How does twitter (followers) actually work?

[Freezeinme]

I just made a twitter account an hour ago and i already got 4 followers how is that possible? how does the whole followers thing work?

[Emma Cant]

basically anyone can follow you! unless you change the setting so they have to send you an invite or something!

following is basically the same as adding someone on facebook but you dont have to follow them back!

[Jordan]

Once people follow you, they will see everything you tweet or retweet. Anyone can. If you want, you can change your settings to where you have to approve followers though. Most people follow people they know but i will follow you back if you want

[straightcelery367]

It is very likely that you have posted something about specific topics. There are many twitter accounts there that use software to monitor keywords and then follow you to see if you have something to say... and/or they want you to make you curious so that you click on their accounts and follow them back.

It is difficult to say if those are "spam bot" accounts but you will see it based on their timeline if they only post promotional messages or if they feel like a real person.

If you write something about an "Ipad" you are very likely to get accounts following you offering some contests on how to win a free Ipad etc. - you can avoid that only if you make your tweets private