There are reasons why you would NOT want to follow some big names on Twitter and elsewhere.

Internet Marketers have taken to Twitter and other social networking sites, like Facebook, like bees to honey. Or perhaps like flies to that other stuff. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course. When trying to promote yourself and your brand online, it would appear that social networking is one powerful way to do it. It’s helped me immensely.

Let’s talk about Twitter for a moment.

Many Internet Marketers now ask you to follow them on Twitter. Often, they say that following them will give you “first crack,” if you will, at their latest upgrades and newest products. This benefits them tremendously, of course. But is it good for you?

If you purchase a product from a marketer, and become an affiliate for that product, it may well NOT be. Why would you NOT want to follow that marketer from that point on?

The way Twitter works allows all of your followers to see the “tweets” of all those YOU are following, including that marketer. Naturally, that marketer is posting his links to his products. So, as a result, while you’re tweeting your affiliate link to his product in the hopes of making a commission on sales, he is posting his own tweets to all of YOUR followers. He is posting his links to his own pages in DIRECT COMPETITION to you!

Thus, once you purchase a product from a marketer that you hope to promote for profit, it’s better to un-follow that marketer, lest your potential sales be overshadowed by his. You want your followers to see YOUR affiliate links, not his.

The same is true of Facebook. Once you friend or fan an Internet Marketer, virtually everything he posts shows up on YOUR wall — his links and pages. Why let him promote what you should be promoting on YOUR SPACE?

Just food for thought, of course. Your comments are welcome.