5 Reasons Why I'm Not Following you on Twitter

5. You are following 2,000 people and have about 75 followers.
It is an easy mistake to make, but that doesn't make it excusable. I know you want more followers, but spamming 2,000 people is no way to build up your Twitter brand. For 5 tips on gaining more followers, see our post here.

4. You don't have a profile picture.
Put up something. I don't care if it is a picture of your dog. Just do it.

3. You don't have a bio.
Why would I follow you if I have no idea who you are? It doesn't have to be a serious bio, but you should fill it out.

2. You have less than 5 tweets and no @ replys.
Before you start following anyone, you should put out at least five tweets (4 of those 5 shouldn't be about setting up Twitter either). If you do that, odds are people will start following you before you follow them. Your homepage should also have at least a few @ replies on it. Twitter is a conversational tool. Use it as so.

1. 90% of your links are to your blog or selling a service.
As I have said many times, content is king. I have no problem when people link to their blog or their website. It is when it consumes the majority of your tweets that it goes overboard. As Drew quoted the Beatles a few posts below "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." Live by this on Twitter.


What do YOU think?

Facebook: Home of the Hypertargeted Ad

While casually browsing Facebook the last few weeks I have been constantly paying more attention to the advertisements on the right side of the screen. I've noticed that about 75% of the time, the advertisement features information that is directly from my profile.


I have seen at least three other advertisements similar to the one on the right, all featuring artists that are mentioned in my Facebook profile. The two artists on the right are the first two listed in my 'favorite music' section of my profile. Obviously, this ad caught my eye. Other ads that are even more targeted have featured one of my Facebook friends, mentioning a recent trip that they went on. Below their picture is a link to a travel company.

Targeted or Intrusive?

Do I enjoy banner ads? No. But would I rather see banner ads featuring my favorite musicians than Viagra ads? Of course. I realize that Facebook needs to monetize some how and banner ads are one aspect of that. I'm sure that a lot of people find this form of targeted advertising intrusive and annoying, but considering all alternatives I don't mind it.

What do you think: Targeted, Intrusive, or Both?