Guess how many Twitter followers I have? Go on, take a guess! As of this week, I’m sitting at 2,102.

Whether that number seems pitifully small or astoundingly large to you, the fact is I earned each and every one of those followers.

Now, if I was on Twitter just to get more followers (which is a bad, bad strategy), I could have 21,020 followers. Or even 210,200 followers… within a matter of days. If I really wanted more followers, I could get them. Right now.

But those followers would be fake accounts, useful only as a shallow badge of “honor” that I could brag about and use to impress potential clients or competitors. And herein lies the danger of fake accounts: they’re shallow, useless, and ultimately they damage the brand credibility of every single one of us who actually works hard to build up a genuine – and real – following on Twitter.

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To be successful on Twitter – whether you’re tweeting on behalf of a major brand, a small business, or yourself – requires a well-thought-out content strategy.

Why are you tweeting? When are you tweeting? To whom? How will you measure success?

Even when you’ve crafted that solid tweeting strategy – committing to practicing great social customer service, pushing out high-quality content, and pulling in new followers with engaging tweets – success may still be beyond reach.

And here’s the one reason why.

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New people join Twitter every day, from celebrities and religious figures to politicians and your Aunt Gertrude (and she’s following you).

But there are still some holdouts who would make the Twitterverse just thatmuch better with their presence. Can you think of a few folks who fit that description? TIME came up with a list – and we have a few to add.

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During President Obama’s State of the Union address in February, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) was observed by the media sending questionable tweets, then deleting them from his Twitter profile.

PR Daily dove into Cohen’s reasoning behind his tweet and delete “strategy,” if it can be called that.

But the bigger question is whether or not this tweeting and deleting thing is a new, viable way to approach Twitter.

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It seems the popular micro-blogging service Twitter has something up its sleeve and is about to make the jump from micro-blogging to a full-fledged media platform.

We know that Twitter is currently in talks with media industry giant Viacom over a deal that could begin in mid-May. The deal would bring TV clips and advertisements to Twitter in exchange for a cut of the ad revenue – reported to be a 50/50 split. Partnering with media giants isn’t new for Twitter. It already has arrangements with The Weather Channel, ESPN and Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), but what Viacom (and a NBC Universal) could bring is some of the most popular content online, such as HULU videos or major sporting events.

Here’s what the deal leads us to believe.

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Contrary to the perception of many, a career in social media is much more than angling for the perfect Instagram, live-tweeting from big-ticket events, and pinning like crazy on Pinterest.

Working in social media, whether as a community manager, a strategist, or a digital PR manager, and in-house or out of house, has unique challenges. For all those skeptical of the gravity of a full-time career in social media, or looking to get more information on the demands of working in social, keep reading.

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Anyone working in social media marketing appreciates the unique challenges of attempting to budget and plan for the upcoming year’s social media strategy. How can we know the type and level of resources we’ll need to be successful when the mix of social content is evolving so quickly? And when most social marketers have only recently secured budgets commensurate with the amount of time and resources required to succeed in social media marketing, how do we stay ahead of emerging trends in 2013? Did we know we’d need a Pinterest budget a year ago? Probably. Do we need a Vine budget today? Probably not.

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Yep, Twitter is seven today. So we couldn’t let it pass without a post detailing seven things that are unique to the microblogging platform, particularly as it’s patent protected now and all.

We know you have many friends who are still on the fence when it comes to tweeting, so maybe this list will help you change their minds (or drive them further away).

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Last Thursday, Facebook introduced a redesigned news feed that makes it easier for users to access and read what they want.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s news stream continues to provide users with an unfiltered fire hose of information. Drilling down is limited to users’ creation of Twitter lists, and the #Discover tab.

So what are the implications for Twitter of Facebook’s revamped news feed?

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If you go to Twitter first for news, post news to Twitter or retweet news you read on Twitter – you might be a “Twitter obsessive.” And even if you don’t consider yourself obsessed, you’re certainly not in the majority (of adults in the world) and you’re actually kind of cultish. A “Twitter true believer,” if you will.

And just so you know – you’re wasting your time because Twitter will NEVER catch on – just like the Internet didn’t. Or so says this article we’re about to pick over like a starved vulture.

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