What does Twitter's Follower Ratio mean?

Twitter monitors how aggressively users follow other users. They try to make sure that none of their limits restrain reasonable usage, and will not affect Twitter users.

Twitter monitor all accounts for aggressive following and follow churn.

Huh? What is Churn?

Churn is the term for repeatedly following and un-following large numbers of other users.

If you don’t follow or un-follow hundreds of users in a single day, and you aren’t using automated methods of following users, then you should be fine. Twitter does not permit any automated or bulk following or un-following behaviour.

What is regarded as aggressive following?

Aggressive following is defined by Twitter as following hundreds of accounts extensively just to get attention. By following a few users if their accounts seem interesting is normal and is not considered aggressive.

What is regarded as aggressive follow churn?

Aggressive follow churn is when you repeatedly follow and then un-follow a large number of users.

Why do some people do this?

• To get lots of people to notice them
• To circumvent a Twitter limit
• To change their follower-to-following ratio.

This is a common spam tactic and may lead to your accounts suspension.

Twitter Limits

• Every user can follow 2000 people total.
• Once you have followed 2000 users, Twitter places a limit on the number of additional users you can follow.
• This limit is different for every user and is based on your ratio of followers to following.
• When you hit this limit, Twitter will tell you by showing an error message in your browser.
• You then need to wait until you have more followers in order to follow more users

Eg: you cannot follow 10,000 people if only 100 people follow you.

When you reach a daily or total limit Twitter will send you and error message saying that you have hit a technical limit imposed to limit bad behaviour by spam accounts.

Continuing without adhering to the message sent by Twitter may result in account suspension, regardless of your account's technical ratio.

Why does Twitter have these Limits?

• Limits improve site performance
• Twitter ensures that when you send a message to all of your followers that the message is meaningful.
• Follow limits cannot be lifted by Twitter
• Everyone is subject to them, including verified and developer accounts.

Why does Twitter monitor following behaviour at all? Isn’t this a social network?

• Following on Twitter is not mutual.
• Twitter allows people to opt-in to, or opt-out of updates without requiring mutual relationship.

Current Twitter limits

• Direct messages (daily): 1,000 messages sent per day.
• Tweets: 2,400 per day. Retweets are counted as Tweets.
• Changes to account email: Four per hour.
• Following (daily): The technical follow limit is 1,000 per day.
• Following (account-based): Once an account is following 2,000 other users, account specific ratios apply.
• The limits include actions from all devices, including web, mobile, phone, API, etc.

Tip: If you need to communicate with someone but don't need to see their updates every day, don't follow them.

Visit their profile or send them an @reply when you need to; sending @replies doesn't require following, and your reply will appear in the person's @mentions tab so they can reply back.

I have seen an advertisement to “Get More Followers Fast!”? Can I?

• These programs may ask for payment for followers
• They may ask you to follow a list of other users in order to participate.
• Using these is not allowed according to the Twitter Rules

The Twitter Rules will not allow the use of or promoting of third-party sites that claim to get you more followers (eg follower trains, sites promising ‘more followers fast,’ or any other site that offers to automatically add followers to your account).

When you give out your username and password to another site or application, you are giving control of your account to someone else. They may then post duplicated, spam, or malicious updates and links, send unwanted direct messages, aggressively follow, or violate other Twitter rules with your account. When these applications do add followers to your account, they are often abandoned or bot accounts that are not reading your updates. If a third-party application causes your account to violate the Twitter Rules, your account may be suspended.

https://support.twitter.com/articles/68916-following-rules-and-best-practices

Twitter Best Practice - do not give your username and password out to any third-party application that you have not thoroughly researched. You can revoke access for any third-party application by going to the Applications tab in Account Settings.

So how am I supposed to get followers?

• It is not a race to get the most followers.
• Follow users that you’re interested in
• Post meaningful content
• Genuine users will find you and read your updates.
• People follow other users on Twitter to read updates that are interesting to them.

Hope this has helped with your Twitter knowledge. __________________________________________________________________

I am a Social Media Marketer who loves solving your crisis when you are struggling with your online platforms.

I have been in business for many years and studied social media marketing for the past eight years. I resonate with business professionals because I have seen marketing change over the years and I see that it is vital that change is embraced.

If you like what you are reading, I welcome your comments and or criticism, either is fine by me. Is there something you would like me to write about, let me know and I will be happy to do so.

Love for you to connect with me on my other social media platforms?

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ Web