Automated "Friend Adders" - specifically on Twitter

[jay 11]

Anyone with a Twitter account occasionally gets a random new follower. Some may be legit people just wanting to hear what you have to say, some may be cyber-stalkers :P, but MOST are just using some automated software that set's their Twitter account on "Auto-Pilot" and follows as many as people as possible. The goal is to hopefully get you to follow them back. I've heard that some "Twitter Friend Adders" can even target a specific group of people.

Does anyone have any experience with a Friend Adder? Have I even accurately explained how they work? If not, can someone please elaborate? And finally, are "Friend Adders" frowned upon by Twitter?

[InsightsDigital]

I know others who have used that tool. I personally would not use such a service and unless I can personally go through every single member and send a DM myself. I like to keep that personal connection, even for business accounts. That's just me.

[MktgRob]

I would never use this tool because I find it extremely annoying, especially on my personal account. A few weeks back I tweeted a link to a column that covered some loon who was buying up horrible plots of land in the belief that the world is becoming overcrowded and that these parcels of land would be worth a lot in a few years. In my tweet I used the term 'choice real estate' and I ended up with over 20 real estate agents following me.

[jay 11]

yea - i don't plan on using one of these either as i think it defeats the purpose of using twitter from a personal standpoint. Quite frankly, I don't want to be following thousands of twitter feeds. It's just too much noise. Conversely, I wouldn't mind, as a business owner, to have thousands of people following me or my business.

While I certainly don't condone the use of one of these automated followers, I am more or less curious to learn how effective one of these could be. Specifically, what percentage of people follow you After you follow them?

[InsightsDigital]

Very good question. I remember Guy Kawasaki said at a conference earlier this year that he follows everyone who follows him. There were many disgruntled look in the big audience room shortly afterwards. I used to have a modified version - if the Follower seemed legit, yes I would follow. If the Follower looked like a spammer or some business in China, I definitely would not follow them. What is the likelihood of me going to China in the near future? Very low.

[stellarios]

I agree with InsightDigital, there's no need to add every person who just signed up with a new Twitter account. Actually, what I do is follow those profiles who have a significant amount of followers. I also make sure that we have the same interests or somehow related at least.

[mackone]

I follow-back those who actually have something relevant to say about my interests--based on the stuff they read me twitter.

[joelchrist]

Yeah. Many of twitter users are using that tool which adds a member in friends list depend on their post and keyword. But it is not good one with social media.