There are some people that I respect that say the nice thing to do is follow back everyone who isn’t a blatant spammer.  There are others that I equally respect that say you should make sure you really want to hear what they have to say before you follow someone back.

Mike Dillard caused somewhat of a stir when he reversed his original decision to follow back everyone who followed him.  He unfollowed around 10,000 people in the matter of just a few days.  I was one of them.  And, I didn’t feel angry at Mike.  My life or business wasn’t negatively effected in any way by Mike Dillard unfollowing me.

Mike Filsaime will follow back anyone who follows him.  He advertises this fact to help him get followers, I suppose.  But I gotta ask myself, why should I care if he follows me?  Let’s face it, he’s not going to read my tweets.

Obviously, if he follows me it increases my number of followers.  And I guess lots of followers makes me look more like I must have something good to say since so many people are “listening” to me?  Most likely, I want Mike Filsaime to follow me so that people will think I must be someone special since someone as special as he is follows me.

I have problems with both of these reasons.  First, it’s relatively easy to get a lot of followers.  You can do it “legitimately” by following lots of people you’re interested in and having many of them follow you back.  You can use more questionable methods of finding out who the “autofollowers” are and following them, whether or not you’re interested in what they may have to say.  Anyone who knows anything about Twitter knows that having a lot of followers might mean you’re “important.”  Or it may just mean you work at looking important.

Second, just because someone who has a big name is following me doesn’t mean I’m someone special too.  Again, anyone who knows anything about Twitter knows that many people, including “famous” people, will auto follow you.  To use the Mike Filsaime example, most people wouldn’t be impressed that he was following me, because if you know Mike, you know he’s an autofollower.

I’m realizing I’ve done nothing to answer the question of whether you should be an autofollower.  I’m trying to be more of an autofollower by following anyone back that I share an interest  with.  But it takes time to read all those profiles.

I think it’s personal preference.  Personally, I don’t care to follow someone who shares no common interest with me.  And I don’t care if they follow me.  I’m still naive enough to believe it’s about creating relationships, and not about numbers.

JENNIFER HERNDON has been working at home for over 11 years.  She is a work at home mom with a passion for empowering you to success through positive mindset and consistent action.  Jennifer’s “Twitter interests” are working from home, personal growth, natural family living, and the environment.  Follow her on Twitter if you see any common ground.  Discover the Seven Simple Success Steps for free in Jennifer’s new mini-course.

Don’t misunderstand me.  Yes, you can make six figures a year sitting alone at your computer doing PPC, ezine advertising, and article marketing.  But that doesn’t really impress me.  I have a six figure a year business.  I’m looking for six figures a month.  And 99% of us can’t do that alone.

The most effective ways of moving your business to the next level — to the real success, real money level –  involve connecting with other people.

Social media plays a huge part in how we do business these days.  Everybody who’s anybody (and nobody) is, at a minimum, on Twitter and Facebook.  You simply can’t be taken seriously in your niche if you don’t have some social media presence.

Social media is the easy part.  You don’t have to “talk” to anyone.  But you do have to have a personality.  You have to be someone that people like on the social media sites.  If all you do is post about your business, people are going to rightly assume that all you care about is the money.  And social media is about building relationships.  Relationships of respect and trust.  And then the money comes.

So even though social media doesn’t require that you pick up the phone, or meet with anyone in person, it does require that you “sell yourself” to people through your online interactions.  And I’ve found that people can’t really be anyone other than who they really are.  At least not very convincingly.

For the relationships you build through social media to really pay off, you’re going to have to take the next step of actually talking with someone.  With your voice, not your computer.  You’ll want to take advantage of these relationships by doing joint ventures together, and through integration marketing efforts.  You’ll have to pick up the phone and talk to your potential joint venture and integration marketing partners.

And for the coup de gratis, you’ll want to attend seminars.  Live events where people network, spend all day learning together and all night playing together.  Forming friendships in the normal old-fashioned way.  After all, who would you rather work with (and make money with) than your friends?

You can choose to sit at home alone banging on your keyboard all day.  And you can make some good money doing it.  But if you really want to reach the top, pick up the phone.  Talk to as many people as you can.  Make as many friends as you can.  Meet them in person at the top live events in your niche.

An added bonus of this “people approach” is that you’ll have more fun.  You’ll be happier.  As humans, we are social creatures.  We like interacting with people we have things in common with.  So try it.  You’ll like it.

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with over 11 years of experience as a home business consultant.  Jennifer’s passion is empowering you to achieve success through a positive mindset and consistent action.  Learn how to implement the “people approach” to explode your business inside the List Building Club.

My mentor Pat Marcello wrote a good blog post on Twitter the other day.  She made a great point about the value of Twitter.   Having Twitter followers, Pat says, is like having a sub-list.  It got me thinking about how I use Twitter and what kind of people I follow on Twitter.

Until very recently, I didn’t reach out and follow people on Twitter at all.  I just followed people I knew.  Then I got introduced to Mr. Tweet, and “he” recommended some great people to me.  Now almost daily I find great new people to follow.

I basically follow four types of people on Twitter.  First, there are those whose posts always make me smile.  I like these people, even though I don’t know them outside of Twitter.

Second are those whose posts always give me something valuable or interesting.  Usually they link to a blog post or news article.

The third type of person I follow is those who seem to run entire businesses on Twitter.  They communicate with everyone.  They tweet so often there’s no way they could have time to run a business outside their Twitter connections.

And finally, there are those who do nothing but market their products.  I have no sense of their personality.  All they do is post sales links and make outrageous claims about how great everything they have is.  This type always follows me first, and I follow them back to make sure I’m never like them.

I’ve never thought about what type of a “followee” I am, or what impression my Twitter “friends” have of me.  I just tweet what I’m thinking about, questions I have, stories that catch my interest, and an occasional plug to ask people to consider joining my list.  I automatically tweet my blog posts and Ezine Articles.

As Pat’s post got me thinking about how I use Twitter, I realized that I don’t use it very effectively to grow my business because I have no “Twitter strategy.”  But I also realized that if I did use Twitter more effectively, not only would my business benefit, but my personal growth would too.

Think about the purpose of Twitter for internet marketers.  You try to show your followers that you are intelligent, interesting, and have something of value to share.  You want to earn their trust so they will do business with you.  This is not to say that Twitter doesn’t have dual purposes.  I follow a lot people because I have an interest in purchasing from them, not selling to them.

But, I digress.  Let’s assume your main purpose is to develop relationships that will make you money.  You are trying to be the best person you can be.  You are putting your best foot forward.  Trying to be helpful, positive and uplifting.  Trying to add value to people’s lives.

And, when you add value to others, don’t you necessarily add value to your own life?  Even in the worst of times, it’s helpful to repeat positive affirmations, to sing a happy song, to put a smile on your face.  Because your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference.  It knows only what you tell it.  That’s why we become what we think about most of the time.

So, if we are being the best we can be, if we are portraying the person we want to become, aren’t we affirming and strengthening our best character traits?  Isn’t that self improvement?  On top of our own efforts, we’re reading a Twitter stream full of people also trying to do and be their best.  What an awesomely positive environment!  It’s like free therapy.

I don’t know if it works this way for everyone.  But my Twitter stream is full of people saying and doing positive things.  No one’s doubting my decision to become a “full time” online marketer.  No one’s talking about how hard and depressing the recession is.  All of the things I despise about the outside world aren’t in my Twitter stream.  Wow, I follow great people.

You should devote at least 30 minutes a day to your personal growth.  But, no, I can’t give you permission to count your tweeting towards that 30 minutes.  Putting some thought into your Twitter strategy, however, and being a genuine, real person when you tweet, is totally congruent with a plan for self improvement.  As you think about your Twitter business strategy, your business and your life will benefit from considering how your never-ending quest for personal growth fits into that strategy.  Happy tweeting!

JENNIFER HERNDON works at home with her kids.  She has over 11 years experience as a home business consultant.  Jennifer’s passion is helping you discover and achieve personal and financial freedom.  Talk daily with Jennifer on Twitter and let’s help each other grow in life and business.  Uncover the step-by-step guide to success in Jennifer’s new (FREE!) Seven Simple Success Steps mini-course.