I was long overdue for a good pre-spring Twitter cleaning. It was 2009 when I typed my first tweet. Since then, I’ve used Twitter for several purposes (job search, study abroad info, research, etc.) I’ve also developed many different methods in following other tweeters. For example, I did what many beginners do: I synced up my Gmail account with my new Twitter page. This would be a GREAT way to get started if everyone in my address book was also an active Twitter user.
This is what really happens when you sync your email contacts with your Twitter: You’ll probably find a few good people to follow, and then you’ll notice that some of your contacts don’t tweet at all. But, what’s most misleading is that long list of contacts that you discover are, in fact, on Twitter.
Unfortunately, these friends who seem to be tweeting probably just signed up to see what the heck all this Twitter hype was about. Chances are, they opened their account, chose a pretty (but generic) background and posted a couple tweets. They may have even gone to their contact lists and added their own group of semi-tweeters.
For the past two years I’ve been in denial about these followees. I’ve simply pushed them to the back of my mind and chosen to pretend they don’t exist. If I can’t see them, they don’t exist, right? It’s kind of like that stack of papers on my desk. I can push them aside for weeks, but eventually in order to truly have a clean desk, I’m going to have to go through those papers. I had to go through the inactive list of tweeters as well.
My first step was finding my tool. Friend or Follow allows you to see who you’re following, who’s following you and who you are “friends” with (you’re both following eachother). There was a nice little stab in my heart when I saw that I was following over 100 people that were not following me back. Thankfully, I was able to hide the “verified” users who were unlikely to follow me back. There were still way too many non-followers. So, I started slicing. I unfollowed for the following reasons:
• The user had under 10 followers
• The user’s last tweet was over a month ago
• The user ‘s tweets were not interesting to me
As I clicked through my list, I realized that I had been following users that could be placed in 4 distinct categories.
People I learn things from:
These people help me advance in my career, they help me make healthy eating choices and they give me information about current events. This group is the one I engage with the most. I ask these people questions and I engage with them as much as I can.
People that make me laugh:
I don’t follow The Onion, Post Secret or the entire cast of Glee because I think I’m going to engage with them regularly or learn anything from them. It’s just entertaining. Kind of like television, I could watch the news and learn something, but I may turn on my favorite sitcom instead.
People/organizations that represent who I am and what I like:
I struggled with this category at first. I had to ask myself why I shouldn’t delete these tweeters from my list. Lady Gaga isn’t particularly entertaining to follow, and she isn’t making me a smarter person. I’m also following a couple of local sports teams that don’t do a particularly good job of keeping their tweets fascinating. However, these tweeters represent me: who I like and what I’m interested in. It’s kind of like a personalized list that makes up who I am. The people I’m following are unique to me.
Friends:
Sometimes this can be a frustrating category. We all have those friends that you’re close to in real life, but suck at tweeting. They neglect their Twitter pages and when they do tweet, they act like they’re writing on your Facebook wall. You’re only following them because your real life makes you obligated in your virtual life.
What do your categories look like? Do you follow anyone and everyone, or are you picky about those you allow on your Twitter feed?
Capriquarius 