IS FOLLOWING ON TWITTER THE SAME AS “MAKING FRIENDS” LIKE THE OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA DOES?

Following on Twitter is not the same as “making or adding friends” like other social media platforms do. If a person got interested with the user’s tweet, that person can simply follow the user. But not necessarily that the user should follow that person back. If the users only want those approved twitter followers to see their tweets, they have the capability to protect their tweets. The users can protect their tweets by approving or disapproving followers requests. This is also one of the things that users can do to limit the audience who sees their tweets.

Since Twitter following is not two-way, it’s not likely to develop a friendship. Unless follower and one being followed would exert extra effort to expound the relationship. Social networking let’s you meet your friends and your friend’s friend, and so on, and so forth. This is something that can’t be done in Twitter. In Twitter, you build circle of contacts instead of circle of friends. Sharing and ideas, promoting business, and posting life events is what Twitter is for rather than being an interactive medium of social networking.