I started twittering and a competitor decides to follow me. Is it okay? How would it effect my profile or business?
I don't see anything wrong with being friendly with competitors. In fact, you may find that it will help you in the long run. Often times in any business, if one person has too much work, they will refer people to their friends. In almost any profession this is the way it works. You don't want to burn bridges for no apparent reason other than that they are targeting the same audience.
That's a good point Gator and in some industries that becomes very common practice. I work closely with heating and air companies and during the busy season, rather than piss off a customer, they refer them along to a competitor.
Thats great news for you. If they have to follow you then they see you as a threat and are worried. But they could also just be trying to steal ideas from you. Not sure what you twitter about though.
I wouldn't worry about it. If you are posting something that you don't want your competitor to know, then you shouldn't post it on the internet in the first place.
i think its perfectly fine for a competitor to follow you. it actually increases your followers thus increasing the eyeballs that can see your link.
That's what i was ready to post when i show the title of the thread. Make sure that your competitors know that you listen to them and you follow them. In this way you will be able to know if they serve better quality of services than you do.
You will not gain much from a competitor besides finding out what he's up to and how he is trying to make money. The same is true for the competitor who is following you. Try finding real people to follow you that would be interested in your services/info/products, not other companies who do not plan to do any business with you but take it away.
I wouldn't worry about it. Even if you do get rid of him he could just sign up under a different name. Just take it as a compliment that he wants to keep track of what you and your business is up to. Also, instead of worrying about it maybe you should look at ways that you two could work together to form an unstoppable force in your niche.