don't be a NINKOMPHpoof: practice the Golden Rule

Sometimes I really do find my fingers shake a bit to restrain myself from joining in and ranting like a lot of other people do when on social media. 

Other times, I sit back, I read, I click on links to read more.  I'm in learning mode then.  That can certainly settle me down a bit.  

However, one person I know very very well, and love very very much, in real life, knows that I'm not always so poised and restrained.  I did go on a flurry of reTWEETs earlier today.  

It could be virtually conceived by my reTWEETing I was reacting to what I was reading.  I was.  It upset me.  I had a "poor me" reaction.   The subject would know who I am talking about.  

Yet likely that person doesn't read this blog, or any of my blogs for that matter.  Doesn't read my Tweets, unfollowed me on Instagram, Facebook ages ago.  

Aha!  There was still a way to make connection:  I sent out a series of reTWEETs of that person's.  That was after finding out that this beloved RELATIVE (yes, it is a family member, which makes it more sensitive you'd think?) UNFOLLOWed me on Twitter too!  I did whine by sending one previous tweet to a Twitter notorious person who was one of my first influencial follow backs on there had just unFOLLOWed me.  

I was a lot more calmer at that point.  Although I was perplexed how someone with almost 300,000 followers on Twitter actually takes the time to unFOLLOW someone who you had been side by side for almost seven years with.  

You think they're ticked off after that much time?  Well, hardly since the last interaction I was supporting something they were working on.  Granted, that had been quite a number of months ago.    

Maybe they figured out that I had found a great APP or social media tool that helps me better define my audience, they would be right.  

That I'd written a little bit more about takers on social media who take, ask, want, post for you to like or reTWEET and then basically ignore you any other time.  That goes with the territory.  Just because someone follows you on any of them, there is no small type agreement that you are signing to promise that you will read, like, share, comment, rePIN, rePOST or reTWEET everything that individual does.

Can you imagine the drastic plummeting of following if that were the law?  If the reversal of these images were true and it was social media that became cobwebs and tumble weeds?

Imagine the loss of blogs, books, ebooks, audiobooks, pages, websites dedicated to telling people how to use social media for their greater purpose, regardless of what that is, for example:

* More readers
* More viewers
* More consumers
* More buyers
* More applause
* More followers
* More hashtags
* More page views
* More subscribers

What would happen if you could only follow someone that you promised to endorse, support, champion, read, share, like, comment 100% all of the time.  Who could keep up?

Possibly the takers, because they are already conditioned to taking without offering anything in return.

I'm not saying both of my Twitter twitches today were like that.    Only one, because of the long term following compared to the actual number of followers this person has, how could they have conceivably singled me out to unfollow?  I thought I was well within the positive engagement radar.  

I have preached a lot about the Golden Rule:  treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.  In the world of karma credits, if you unfollow someone for some obscure reason, you are not treating others as you wish to be treated.  In fact, you may want others to feed your ego, tell you how fantastic you are, share your stuff, like it, subscribe, repost and share.  

For that I may have been guilty.  Maybe I haven't been as "engaged" lately as this person had decided.    I hadn't been rude, or annoying either.

Well, maybe I have been annoying.  I have used this fantastic social media service that has allowed me to be better engaged with those reaching out to me while revealing who is just a taker.