~ how to ~
If they had low participation on Twitter...bubye. Those with a low number of followers/following or tweets were usually deleted. I know it seems like a circular argument. If you're new, how do you keep your tweeps and build your numbers if people delete you for not having followers/following? I know it's lame. But if they have had an account since 2008 or haven't tweeted in weeks (or years?!) there's no excuse. Unless I know them IRL, deleted.
Those not in my area of interest...sorry. I know they can't control it, but if they aren't relevant to me I don't have time. They can be relevant to other people. I DO have a lot of interests though (photography, art, social media, figure skating, travel, cooking, weddings, design, decor, fashion, culture, marketing, and blogs to name a few) so it's not like I'm not easy to please.
People with a boring background image sometimes didn't make the cut. I have heard some people say it doesn't matter and since I don't constantly visit people's pages I normally would agree. Maybe it's because I'm a designer so I want to be visually stimulated and excited about who they are. I wouldn't say it would make or break them, but in some cases it didn't really help their argument.
They may be in my area of interest, but if their recent tweets didn't appear to give me what i wanted, I wasn't sold. That's not to say I don't want to hear about the amazing lunch they just had or how cute their dog is (after all I regularly tweet about Daisy) but I just want to see some juicy goodness too. A nice blog post or a RT of a fabulous article mixed in there will do the trick. Give me a reason to want to know you.
Don't spam or sell me crap. No more explanation necessary. Delete with a smile!
Pages should be attractive and legible--especially if you're a design/photography/social media guru. It AMAZED me how many people had their sidebars so dark I couldn't read about them. Might I add, please use good grammar. It hurts my brain when you don't. Spelling I guess I can sort of understand, especially if you are tweeting from your phone (I was a spelling bee finalist though so I still have to cringe sometimes). I am certainly not immune from mistakes but just show me you're trying.
I'll tell you Juliet, I think there is something in a name. If they had a name that told me what they do--awesome. If they had a stupid name I may not have even looked at their profile before we parted ways. If your name was your name (like me) I checked you out to learn more (unless your picture was laaaame).
If their tweets are protected and locked account, they were pretty much out. I don't know why this bothers me so much. People shouldn't tweet things they don't mind the world seeing anyway. If they "need" to protect your tweets I don't think they really understand the point of Twitter and therefore, I don't have time.
People that included their location in their bios were more likely to get my attention. Don't know why I care where they are, but I guess I just did.
Those who used a ton of profanity, were trying to hard or had a big ego didn't make the cut. Let's go through this piece by piece. Profanity--I'm not offended by it or what you might call prude, but it's just not classy. Since I always want to keep it classy I'm not impressed by a ton of profanity. Trying too hard--I want to meet people that are genuinely cool. There is no need to overdo it, cover it with chocolate syrup and put sprinkles on top. Big ego--Remember that genuinely cool thing? If you're awesome you don't need to scream it from the mountain tops (or from your Blackberry).
Please tell me about yourself. If a bio didn't say anything about people, what they do, who they are, or what they like, they can't convince me why I should follow them. If said person likes, say, photography, my ears perk up. Suddenly we have a commonality. Maybe they will inspire me. We should be tweeps.
Anyway, if you made the cut you are obviously awesome and hopefully you can take my advice to keep being awesome. If you didn't (but you are genuinely cool), I'm sorry, I had to judge based on what I was working with so revise some stuff and maybe you will inspire me. After all, as a writer for Everyday Inspirations, I love to be inspired.
P.S. If you deem us worthy, follow our blog @365inspirations, my awesome co-founder @ashbunk, or me @amfairbanks on Twitter.