Confessions of a Twitter Junkie

When I first signed up with Twitter (find me here)I didn't consider the repercussions of what I was doing.  At first it seemed like a popularity contest: how many followers could I collect?  So I started to follow people in hopes that, in true Twitter-karma fashion, I would receive followers and perhaps drive traffic to my Etsy store.

Indeed, I sowed... and I reaped.  Slowly my followers grew, and I grew... excited.  50 followers.  Hey, that's neat.  100 followers.  Ooh, I'm in triple digits.  298 followers.  Come on baby, need to get 2 more for an even 300.  400 followers.  Right on!

Then all of a sudden my offline life superseded my online life, so I neglected to participate in a few #FF (for you non-tweeters, this is Follow Friday, the day of the week when you mention your friends and spread goodwill around Twitter, with the general expectation that harvest principles, aka karma, will come back to you in the form of more followers).

So anyway, after a week or two of non-activity, I discover I have 478 followers.  Hey, cool! I think.  Not too shabby, especially considering I've been schizo lately that I haven't really been able to nurture my online friendships in light of my offline life.  I decide to DM my new followers (this, again for the uninitiated, means to send a Direct Message) with a "thanks for following" message.

In the middle of my process of thanking my new followers, I suddenly notice that I am at 477 followers.

477 followers.  That's one less than 478.

That means *gasp* I have lost one.

Panic begins to set in.  Where could that follower have gone?  Where did I put him (or her)?  How could this have happened????

I begin to look at the list, as if somehow I would be able to tell which username out of nearly 500 was suddenly missing.  What did I do?  How did I offend?  How can I get them back???

This is, of course, a ludicrous train of thought.  I remind myself that I have un-followed people in the past, realizing that we don't share the same goals or interests.  For instance, in my naivete I have discovered that "Retro" does not always mean 1950s kitsch.  Sometimes a search for #retro conjures up foul-mouthed rap artists, and more often than I would have expected.

So my advice to all of you Tweeters, including myself... stop tweaking!  If someone stops following you, consider it a blessing that your network consists of discerning people who are not following you only to inflate their own numbers, but because they actually share common interests with you.

Tweet you later!