Twitter got too noisy for me.
Today I pulled out the machete and started hacking. I unfollowed:
- The “meta-tweeters” who tweet only about tweeting and how to get more followers1Yes, I recognize the irony.
- Those who I’d followed only because they’d followed me first
- Those who tweeted about things that used to interest me, but not anymore
- The companies whose products/services I don’t use anymore
- Those who don’t interact with others
- Those who use Twitter only to announce new blog posts
- Those who haven’t tweeted for months (even a few who had never tweeted!)
The difference is amazing. My Twitter stream is filled with people I know and the topics I like.
I think I’ll keep that machete handy.
Have you considered an unfollow Friday?
Maybe I should have just linked to my Twitter Landing Page. Actually, I’ve edited my Twitter Landing Page in response to this post.
- 1Yes, I recognize the irony.
Comments
6 responses to “Unfollow Friday”
Oh fine. Be that way. :)
I haven’t had the energy for Twitter in months. Maybe I should get my machete out too… might make it more manageable?
Ha! I think you might be one I eliminated because you quit tweeting. Oops!
Update: Ah, just checked. Nope, I still follow you. The pressure’s on. ;-)
Once a month or so I engage in what I like to call “unfollow Saturday.” The principles are exactly those that you’ve identified in your blog post. Like you, I find that the resulting Twitter stream provides me with much more value and fewer frustrations.
I also break my followers into lists and tend to follow my lists more closely than I do the stream that includes everyone I’m following. Have you found lists to be helpful, Brent?
I like the idea of a regular purge.
I have a few Twitter lists, but I don’t use them much. I have a list of very close friends and family whose tweets I didn’t want to miss, but I quit using it. I’ve come to see Twitter as a disposable medium — trying to read every tweet of anyone is of minimal value.
A valuable list is one that’s been cultivated by someone interested in a specific topic. Most of the time, though, a search is nearly as useful.
I too have been culling the list. Both Twitter and FB. I’ve also recently deleted my identi.ca, Plurk, Pownce, dopplr, etc accounts. I’ll actively cull RSS feeds from the reader as well. It really gets to be too much.
Culling is good. :-)
I guess I should delete those “extra” social media sites too. I’m not sure it’s an issue, though, because I never visit them.
I don’t mind having a bunch of friends on Facebook. I find the filters are very useful in Facebook and have quite a few. I only really use a couple, though. When all else fails, I hide my “obnoxious” friends.
I find that when I share my blog post on Facebook, I’ll get more comments there than here. I wish more people would feel comfortable commenting on blogs. It’s easier to search and browse on blogs. On Facebook, it seems stuff just falls off the back into the ether.
Oops! I almost forgot RSS feeds. I subscribe to a ton, but Google Reader makes it easy to zip through them. I try to unsubscribe, but I’m not very good at it.