2 Reasons I Stopped Following You On Twitter
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Like I mentioned in my last post, I was a late-joiner to Twitter. When I first saw it, I saw things like, “Hey, I’m shopping for pants!” or “Beautiful day to clean house.” or “Well, it’s time to go to bed.”Seriously? Not only did people spend time “tweeting” that stuff, but they also thought people wanted to know it too?
But then I saw more people I knew signup to it. I also read more about it and then it finally hit me: this is a powerful medium to be taken advantage of — not abused, but to be used wisely.
About using it wisely, it was last week that I got a tweet from Tim Gorman, an article marketing professional. He had promoted his product, which I found interesting and purchased on the spot. That’s one of the powerful things Twitter offers: mass communication to inform others, be it a product or information that makes someone just a little bit better than they were before, brings us a little closer together.
Social networks, on the surface, help bring like minds together. We like getting more followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook or connections on LinkedIn. But the quality of those connections is sometimes hard to see at first. We’re hopeful they’ll add value for both of us, but sometimes it just doesn’t work that way.
As I’ve been following more people on Twitter, I still come across what I’d label as noise, stuff that people tweet about just for the sake of tweeting. So I’ve been unfollowing them. It’s human nature, really, to attach or detach ourselves to people we find commonality with or not.
Here are a few reasons I do that:
- Lack of useful information: You tweet about every…single…thing…you…do. Seriously, put down the cell phone, step away from the computer or whatever it is you’re using to tweet and get a dog, read a book, or do something productive.
- Too many tweets: If I see a dozen tweets lined up right next to each other, the word “spam” comes to mind.
Am I alone in this?
Don’t get me wrong. Not every bit of communication has to be informative or serious, in fact, it shouldn’t be. However, I think there’s a line not to be crossed.
Leave a Comment
September 11, 2008 at 9:56 am
Hahahaha, dude…I feel you…I hope I wasn’t one of them
I admit, I don’t tweet often, I have been using twitterfeed so it updates twitter when I post on my blog, but my random tweets are left for whenever I think about it or have something I really want to share.
I do want to unfollow some folks, but don’t want to look like the guy who has 1000 follows and 4 people I follow lol, but I hear ya. It’s a bit of trial and error.
September 11, 2008 at 10:22 am
Hey Mark, I have a few people that I follow that do the whole tweeting about every single thing *cough*Shoemoney*cough* but I don’t tend to mind. Then again I don’t have any Twitter tools that automatically update me and I only check Twitter maybe 3-4 times a day so I don’t mind too much.
Every now and then those who do post alot seem to post random little informational tidbits so it is worth sifting through everything else I think.
BTW: Your live beats section is neat but it cuts off some of the people that are/have visited your site. Not sure if you are aware of this
September 11, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I like the title. Not just “the reason”, but TWO reasons I don’t follow you! lol
I know exactly what you mean, but I’m not on there enough for it to bother me. Where do people find time to comment on their breakfast cereal?
I guess the same could be said about me commenting on 17 blog posts this morning though. lol
I don’t follow many people, but it does suck to weed through that fluff in order to find interesting posts.
Cheers!
Jay
PS. You know I’m going to check if you’re following me now, right?
September 11, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Tweeting can be a lot fun . And for some role playing people or celebs its the best way to know and become a part of thier lives while they lead you the doors to success on your own blog . Essentially its a necessary evil and evil because if you tend to follow only one person then you don’t know what you are missin out.
There a whole lot of life and a whole lot of people you can learn a lot and use their context into your own lives !!
b/w hey Mark Sierra i was waiting for your response for quite some time . I didn’t really recive you email for the prizes . I did send you an email through your form as well . Do look into it . And do the same ASap .
Regards,
Asim
September 11, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Marky Mark,
I have to agree on the “spam” thing. Some people go a little overboard, and I also remove myself from them. BUT, I would like to think I’m not one of those who have run you off. I’d never forgive myself. I’ll cry
But you are right, there is way too much crap on twitter. I want information about real stuff, I really don’t care what color nail polish someone bought or what someone decided to have for lunch. LOL
September 11, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I also get annoyed when people tweet about everything , I guess its more about getting to know your followers and there tastes. Finding people relevant to you and following a manageable amount of people ( 20-30 ) is the best way to go. I thinks
Nishadhas last blog post..Win Prizes worth 1000$ From RockFuse
September 11, 2008 at 9:24 pm
@Normal Joe
No, you’re not one of them! I enjoy your sammich tweets!
@Jarret
I know the kind of tweets you’re referring to. The ones from the big dogs I have a little more patience for. Thanks for the heads-up for the live beats thing. I wasn’t aware of that. In fact, I may just take it down anyway.
@SuiteJ
I’ve been using two FireFox plugins for Twitter activity: TwitterFox and TwitterBar. TwitterFox is the one that gives me updates. Luckily, I can turn off the pop-ups, but just like my inbox, I’m attracted to the ever-increasing number of unread tweets, so I have to go read them! So while I do try to check them regularly, there is a price with it and that is to sift through to the good stuff. 
Yes, I’m still following you and will continue to do so!
@Asim
And as for the prizes, you were sent two emails: one from me notifying you to expect an email from Aaron (the prize donator), and the email from him that he copied me on. He sent you the login on August 26. So if it’s not in your junk folder or inbox, let me know and I’ll forward it again. Thanks for letting me know. I know like to have disappointed drummers! 
I follow an actress, too. She’s borderline tweet-spam (or is it “twam”?), but I’m working on my tolerance.
@Chrissy Chris LOL
I saw that nail polish tweet you referenced. I think that was from SuiteJ, right? I found that curiously disturbing. LOL (Just kidding Jay!!)
Don’t worry, you’re firmly planted in my following crowd.
September 13, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hi – I love the title of your blog! And this post as well.
I was experiencing this myself recently, but more on FriendFeed. I signed up for FriendFeed recently and I like that it allows people to integrate their other social bookmarking sites and blogs so that it automatically posts whatever the person bookmarks. This means you can share interesting resources and sites with your friends. One of the original purposes of social bookmarking!
I also like that FriendFeed will send me an email of my friend’s latest activity. But when one person is crowding out the others, I do unsubscribe.
Another factor of note is that I think one has to watch out on the automated plugins or features etc., which tweat when you post, tweat when you update your Squidoo lens, etc. This can be great but if you overdo it (without realizing it) you might become the ultimate tweater. Especially if you have a lot of blogs and lenses you are working on! I realized that recently and I started reorganizing my blog tweats a bit.
Annas last blog post..Contests for Traffic
September 13, 2008 at 3:46 pm
@Anna
Thanks so much for your kind words and welcome to MeAndMyDrum!
Even though I have a friendfeed account, I don’t follow it very often. I tend to gravitate toward a service for a while and then wander to another one. So far Twitter has my eye for now, but you’ve reminded me of the things I can find over at FF so I’ll pay it a visit.
September 13, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Thanks! Yes, I have taken a liking to FriendFeed. It seems to be a kind of all-in-one and can be actually pretty useful! I even added the widget to the sidebar of my blog, you can be my FriendFeed Friend if you want!
Annas last blog post..Contests for Traffic
September 14, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I too have only been using Twitter a short time. However in my short time have some followers. Since my followers are all so diverse, I do some times tweet about some things not everyone wants to hear about. Such as, maybe something to the moms that follow me or some internet marketing post I found, which on marketers would be interested in.
I hope it does not piss people off!
On the other hand, I did un-follow a few people who were sending 100 damn tweets a day about stupid stuff.
Work At Home Mom Taras last blog post..New Look Contest Winners
September 15, 2008 at 12:24 am
@Tara
Good to see you here! Thanks for visiting MeAndMyDrum!
To have tweets that meet everyone’s level of tolerance/acceptance is impossible, of course. But it does make you wonder about the tweets you see. It’s like they are never away from the keyboard. LOL