Follow You, Follow Me (The Ballad of Twitter)

  I recently checked the number of times I've tweeted and I was astonished to see that I have, so far, tweeted and retweeted a grand total of 17,585 times.  This count will grow, no doubt about it.  I have to admit before that I wasn't much of a "Tweeter" until I became part of the awesome GAC Family and began to incessantly tweet.  I even found myself tweeting at work and on my many adventures.

  I love having members of the GAC Twitter family following me.  I try my hardest and darndest to keep up with their tweets and I am happy to be followed, mentioned, shouted out and retweeted.  I also try to do the same with those that follow me.  I love that they show Zak, Nick, Aaron and Billy the love and respect that they deserve.  I do the same as well.

  However, if there is one thing I do not like at all, it has got to be those who follow me and others who are close to the guys just to ask them to ask Zak to follow them.  For example, one Emmy Award winner had the absolute gall to include me in her tweet to Zak.  Here's the story. 

  The Old Town San Diego episode.  I had tweeted to the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas that they were mentioned in that episode.  I got a reply back from them asking what Zak said.  Much to my surprise, I got this on my feed: 

Zak_Bagans:  U gotta watch to find out ;-) RT @Cosmopolitan_LV @GH_Velma That's cool that @Zak_Bagans mentioned us on the show. What did he say?


  Now, I was elated and acted like a teenaged girl at a Justin Bieber concert...for ten seconds!  I'm 30 and I keep my age as well as my maturity in check.  Now I had earlier that day had been given a #FollowFriday by Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine because they had published one of my tweets in regards to chicken soup in the current issue.  So now I was an officially published tweeter AND got a Retweet from Zak so my day as well as my night was rockin'!  Then, the storm hit in the form of a mention from someone I do not follow.  Here's what I got:


  AnonymousTwitterFruitCake:  @Zak_Bagans @Cosmopolitan_LV @GH_Velma Zak,it's going on 3am, and I'm still up trying for u to say hi to me. 

  This is where my annoyance had reached its peak.  I was so annoyed that if my phone had been anywhere near me it would've gone through my television into my next door neighbor's house.  Yeah, you can say I was THAT incensed that I was ready to throw something.  It really grinded my gears.

  Now, I do not mind you following me for my wonderful sense of humor and insights, but if you are following me in the hopes that I or others could ask other people to get Zak to follow them on Twitter, I am here to deal you the cold, hard reality.  And I hope you don't unfollow and block me for being a realist extremist. 

  Have you looked at the number of people following Zak around?  It's well over 183,000 people...worldwide!  His choice is to follow 77 people.  To follow that small amount of people was his choice and his alone.  He can choose to follow whom he wants, retweet whoever he sees first on his eternally long Twitter feed and reply to those whose tweets he does and does not follow. 

  Do you really think you tweeting him...er, wait, strike that...Tweet BEGGING AND PLEADING him to follow you is really going to up your chances of a follow from him??  I think not!  Now to be followed by him would be a great honor in my opinion, but he does not.  If I want him to follow me, it will be because 1)  He chose to voluntarily and  2)  I've earned his respect enough to earn that follow from him.  I am not going to act immature and beg him to follow me or else I will hold my breath like a 5 year old child who didn't get Bratz dolls for Christmas.

  C'mon, are you mature or immature?  A follow from Zak may be everybody's proverbial "Golden Ticket" but, in this case, 77 people got "Golden Tickets."  Be a Charlie Bucket, not a Veruca Salt.  Huffing, puffing, holding your breath and screaming "I Want it NOW!!" is only going to get you a one way ticket to "The Garbage Chute" (aka Being Blocked from Following).  I have had to do this three times now and I would like not to make it more. 

  To my GAC Family, you have made a very big difference in my life and I love you all for it.  I am particularly proud of the fact that I met one of my best friends in the world, Zory, the most incredible GAC Intern out there.  I treasure my friendships and GAC Twitter family immensely.  The last thing I want to do is to unfollow and block any of them because they decide to put their necks out there to ask me to ask Zory to ask Zak to follow them.  Truth of the matter is I just won't do it, answer is no.  In future, please keep this in mind.  You can call me a bitch, a hater, anything you want.  But the rule stands firm.  Do not ask me this.  I won't do it and no amount of begging will help.  Margaret Thatcher said it best:  This Lady is Not for Turning!