Backyard Chicken Lady ...thinking out loud: Social Media ~ My Follow, Friend, and Fan Policies

I love Social Media in general because it's really opened the world up for me. I can find fast facts (or opinions) on just about anything I am curious about, I can get inspired by others who are halfway around the world, and I feel more connected in this big world, even though none of it is face to face.

My top three favorite social media sites are Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

I like Facebook for sharing my pictures, personal information and updates, my blog posts, and current events with my close friends and family. It makes it easier to stay connected to those who are not close enough for regular visits. It also provides me with a Landing Page for my blog readers and chicken people to get together to share and learn information, offer support to one another, and just enjoy chatting about chickens.

I love Pinterest because I am always being inspired by things other people share on their wall. I also love when I can share something then I see that lots of other people enjoy what I've posted and shared it on their walls too. And talk about inspiration...Pinterest is my fav for expanding my creative side.

I'm sure I'm addicted to Twitter. I go there for learning about things that are going on at this very moment...news from around the world and within my own community, discovering interesting websites or articles, and sharing quick conversation with like-minded people.

For each different social media site you can have friends, followers, and fans. Which can get a little overwhelming if you are not careful. To keep things in check I have developed my own personal Follow back policy for each of my top social media sites.

My Pinterest Follow Policy:

On Pinterest I only follow particular 'Boards', not a persons entire 'Wall' because with each new person I follow it could quickly get overwhelming. For example, if I find a 'Pin' from someone who has consistently added cool things to a particular 'Board' such as mine here, "Re-cycle, Re-Use, Re-Purpose" then I will follow that board. Each time I visit a new persons 'Board' through a Pin that I discovered, I may add their Board to my follow-list as well.

My Facebook Friend & Fan Policy:

Like I said, I have a Facebook Page for this blog and I have a personal facebook account. I rarely ever 'friend' one of the Page Fans, but I do converse with them as my friend on the page. If one of my friends or fans has a Page of their own, I hope they will tell me about it because I love to visit new pages. If the content is of particular interest to me then I will 'Like' their page as well.

My Twitter Follow Policy:

Twitter is a whole different critter and therefore will require a much more detailed policy description. I have probably never met any of my followers, or those I follow, in person and probably never will. But that doesn't make the relationships you make on Twitter any less valuable. I follow people on Twitter for many different reasons as I am sure they follow me for just as many if not more.

Generally I will follow back just about anyone who follows me. But not forever...

The Top 10 Reasons I Follow people and organizations on Twitter are:

I have interesting conversations with like-minded people.
They post valuable leads to websites with information I am interested in.
They keep me updated on local and world news.
They are funny, entertaining, informative.
I do business with them.
I may in the future do business with them.
They are following me and ReTweeting my Tweets.
They post inspirational quotes that are of interest to me.
I hope they will follow me in the near future.
They are following me.

So as you can see I am an easy Follow..."But not forever."

The top 10 reasons I 'Unfollow' people and organizations on Twitter:

They stop replying to my tweets that I specifically posted @ them AND...
They start spamming me in tweets, @'s or DM's.
They start tweeting mostly angry, hateful, rude tweets. (or falsehoods to generate any of these)
They have no real content of their own (only RT's or quotes they googled that day)
They tweet in support of Fox 'News' (sorry, I just really cannot stand Fox 'News')
They unfollow me.
They don't follow me back after a reasonable period of time.
They mostly post "Buy My Product!" tweets.
They tweet racist or prejudice comments or jokes.
They are a Pervert, I don't mean tweeting a sexy comment...I mean "Hey babe, what are you wearing?" DM's, or sending me pictures of your body parts. Or if your profile picture is a body part that is normally covered by underwear. This one will get you Blocked as well as Unfollowed.

You are probably asking yourself "WHY does she follow-back folks who she doesn't appear to have much in common with?" I will tell you why...because you just never know who the real person is behind that social media profile image. Like just today, I discovered an older male African-American retired postal worker who mostly tweets about basketball, but we have the EXACT same stance on abortion and politics! We have something to talk about, this brings two people into a conversation with someone they might otherwise never have crossed paths with. So there you have it, now that you know how I roll, I hope you will go Friend Me, Fan Me, or Follow Me, and I will return the favor as I've outlined here.

Here's where to find me in Social Media Land: