Following and Followers: 10 Questions Answered

One of your primary objectives on Twitter is to gain as many followers as possible to boost your reputation and keep you visible to your target audience. There are several ways to accomplish this, such as posting relevant and useful tweets, providing helpful media and showcasing related links. Learn the basics to continue getting more followers and also try a few other features and tools like hosting a Tweet Chat and joining other hashtags. Here are some answers to the most common following and follower questions.

1. What does following mean?

Following someone on Twitter means that you subscribed to his or her account and will be referred to as the person?s follower. When you follow someone, the person can send you direct messages and his tweets will appear in your Home tab.

2. What is a follower on Twitter?

The follower is the person who decides to subscribe to your account on Twitter by clicking on the button ?Follow?. As a result, you can send the follower direct messages and your tweets will also appear on their Home tab. You can check the following and followers list on your account.

3. What if I accidentally followed someone?

There is an ?Unfollow? button on the following list which you can click to stop subscribing to an account. Even if you did not accidentally click on the ?Follow? button but decide to discontinue subscribing to someone, the same procedure applies.

4. Will I know who my followers are?

Yes. You will be notified via email whenever someone follows you on Twitter. The notification should be turned on to let you know. You will also notice the increased number of total followers you have.

5. Can I limit what people can see on my account?

Yes. There are settings available wherein only your followers can view your tweets. You can also set your account to confirm people who wish to follow you first before they become followers and view your profile. There are protection settings to keep your tweets private.

6. What do I do if a follower is harassing me or I want the follower to stop viewing my tweets?

There is a block user option. As a result, they will no longer be able to view your tweets or even request to follow you unless the block user option is undone.

7. What do I do if I find someone posting inappropriate content or spam?

Report the matter to Twitter. There is an option that you only need to click to send a report to the management immediately. Twitter will act on the matter as soon as possible.

8. What is positive following to follower ratio?

Maintaining a positive ratio is one way of improving your chances of getting more followers and appearing credible online. The total number of people you follow as well as your total followers should have a positive ratio or at least the numbers should not be too far apart.

9. How do I gain more followers?

Post relevant and interesting tweets and content. Tweet frequently and share useful and unique information that is not available elsewhere. Get connected with other experts and join online conversations. Engaging with would-be followers is a great way to get people interested in what you have to say.

10. Should I buy Twitter followers?

There are services that offer you hundreds of new followers for a certain amount. Twitter highly discourages it because you only end up with empty users. It's best to rely on traditional methods and gradually build your reputation to get more followers the right way.