Over the weekend, my social-media-and-storytelling pal Thomas Clifford sent me eight Twitter followers. This influx of followers finally convinced me that I should follow all the folks who have been following me.
So why wasn’t I following them earlier? It’s hard to explain. Ever heard of 
the FIRO-B assessment? Among other things, it measures one’s “inclusion factor,” one’s need for recognition, belonging, and participation. My inclusion factor is zero, according to the FIRO-B. I don’t know why. I know the times I have felt a sense of belonging in my life have been rare, but I also highly value the times I have felt like I belonged. I also know that my zero inclusion factor doesn’t stop me from being involved in many social-media venues and having a fair number of friends and contacts.
Further, my social-media “hub” of choice is Facebook. That’s where I prefer to see all the status updates and “tweet-like” reports from my friends. Unfortunately, not all of the friends and acquaintances whose activities interest me are on Facebook, and not all of those who are on Facebook synch their Twitter tweets with their Facebook statuses. (Thomas Clifford, if you’re reading this, you’ll know why I felt you were reading my mind when you Facebook-friended me this weekend.)
I’ve been on Twitter almost a year, and the only person I have followed in all that time is a former student whose well-reasoned argument about why I should follow him I rewarded by doing just that.
I just got to the point where I felt it was rude not to follow those following me. Happily, I found tools to quickly get me past my rudeness — Twitter Karma, which enabled me to follow all my followers with a couple of mouse clicks, and Twitter Later, which enabled me to automatically follow anyone who follows me, as well as to send a welcoming direct message to new followers. Twitter Later also sends me a daily digest of @replies directed at me. When I got the first one, I realized I had ignored several followers who had sent me @replies.
So, please forgive me Twitter followers, for not not following you before this past weekend and for ignoring some of your messages. I promise to do better in the future.
Yes, this post’s relation to storytelling is pretty darned marginal. I contend, however, that everyone this post addresses (and all other Twitterers) are telling their stories 140 characters at a time.