I joined Twitter in 2011 when I moved from teaching to district administration. I did a lot of lurking in those early days. I loved the fact that I could jump on Twitter for 15 minutes and get some great, targeted professional development from tweets and links to articles and blogs tweeted by my growing PLN. I was very focused on using Twitter only for professional purposes. I followed people who tweeted about education, and whose tweets seemed to align with my beliefs. As I settled into my new role, I broadened my Twitterverse to include some great leaders outside of education, as well.
What I never did, however, was subscribe to a service that told me who I followed that didn’t follow me back, or who recently unfollowed me. I choose who to follow based on their tweets, and their relevance to my interests and passions. I get a little annoyed by people who say “I follow back.” Or, who unfollow if someone doesn’t follow back. I get that not everyone is on Twitter for the same reason I am (which is why I am selective on who I follow. I’m not on Twitter to just see how many followers I can get. I’m there to grow and learn as a person and as a professional. My hope is that those who follow me, learn with me, as well.
