UPDATE – 17 SEPTEMBER 2010: Campaign Manager Matt Mackowiak has been tweeting asking folks if they are following Bill on Twitter. As of today I am still blocked:
Oh, boo-freaking-hoo. Take my plane and go home…
See the screenshots below, first one of me logged in under my @KristoferCowles Twitter account which Flores blocked and you can see streaming on the right sidebar of this blog, and the next being one under a different Twitter account I have. These screenshots were taken within five seconds of each other (You can click on the image to get the full screen view):
Twitter 101: Blocking someone does not stop them from following your tweets. All they need is the RSS feed of your timeline; a Twitter account you don’t know about; an RSS feed of a search for your handle; follow hashtags you might fall under; or all of the above. Blocking someone DOES mean you won’t see their tweets that mention you and they can’t see your tweets on your Twitter timeline or theirs – which doesn’t matter if they use any of the above methods to keep up with you.
It also does not stop them from responding to your tweet with a tweet of their own referencing your recent tweet – which is probably why I was blocked – but it does stop you from seeing that tweet making it difficult for you to respond while everyone watching the conversation wonders why you aren’t answering…
I wonder if he blocks Chet Edwards’ tweets, too? Nobody likes to look at criticism, after all. Speaking of which…@ChetEdwards does not block me:
Flores is the guy you want to represent you in Congress? Somebody who would block a constituent just because he has questions? Heck, I’ve been harsh on Chet, especially last year, and he still let’s me follow.
Gee, let me ask my five year-old if he thinks that’s the way to handle things…
In the long run, Bill is the big loser in this gambit. It doesn’t stop me from knowing what he is tweeting. But Bill won’t know a major part of the conversation leading up to the general election while his constituents who actually know how to use Twitter will.
Incidentally, Bill was following me as of May 19, when I last ran an API check of followers. I was following him then, too. I only checked today after running an API archive of my tweets to clean up my following list. So I got blocked sometime in the last five weeks or so. I will start to #FF him and Mr. Edwards, as I think everyone should be as informed as possible. Maybe that will help.
Here IS a helpful hint, though: If you are following 150% as many people as are following you, most Tweople find that to be a bad sign and a black mark onyour Twinfluence.
And if most of your tweets are from your facebook profile update, as Flores’ are, people know you aren’t really engaged in the Twitter conversation – even if it is just your campaign manager running your account.
Just notice the minimal @replies and @mentions (excluding mine) in the search link above.
That’s not Tweople tweeting – that’s crickets chirping.
UPDATE: 7 JULY 2010 Oh, no! Flores Campaign Manager is blocking me, too! I feel so unloved and unwanted…
Just so you know, Matt and I even communicated a few times on Twitter, back in February. I guess I can’t be one of his 2500 followers anymore. Perhaps that’s why his colleagues call him the “Attack Puppy” – can’t he hang with the Big Dogs? I thought he was supposed to be Isn’t this a little beneath a political strategist…what if I am an ardent supporter of his next client?
I know what you’re thinking…with friends like me… But his next client might be a real Conservative! Or at least a Republican who admits he isn’t as Conservative as he could be and will work hard to be a better one. Hmmm… Sounds like I’m giving advice to Bill Flores on how to win the Conservative’s heart and vote…
Kristofer Cowles has written 306 articles on this blog.
For the record, I thought we used Twitter pretty well in the primary. As with the Flores campaign, it was a campaign staffer who was doing all of the updating (Matt for Flores, me for Rob. We generally tried to publish useful things. Last July, when we first jumped in to Twitter, we decided to tweet every day about @healthcare, which was a hot topic at the time, and I think that helped us build followers.
A few of our tweets were picked up by some pretty major names, which was nice. And even after we lost the runoff, we have had a few people start to follow us (including one current Republican member of Congress). Of course we have lost a lot too since then.
One thing we did not do, that I saw from our opponent, was take measures (I hesitate to say “buy”) to acquire a large number of followers all at once. Some of this is a shotgun approach of following a bunch of other people because you expect them to follow you back. That tends to lead to scenarios where you are following 50% more than are following you. Even after losing the runoff, and many dozens of followers, we still have about twice as many followers as people we are following. I think that’s a pretty good ratio.
On the whole, I tend to like Facebook better, as it is at least a little bit less anonymous. Not much, but a little bit.
For the record, I thought we used Twitter pretty well in the primary. As with the Flores campaign, it was a campaign staffer who was doing all of the updating (Matt for Flores, me for Rob. We generally tried to publish useful things. Last July, when we first jumped in to Twitter, we decided to tweet every day about @healthcare, which was a hot topic at the time, and I think that helped us build followers.
A few of our tweets were picked up by some pretty major names, which was nice. And even after we lost the runoff, we have had a few people start to follow us (including one current Republican member of Congress). Of course we have lost a lot too since then.
One thing we did not do, that I saw from our opponent, was take measures (I hesitate to say “buy”) to acquire a large number of followers all at once. Some of this is a shotgun approach of following a bunch of other people because you expect them to follow you back. That tends to lead to scenarios where you are following 50% more than are following you. Even after losing the runoff, and many dozens of followers, we still have about twice as many followers as people we are following. I think that’s a pretty good ratio.
On the whole, I tend to like Facebook better, as it is at least a little bit less anonymous. Not much, but a little bit.
The liberals and Democrats have perfected the art of mis-direction, using rabbit trails or personal attacks to take the spotlight off themselves. Keep shining the light of truth Kristofer. We need more educated voters in this country!!!!
Once again Chris is attempting to twist the point of your post in a sad attempt to hide the truth: Bill Flores and his team are using every liberal trick in the book to hide the fact Bill is not a Conservative. By doing this they prove that Bill is just another RINO who needs Conservative support to get elected. Why else would Bill refuse an interview or attempt to keep Kristofer from getting information concerning the campaign?
The liberals and Democrats have perfected the art of mis-direction, using rabbit trails or personal attacks to take the spotlight off themselves. Keep shining the light of truth Kristofer. We need more educated voters in this country!!!!
Once again Chris is attempting to twist the point of your post in a sad attempt to hide the truth: Bill Flores and his team are using every liberal trick in the book to hide the fact Bill is not a Conservative. By doing this they prove that Bill is just another RINO who needs Conservative support to get elected. Why else would Bill refuse an interview or attempt to keep Kristofer from getting information concerning the campaign?
Wow. You’re really complaining about twitter?
No, I’m not. This post has nothing to do with the functionality or other aspects of Twitter. It focuses singularly on the use of Twitter by someone who wants to be my representative but has manually, purposefully, attempted to keep me, specifically, from participating in the dialog they have with their proposed constituents, of which I am one.
It then juxtaposes this reality with the Twitter practice of the current representative as it relates directly to me, as a constituent, and how the idea of blocking contrasts between the two, and leaves the obvious question for the astute reader to wonder if they would be blocked should they be a constituent who asked uncomfortable, fact-based questions as well.
There’s no complaint about Twitter in there at all.
Wow. You’re really complaining about twitter?
No, I’m not. This post has nothing to do with the functionality or other aspects of Twitter. It focuses singularly on the use of Twitter by someone who wants to be my representative but has manually, purposefully, attempted to keep me, specifically, from participating in the dialog they have with their proposed constituents, of which I am one.
It then juxtaposes this reality with the Twitter practice of the current representative as it relates directly to me, as a constituent, and how the idea of blocking contrasts between the two, and leaves the obvious question for the astute reader to wonder if they would be blocked should they be a constituent who asked uncomfortable, fact-based questions as well.
There’s no complaint about Twitter in there at all.