Twitterpaited - Follow vs. Friend

Twitter is new to me and some of my clan, so here's a how-to tip on "Follow" versus "Friend".

To follow someone without making them a friend you can send “follow {username}” from your phone. On twitter it is a bit more complicated.

Here’s an example: You want to follow Fred. Fred is a friend on Janet’s page. If you go to Janet’s page and click the blue “Friends” link, you will see a list of actions (twitter calls this the ‘action menu’). One of those actions is “Follow”.

So what’s the diff between friend and follow?
Friends show up on your twitter me+friends list of tweets. When you make a friend, twitter sends an email to the person you befriended to let them know you’ve declared them a friend.

Follow messages only show up on your phone or IM client, and do not show up on your own “With Others” tweet list. The person does not appear on your friends icon list, and no email is sent to the person you are following.

Sounds creepy, why follow instead of friend?
Mainly because you may not know the person very well and just want to keep up with them for a little while to get to know them. After you’ve had a chance to get to know the person you can always make them into a friend.

Who is following me?
Send the command “followers” from your phone. Twitter will respond with a follower list.

I followed and don’t like what I see, how can I stop?
Send “leave {username}” from your phone. This works for friends too- it doesn’t “unfriend” them, it just stops their tweets from going to your phone or IM. They are still listed on your friend list.