Now that you have techniques and tips for whom to follow on Twitter, you've diligently followed those who Tweet related content. However, when you hit the 2,000 following limit but keep running across shiny, new, fascinating Tweeters to follow every day, it's time to do some strategic unfollowing. It's time to cull your following stream and weed out and refine your following list.
Unfortunately, there is no mass unfollow Twitter tool. And who would want one, anyway? There are still certain people you still have an interest in following. But when you're following over 1,000, it can be tough to remember which ones are essential to retain and which to cut out.
A few tips for culling your following list (or brutally slashing and burning) so that your Twitter stream can revert to that tool you first knew and loved:
- Don't be polite. Don't auto-follow everyone who follows you. Instead, choose a program such as SocialOomph that allows you to vet each new follower. Choose those you follow carefully, as Twitter does cap those you follow at 2,000.
- Have criteria for choosing whom you follow. Choose your own criteria based on your own Twitter participation, engagement, strategy (if you have one) and needs. For example:
- Is the person interesting?
- Does the person act and respond like a human?
- Does she Tweet content you find compelling?
- Do you often reTweet his content?
- Did you meet the person in real life and want to keep up, even if it's just to know what he had for breakfast?
- Has the person Tweeted in the last 30 days? If not, reserve the space for someone who does Twitter compelling content.
- Do you find her stream boring, even if you wholeheartedly support her organization?
- One difficulty with social media participation is the sense of obligation to follow certain organizations in order to show support rather than a genuine interest in engagement. You can support a person or organization and still choose not to follow their Twitter stream. Unfollowing doesn't mean you don't support the organization. Friend or Fan them on Facebook and unfollow on Twitter.
- Weed your stream daily. When you see a lame or boring Tweet, click on the user and scan the last dozen Tweets. If none are compelling, unfollow immediately. Weeding out two or three followers a day can mean not having to sit down and unfollow hundreds later.
This comes as I'm working with several clients who did originally opt to follow back everyone who followed them and hit their 2,000 follow cap. Now, not only can they not follow new thought leaders they come in contact with, they must engage in the time-consuming process of culling through each of those 2,000 people they followed, asking, "Why did I follow him? Do I really want his Tweets in my stream? Is he adding value to my life?"
Save yourself hours of aggravation later; be selective in your follows now.
