Twitter and Auto-follow: A Different Point of View
Recently, Seth Godin made the comment that having “friends” doesn’t matter to business. That these people aren’t your friends, that it’s fake networking.
I am paraphrasing so see the complete coment here.
Since Seth has said that, many marketers have jumped on the bandwagon and are now saying the same thing, more or less.
You know marketers, we are all a bunch of monkey see, monkey do folks. And yes, I am including myself in that. 
The most recent that I have read is by Michael Fortin. He took it from the auto-follow aspect on Twitter though. Saying once again that it’s not building a real relationship and that he wants people to actually interact with him. That it’s fake, blah blah blah. (It’s really long and says a lot.)
Once again, I am paraphrasing. You can see the complete post here.
Well, I think they are both right and wrong.
We know that all of our followers are not our friends or even associates.
We know they are following us so they can get more followers.
However, they could become associates and even friends down the road.
See, I auto-follow everyone and if someone posts interesting information, I upgrade them to my watch group so they dont get lost in the noise of other people.
Just yesterday I met two new people who post interesting content. If I didn’t auto-follow, I never would have found them.
Think of all the “friends” like being at a bar…
…You only pay attention to the people you know but on occassion, someone will catch your attention and become a real friend.
Remember: If you have your blinders on and only talk to those who specifically talk to you, you might miss out on some great friends.
Just my two cents worth.
Garrie
