Lesson 2: Followers and Following

"Oh, I've already started doing that!" Yi Jeong chirped, looking visibly pleased, "I'm one step ahead of you… look at how many I have!"

The F4DonJuan looked over the F4Casanova's shoulder and chuckled.

"Wow, that's fast. You're already following 88 people… but you have only one follower. Me."

Yi Jeong's face fell. "Is that a problem?"

"I guess not…" trailed Woo Bin, "But then who is going to read everything you write?"

Yi Jeong blinked. "You can, can't you?"

"I can because when I was teaching you this earlier, I added you back! The trick, Yi Jeong," said a sagely sounding Woo Bin, pretending to stroke his non-existent beard, "Is to not be following more than you have followers. Understand?"

"But I'm following some interesting pages!" Yi Jeong insisted, clicking on some icons on his profile, "Like this one I found called OMGFacts! Did you know that teddy bears kill more people than real bears?"

"Umm… no."

"Me neither!" exclaimed Yi Jeong enthusiastically, while scrolling through the page, "It's really great for learning…"

"…About completely useless facts that add no value to anyone's life, whatsoever." Woo Bin sighed. "Whatever, Yi Jeong. This is something that you should get Jun Pyo to follow, I think he needs it more than you…"

"YAH! I heard that!" yelled Jun Pyo from his favourite couch.

The mafia prince rolled his eyes. "I'm so scared. Anyway, back to the task at hand. We need to get you a few more followers..."

…

F4Chaebol &F4Casanova finally has a Twitter! I'm not the only boobie around anymore.
half a minute ago via twtkr

F4Firefighter welcomes &F4Casanova to Twitter.
3 minutes ago via blacktwt

F4DonJuan Yo guys! My homie &F4Casanova has joined the Twitterverse! Show him some lurve and follow him!
5 minutes ago via PanoTwt

An hour later, Yi Jeong refreshed his profile page, to some amazing results.

"WOW. I already have 500 followers?!"

"See?" Woo Bin said with a grin, high-fiving Jun Pyo, "I told you this'd work."

Yi Jeong's surprise was quickly short-lived, however. His face turned into a furrow as he scrolled through the followers list. "Huh. But I don't know all the people following me."

"Who cares?"

Yi Jeong gave F4Chaebol a pointed look. "Umm, it might surprise you... but I do? I don't want strangers to know my private thoughts."

"Well, that's what an offline diary is for. Private, boring people like…" Jun Pyo grinned sarcastically at the unamused potter.

"Funny. Don't get me started…"

"Look, Yi Jeong," began the ever-sagely Woo Bin, sitting down next to him, "Popularity has a price, even though Twitter is free. The more people you want following you, the less hold you have on your privacy! Unless you control who follows you, or that you control what content you post on your page."

Yi Jeong thought about that for a while. "So, do you actually have anyone you know in real life following you on Twitter?"

"Of course!" Woo Bin exclaimed, looking as if his best friend had just asked the strangest question, "That completely goes without saying. We've each added Jan Di and Jae Kyung… I think Seo Hyun noona has an account too."

"Oh, umm… how about…"