued...!
    • ^
    • v
    Oy! I'm not really sure what's up with the lengthy photo removal diatribe. Call me crazy, but I think I only asked that you take down my photo because you didn't ask to use it. It's not Creative Commons. You gotta ask. You know how to get at me. End of story. Why you mockin', yo?

    Anyway, I wasn't mounting a case against you in my post; I didn't think there was a "side" to be taken. We're not at odds (are we?), so I'm confused. I think my post is pretty factual; I don't believe I'd done you wrong. But to me, this post, it walks the line. I appreciate the lovely compliments you've paid to me (xoxo!), but then it sort of...devolves. At any rate, I think it's best to address your points in order.

    (1) Over the ensuing 7 months, you’ll see the ten @replies I made towards Fayza. Oh, and I had followed her right after the Scooby reference, so I’ll have to presume that she was definitely getting my @replies. Plus given the volume of tweets that come from her, I thought it safe to assume that the ten times I did reply, she likely did actually see more than one of them.

    You're right; I saw them. Most of 'em, anyway. Now let's take a look at the context of your tweets. They were comments to my tweets. They didn't ask questions (if they did, you posited the questions and then answered the questions yourself), and they didn't require a response. I read them. I ingested them. I chewed 'em up and swallowed 'em. Whaddya want me to say to them? You made great points. Excellent ones. I enjoyed your points. Especially the one about the boric acid - I actually took that advice! But they weren't engaging me in a conversation; they were mere reactions to what I'd said. Good points, but points only, nonetheless.

    (2) I did not unfollow her right away, as she even indicated in her original post, “The Politics & Practice of ‘Following’ on Twitter“. It was another five (5) days of receiving her twitter stream and a final @reply on my part, that was not responded to which pushed me to push the “unFollow” button.

    The one I mentioned in my post that I never responded to was the final @reply from you, that I recall. And there, you most certainly asked me a question, and believe you me, I mulled over my response to you for the five days that I said nothin', and during those days after you stopped following me, too. You spurred an entire blog post! So, sorry I didn't answer you in 140 characters or less. Sometimes, Twitter's not the right medium.

    (3) By this I mean, I had never observed a tweet from Fayza indicating that she had a new blog post just published

    Maybe you just weren't that into me then, because I did, many times: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=fayza+new+post. I have Twitterfeed set up for that purpose, actually!

    (4) or anything from any of the other 19 (yes, that’s NINETEEN) other social networks she has listed on her blog.

    Errr, is there a problem with that? After all, knowing social media is kinda what I do.

    (5) I like to keep the number of folks I follow on Twitter to right at 100.

    Wait a second, YOU don't follow everyone that follows you? Really?! Huh. Interesting. I don't either! You're sneaky.

    (6) why should Fayza be “lamenting” about losing a follower (especially one that she never followed after almost 8 months, and ten direct responses)?

    My post "laments" those that stopped following me, those that never followed me, and those that I had a mutually following relationship with which the other person ended. Why should I be lamenting? Well, why should you be lamenting my lamenting? ;)

    (7) My question is how much more must it take for you to hit the “follow” button?

    Probably not blog posts about me! I keed, I keed.

    This was fun!
    • ^
    • v
    Thanks for the link + words. I've since deep sixed my Twitter account - cold turkey - due to some vibe-y-ness I was getting. I was having flashbacks to both High School and AOL 4.0 chat rooms. Haven't missed it since.
    Blog on.
    • ^
    • v
    Hey Geakz. Totally hear ya. I'm a hot and cold Twitter user. It only took me a couple of sessions of having a small number of tweets coming to my cell phone for that to get turned off! Since I started using it, I've tried various desktop (and when it was available, IM) applications for notifications. Lately, I've been using TwitterFox and that seems to give me about the right amount of distractions, though not uncommon for me to just turn it off in the browser's status bar.

    As to the vibes, I honestly don't really get a whole lot of incoming so, I'll just take your word on that front. I can totally imagine, however!

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you round about these parts again (you did subscribe to my feed, right? ;) )
    • ^
    • v
    Hey James - no doubt that Twitter has the attention of the social networking world - as there is no shortage of add-on functionality for the browser. This is a good thing. And because of this interaction factor, Twitter mileage will vary from user to user. I'm finding for myself that face-to-face communication can't be beat and there is no hiding behind a creative Avatar when it comes to interpersonal communication. Secondly, if I have to 'get my social fix' via the Web, I find that there is more satisfaction shaking hands via a Blogger's comment section, than anything else.
    BG has been added to my feed. Blog on!
 

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