Why follow @Stilgherrian on Twitter?

Stilgherrian, also known to some as the Rove of the Streaming Web, sent a twitter today asking what makes people follow others on Twitter.

What is Twitter? Some call it microblogging. Some say it’s text messaging for the web. To me, it’s a way of keeping in touch with the people who matter to me – both friends and colleagues. With the continual stream of messages from the hundred or so people I follow it’s like hearing what a neighbour is up to by listening over the fence, and if I have a question, popping my head over the fence to ask them.

One day I had a problem with finding some good evidence for using Personas, so twittered and asked for help from those who follow me. Within 10 minutes I had a great response from someone. 10 minutes later I had yet another response. When I talk of Twitter to organisations, particularly those who close the walls to staff who want to use social computing tools, I re-tell this story and note that Twitter gives you 24/7 access to your trusted network of within your community of practice … that’s a pretty powerful tool if you ask me.

I’ve blogged before and made conference presentations about how decisions are made regarding adoption and interaction in social computing environments. Stilgherrian’s question, though, prompted me to wonder what actually makes someone follow someone else. What makes an individual decide to take the step to add someone to their Twitter neighbourhood and listen over the fence?

Here’s the factors that I hypothesise that contribute to making a decision to ‘follow’ someone on Twitter:

• Friends intersection: How many friends do we have in common in Twitter? The friend of my friend is my friend!
• Tweets that establish identity: What do you tweet about? What does it say about you, who you are, what you do in your day-to-day life?
• Profile, identity and other community intersections: When I go to your profile, can I identify with who you are? Does it link to a blog that has things I’m interested in? Are we both on Flickr? Are we both Vampires on Facebook? Are there even real-life intersections that we have?
• Consistency and trust: Are the messages you write about consistent within Twitter and across the other channels you communicate through?
• Relevance: Is what you tweet about of relevance to me?
• Perceived benefit of future interactions: What’s in it for me? What will I get out of this relationship? Often in Twitter, simple, personal messages increase the casual intimacy between people.
• Completing the circle: Often my Twitter-friends are talking to others that I don’t know. Following them means I complete the picture of the conversation and add a potential friend.

Of course, some of these factors mean more to some people than others. On top of this, the factors in the ‘follow equation’ vary in importance over time. If, for example, Stilgherrian started to tweet spam all day, then I would likely stop following him because what he has to say is no longer relevant.

There are likely to be more factors we consciously or otherwise take into consideration when making the decision to follow someone in social computing environments. Which ones are relevant to you?

M

ps – if you’d like to follow me on Twitter, just visit www.twitter.com/magia3e