I decided this morning with it being #followfriday on Twitter I would go about it in a different way. I see a lot of people putting several names and then the hash tag #followfriday and I have done this myself. There is nothing wrong with doing #followfriday this way, nothing at all.

My idea today was to do my #followfriday tweets one person at a time. I thought about it and decided each person is special and they all mean different things to me. Each #followfriday person has touched or impacted my life in a special way. I figured I could at least take the time to mention each one personally and give the reason why I think others should follow them.

I have to say with my (what I would call short) time on Twitter this has to be the best #followfriday ever. Not because I got several mentions but because of the reactions I got from other people. I know… I could not see them smiling but I felt it and that’s like a drug, no it’s better than a drug.

Pastor Jimmy told a story last Sunday about how sometimes he says before service “Stand up and hug some people to the right of you and to the left of you.” A lady told him she really loved that because that was the only time during the week she ever got a hug… that touched my heart and made me think.

Connecting and touching others lives is what it’s all about, I know sometimes I get so wrapped up in trivial things I don’t stop to take the time to tell people how much I appreciate them. I am very grateful for kind words and smiles and I am very grateful for the folks on Twitter that follow me and put up with my silly hillbilly ways.

Twitter is one of the most powerful tools to hit the internet in years and it can be one of the best tools you can use for social networking. Like a lot of programs Twitter will let the average user go in and change the settings in order to make their Twitter profile look different.

You can change the colors of different elements of the page and you can select from several background images they offer. Twitter also allows you to upload your own background image and really make your profile custom.

Taking advantage of using a custom background in Twitter is crucial in my opinion; it will not only set you apart but will let you give more information about yourself. Custom backgrounds also let others know that you are serious and will help you build confidence in your would be followers.

There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up your custom background or having someone set it up for you. You are only allowed to upload a background image that is smaller than 800K for your twitter background but that is plenty big enough to do what you need to do.

You also want to make sure you have your background the right size so that your information will not be behind the center section of text where the tweets show up. If you stay with 1600 X 1300 pixels you should be pretty safe. You want to be careful to not get too much info too low on your background or it will be cut off on certain monitors like laptops.

I started off using the simple backgrounds that Twitter provides when you set up an account and had a few followers, after I added my custom background it gave my Twitter profile more personality and I did see an increase. I’m not saying a custom background will get you a ton of followers by itself, you still need to tweet valuable info but it will help for sure!

We have all see it, you follow someone and as soon as you do an auto generated direct message is sent to your inbox on Twitter from them. I personally don’t like canned auto direct messages but that’s my preference. You can debate if auto generated direct messages are good or bad and maybe they are a good thing if you are getting hundreds of new followers a day but I wanted to address another important part of direct messages.

I consider the first direct message sent to someone after they follow you the very most important message you can send, it’s almost like a first impression. These messages should not be focused on asking your new follower to do something (go to my blog, download my eBook, click on my affiliate link, etc), remember this person just followed you and you could leave a very bad taste in their mouth.

Your first message to your new follower should be about them and them only. You should thank them for following you and let them know you appreciate them. Ask not what your followers can do for you but what you can do for your followers! If you take the time to make a good introduction you will build a better relationship with that person.

We have plenty of time after we build a relationship with a person to send another direct message or @ reply tweet with a link to our blog, website, etc. After a relationship has been established and trust is built they will be more likely to click the link then, rather than having it shoved in their face the first time we make contact with them.

We must remember that the people following us are real people and they have real feelings and should be treated with respect. It has also been said if you help enough people get what they want then you will also get the things you want. I am a strong believer in paying things forward, how about you?

I’ve had a debate going on with someone about one way Twitter relationships. I have to wonder when I see someone with thousands of followers and they are only following a few hundred if they have missed the entire point of Twitter.

The whole point of social media is to be social, instead of thinking you are a Hollywood socialite that everyone should bow down to. Harsh? Maybe a little but anyway…

The other person in the debate said in the defense of the people that never follow back and I quote “Personally, I don’t follow hundreds or thousands of people because it makes things too cluttered and overwhelming. I’d rather be able to effectively follow a smaller number of people.” Cluttered huh?

I agree about effectively following people, I want to follow people I have something in common with but then again, opposites attract. I will even go so far as saying I am following people that are not in my industry and don’t have the same interests that I do but I follow them anyway because I like what they tweet and the personality they have on Twitter.

I still can’t get past one way relationships though, when there is a 10,000 to 300 ratio. Something seems wrong to me, it’s not like if you follow more people you will have so many tweets you won’t be able to read them is it?

The fact is most people don’t speed tweet and of all the people I follow everyone seems great. I think by not following back the majority of people that follow you (unless they are spammers, porn related, etc) you take the chance of missing something really good.

Maybe I am looking at it in a non cyber world way, if I go to a gathering or a social mixer and do all the talking but never listen to anyone else would I be considered a rude person?

How do you feel about one way Twitter relationships?

I think a lot of us have seen the article post titled “Eight reasons why I’ll unfollow you on Twitter” and I agree with them. I have set some guidelines for myself to follow when using Twitter. These guidelines didn’t come to me when I started using Twitter they were already things I did but applied when I started using the program. These are my guidelines; you don’t have to follow them. These are my thoughts, you don’t have to agree or accept them for yourself.

1. Be polite! My mama always taught me to say please and thank you. There is no reason to be rude to anyone. Try to reply to every DM (personal DM not auto response DM) and acknowledge others when they tweet something to you. You never know when being kind will make that persons day better.

2. Don’t spam. Spam was never good in a can, email or on Twitter. Don’t spam junk links constantly or those silly “Get 16K followers in 90 days”. I promise you that if you are an interesting person with good things to say and you treat everyone with respect the followers will come.

3. Think of others first. Re-Tweet to help others and someone else will pay it forward. If you have a Tweet pal that posts a good video or article then help them, I think we deprive people of very “Tweet Worthy” material by just thinking of ourselves.

4. Don’t auto follow or auto direct message. This is a SOCIAL network, be social. Use the program the way it was intended, sure it will take more time but think what Twitter would be like if we all put it on autopilot. Life is not meant to be lived this way.

5. Don’t beg. If you whine to get people to click your links in tweets you look needy and pathetic. If you post tweets that say something like “Please help me, I need 8 more followers to reach 900” is that really adding any value to the people reading it? People like people that are confident.

6. Follow those that follow you back unless they give you reason to un-follow or they are not a fit for you. I have had a mixture of people that have followed me in my short time on Twitter so far and I have followed most of them because they have similar interests. I have not followed the people promoting porn, adult related material or ones that you can’t really tell what they are talking about.

7. If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. I personally don’t go on Twitter to fuss about things. I may post from time to time that I am not happy with my computer or the web is running slow or something to that but I try to make a joke about it or laugh. If you come on to just tweet and blast everything then you are wasting your energy and the time of others that are reading it. If you are just a “hater” and you look at twitter as the next place to start a fight then you are barking up the wrong tree, you won’t get many fans.

8. Don’t self promote just to feed your massive “Twego” (Twitter Ego) I think it’s ok to tell people what you do, post articles you have written and even post links to your products and services. What I think is not ok is to think you are the only one here with something valuable to offer and have the mindset that everyone should bow down to you. Let me break it down “Southern Style”…We all put our britches on the same way, one leg at a time. I think we can learn from each other and the day I stop learning is the day I need to move to a deserted island by myself.

9. Don’t have a 2 hour personal conversation in tweets. You are abusing the program and what it was designed for. If you want to chat go to Yahoo or MSN. I found some local people in my area and I even had things in common with them, I was excited till I followed them and realized they used twitter to talk to their friend and that was mostly it! I unfollowed quickly because I didn’t care about who they thought was cute, what time they planned to get together on Friday night, etc. More than half of the things I had no idea what they were talking about. I was useless chatter with no value what so ever.

10. Have fun! Yes I said fun, it’s easy to get in a rut with anything if you do it long enough and then next thing you know it has become routine and the fun is gone. Mix things up, don’t be afraid to step outside the box. Make people wonder what you will do next. Practice random acts of kindness. I feel that if you enjoy what you are doing you will do it better and others will also feed from this.