

You should not follow me on Twitter - paulgb
http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/you-should-not-follow-me-on-twitter/

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kylec
I've really come to hate the phrase "you should follow me on Twitter". It
might have been effective when Dustin started using it in 2009, but I see it
everywhere now. I wrote about my feelings on it yesterday for my personal
blog:

[http://kylecronin.me/blog/2012/5/26/i-hate-you-should-
follow...](http://kylecronin.me/blog/2012/5/26/i-hate-you-should-follow-me-on-
twitter.html)

My post is a bit less diplomatic and a bit more of a rant than the post from
visualwebsiteoptimizer.com, but I attribute that to how much the increased
proliferation of the phrase grated on me since that article was published in
2010.

~~~
iamgilesbowkett
I wrote about it on my blog a couple years ago too. I'm just glad some voice
of reason finally surfaced on here.

Besides the cargo-cult idiocy of it, the other thing I don't like is the idea
that Twitter's goal is maximizing follower count in the first place. I often
block followers from communicating with me because what they have to say is
inane or negative. If you're going to count any number, I think it should be
the number of worthwhile conversations.

Product people should keep in mind that any time you show your users a number,
you're turning your site into a video game. There's a lot of accidental
gamification out there.

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epaga
"You should follow me on Twitter" has bugged me for months now, I didn't
realize it started with Dustin Curtis as an "effective" phrase.

It mainly bugged me for sounding incredibly presumptuous - as it usually does
when you tell someone they should do something that increases your own ego.

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SeoxyS
I find it incredibly annoying how every talk and article on the web these days
seems to be mostly an ad for the author's twitter page.

~~~
derefr
It's basically equivalent to "you should sign up for my email newsletter" but
without the classical email problems of being unable to unsubscribe from the
list, or your address potentially being sold to third-parties. (Also without a
permanent "inbox", so people will miss what you say if they don't check right
at the time--but that also means that you'll never end up buried under all the
_other_ stuff people haven't checked, so I imagine that evens out.)

------
friggeri

         how he increased his twitter followers by 173%
    

He increased the clickthrough rate by 173%, not his number of followers.

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melvinmt
I didn't know that Dustin Curtis was the first one that started it but every
time I come across it, it slightly invalidates the authenticity of the post
itself. It's like saying, "If you liked this post you should buy our product".
It makes people feel that the post was solely written to convert you.

------
sparknlaunch12
You really need a large existing online presence to make Twitter work
effectively. We have found Twitter extremely difficult to create any real
traffic or interest [1].

We have tried all the usual tips: follower those with similar interests,
interact with others, ask people to follow etc etc It just doesn't work. Even
when you gain followers (many are spam) they don't click through on links.

Add in all the noise on Twitter we struggle to know the true purpose of
twitter.

[http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/project-
trout-s...](http://sparknlaunch.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/project-trout-social-
media-experiment-update-2/)

------
k33n
I've never heard of Dustin Curtis, and I've said "you should follow me on
Twitter" before. It's a pretty basic phrase, and I'd bet 99% of the people who
use it haven't heard of him either.

~~~
mryan
I think you are right - 99% of people who use it haven't heard of him.
However, they probably copied the idea after seeing it on someone else's blog.
Apparently Curtis is the one we have to blame/thank for initially popularising
this particular phrasing. I seem to recall he blogged about it being effective
for him, and it quickly became the de facto postscript for bloggers wanting
more Twitter followers.

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anothermachine
"You should follow me on twitter" send the same message about the author's
tech-savvy as "Email me at Rabbit47@aol.com"

------
ezl
I think you're saying that you shouldn't just blindly copy "best practices" or
the results of someone else's split testing.

With that I agree. Yes, you should test yourself.

However, most people are not split testing their "follow me" button -- and
since most people aren't going to/dont care to, it's absolutely sensible to
follow best practices or copy Dustin.

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Rudism
I'd have preferred to read a post that discussed why it's silly to measure
your own self-worth by the number of Twitter followers you have and how
quickly you can amass them.

If you liked this comment, you should follow me on... oh never mind.

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Void_
Here's what I think when I read it:

Maybe I should follow you on Twitter, maybe I will, but I don't think I wanna
ever meet you in real life. You sound like you're a lot smarter than everybody
else, and I'm not smart enough for you.

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ZanderEarth32
So, is this the issue with the way the request is phrased? Or with the
principle of trying to increase your Twitter followers?

~~~
rmc
The issue is that people are not measuring the effect of changes. The issue is
assuming that what works for one person will work for all.

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obilgic
Your design just looks like <http://puppetlabs.com> !!!

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logical42
done.

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franzus
I find that phrase so terribly impolite that I tend to blacklist all blogs
that use it.

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hastur
no worries, i'd never follow you on twitter

