Why I Will Eventually Unfollow You.
Okay, so that post title is a little misleading, so let me explain.
I’ve recently changed my Twitter philosophy (“Twitterlosophy”?). Before last Friday, I was fairly selective in who I followed (or followed back.) If I knew you personally, enjoyed a product or service you provided, or liked what you had to say, I would follow you.
Outside of that, most people fell by the wayside.
It wasn’t because you weren’t saying anything interesting, I simply could not keep up reading everyone’s tweets. I peaked at about 130 and finally had to give up my old approach.
Now, if you follow me, I will automatically follow you back. People like Tony Steward, Guy Kawasaki, Tony Morgan and, yes, even traditionally stingy Carlos Whittaker looks like he has adopted the “follow-me-follow-you” approach to Twitter. Something about this approach feels right, as I believe it is more faithful to the mission of social media, that being connection.
Keeping track of people whose updates I don’t want to miss is a little trickier now, but I’ve found a few ways to manage the task:
- Peoplebrowsr.com: This site allows me to place people into groups, so I add the “no-misses” to a group aptly titled, “Don’t Miss.”
- Tweetdeck: This application allows similar capabilities to PeopleBrowsr, but it’s a little cleaner and more dependable. Same thing applies: Create group. Add people. Don’t miss their updates.
With that, I still reserve the right to drop the UNFOLLOW hammer with no mercy. Here are the quickest ways to get dropped:
1. Your “following to follower” ratio is too low. Usually, these Twitterers are the most obnoxious ones, reducing Twitter to a popularity contest. Blech. Oddly enough, Christians are the worst offenders of this one. Follow more people. It will make you more interesting.
2. Endless self-promotion. I posted on this earlier, but suffice to say if the only reason you are on Twitter is to promote your “stuff,” you will get dropped. Letting us know what you’re up to and proud of is cool, “whoring” yourself out is not.
3. Swearing. Really? Use a Thesaurus.
What’s your approach to Twitter? Do you like to keep it small? Follow people if they follow you? Do you follow “celebrities” and if so, which ones? What makes you want to drop the UNFOLLOW hammer?
…also…4. Please don't drop 18 million tweets in 2 minutes. This is the definition of Twitterrhea.
I've found with a lot of social networking tools that they are no longer being used as tools but as a substitute for actual "real life" interaction. I appreciate social commentary, personal updates, interesting links that provide insight into the minds of my friends but it still doesn't beat grabbing a cup of coffee and seeing what is behind those cryptic tweets.
[seesmic tIgXSB6UyY|TxZK9ATQ5V_th1.jpg http://www.seesmic.com/video/tIgXSB6UyY seesmic]
my approach to twitter tends to be, if i find myself doing something that I want to tell people, then I post it…prime example- saturday night when i diminished the top part of my finger to shreds, i took a picture and posted it. I also find myself approaching Twitter to find out what is working in ministries. Some of the people I follow have amazing blogs, yours included Justin, that I can grab info from and following them on Twitter helps me to visit those blogs. I follow a few celebs; Tim Stevens and Dave Ferguson, and Mark Batterson. I enjoy them for the most part, due in part, to their general openness. Dropping the UNFOLLOW hammer would be something new for me, as I am just a week into it. But I think I would drop if like Steve said they drop the 18 million tweets. But for right now, I am only following those that I know and a few "celebs", but too will change
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I'm glad I don't twitter because this sounds like a headache, haha.
I still remain selective because I am in between computers, so my twitting is done exclusively on the phone. I find ur humorous that the term celebrity is used on who 99% of people don’t know, just us in ministry. Maybe they are minislebrities…I will be opening up to all those who follow when I can get tweetdeck or peoplebrowsr. Good thoughts.
[seesmic o2i1ts0VPn|b5SKJpyJPz_th1.jpg http://www.seesmic.com/video/o2i1ts0VPn seesmic]
Enjoying the post and comments, Justin. But it cracks me up that all your replies are in video form. I would rather read than watch/listen. Of course, now I know that you were avoiding your Greek studying to read comments
I generally follow those who follow me. But I also cull who I'm following regularly. So my ratio of following to followers peaks near 1:1 and then drops to 1:2 after a cull. I look through the list of people I'm following and check certain people's tweet streams – if it seems uninteresting I unfollow them.
I find your objection to swearing funny. Mainly because I swear all the time. And having spent part of my career as a writer I know the thesaurus won't help on that front.
I'm open to all viewpoints regardless of the person's poor use of language. There are plenty of worse twitterers out there that don't contain any swearing. Of course, if all you're getting is potty language out of someone you are following – drop them. But I'd also drop a person who only tweets passages from The Bible all the time.
Twitter is all about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts (tweets). I couldn't judge anyone on a single tweet (or even 10 tweets).
Thanks for making me think about this.
#3 is my fave. i've become more selective on my twitter follows.i really do not appreciate some of the marketing morons. now that my follow/following ratio is closer, i'm nearly following 1k.but, i'm weeding out using friendorfollow.com
i guess i fail.