5 Signs You’re Following Too Many People on Twitter (And What You Can Do About It!)
Written by: Eric Brantner on February 9, 2010 – 12:21 pm
Are you following too many people on Twitter? If you answered “yes”, go ahead and jump down to the second half of this article. If you said “I don’t know”, I can help you answer that question. Here are 5 common signs you’re following too many people on Twitter.
- You can’t keep up with your Twitter feed—If you’re getting dozens of Tweets every minute, there’s just no way you can keep up with all of them. It’d be a full-time job. As a result, you end up missing out on the important Tweets you really care about. If you’re unable to keep up with the people you’re following, it’s time to trim down the list.
- You only really pay attention to Tweets from a select group of people—Do you find yourself looking past a lot of Tweets just to find certain followers you’re really interested in? That’s a telling sign that you aren’t really interested in what most of your followers have to say. So, why are you even following them?
- You haven’t interacted with most of the people you’re following—Isn’t the whole point of Twitter to interact with one another? If you have a bunch of people you’re following that you’ve never once interacted with, that probably means you aren’t interested in what they have to say (and vice versa), so you probably don’t have any real reason to follow them.
- There are several people you’re following that you know nothing about—I’m following quite a few people, but I can go through that list and tell you something about each one of them. Can you do the same?
- You follow back everyone who follows you—Just because someone is interested in what you have to say doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be interested in what they have to say. So, don’t automatically follow back everyone who follows you.
How To Trim Down Your List
So, you’re following too many people. Good news: Trimming down your list is pretty easy. Just follow these simple tips.
- Stop automatically following someone back because they follow you—The first thing you need to do is to make sure you don’t worsen the problem. Immediately stop following people back just because they follow you. Only follow someone if you have a good reason for doing so.
- Get rid of the people who you never interact with—Those people you never talk to or even pay attention to? Cut them. They serve no purpose.
- Unfollow the constant self-promoter—If you’re following someone who only Tweets links back to their blog or sales pages, ditch them. They aren’t adding any value to your Twitter experience.
- Cut inactive users—Sure, they aren’t clogging up your timeline, but there’s no point in following people who never Tweet. I’ve been told that MyCleenr is a great tool for identifying inactive users you’re following, but I’ve never personally used it. Can anyone verify if this tool is truly useful?
How do you keep from following to many people on Twitter? What criteria do you use to decide if you’re going to follow someone? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
February 10th, 2010 at 9:21 am
I don't want to look like a snob, so instead of dumping followers I created a private list of the people whose tweets I'm actaully interested in. It's easier to follow & I'm vigilant about removing spammers, self-promoters, constant news-feeders, etc. from the list.
February 11th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Mycleenr sounds like a great app, but can only be used if you have less than 700 people that you're following. I know, I know…too many, but that's why I read the article!
February 11th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Good tips. I tried to use MyCleenr and it says its down temporarily or doesn't have enough space…something.
I've used FriendorFollow.com too to help clean up my follow list.
Thanks again for the tips!
February 11th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Just looked at MyCleenr and it only works if you follow less than 700 people (so it's worthless for me).
February 11th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by myfloridamarket: 5 Signs You’re Following Too Many People on Twitter (And What You …: You only really pay attention to Tweets fro… http://bit.ly/9VYdQp...
February 11th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I agree with most of what you are saying here. I always get rid of the constant self promoters, especially the ones that DM spam your inbox to high hell.
Also I don't think following back EVERYONE that follows you is the best idea.
The one point I don't agree with 100% is when you can keep track of your twitter feed. It's true that when you are first starting on Twitter it's more like email and easy to keep track of, but once you start getting into the hundreds or thousands it's difficult to keep track of every tweet and really the way Twitter is designed no one should be expected to keep up with every tweet in their timeline, it's just not realistic unless you are staying on Twitter 24/7.
However you can use tweet deck to prioritize and create groups. This way you will still have your main twitter feed but if you want to make sure that you don't miss any tweets from Alyssa Milano, for example, you can create a special column for your A-list or whatever you want to call it.
February 12th, 2010 at 1:53 am
Yes it would be worthless for me as well.
http://www.buzzom.com/ Seems to be a good alternative.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:24 am
Facts are most people I've seen on Twitter are following too many people. These days it's all about numbers and people proudly display on their blogs that they are being followed by thousands.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:30 am
I've had great results from http://twitter.com/TheTwitCleaner Easy to use and @TheTwitCleaner is easy to communicate with
February 12th, 2010 at 2:56 am
i use Twitter Karma http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/ (shows you who's following you back, when people last tweeted, as well as other useful info – it does take some time the more people you're sorting, but i believe it works for thousands) and for removing spammers Twitblock – http://www.twitblock.org/ – not sure how many followers that will work with.
The tip about not following back automatically is probably the most important for new people (and even some not so new) – secondly, READ the person's tweets before you do follow.
February 12th, 2010 at 3:39 am
From my personal experience after using both Twitter and Facebook, I concluded that Twitter is good in sharing news & update, BUT if you want conversation, better use Facebook.
This is because when we use Twitter for conversation, Twitter and your followers said you are a spammer, you clog a lot of people timeline. When we use DM in Twitter, they also sad you spam.
Therefore, for conversation, better use Facebook which had a comment post of a particular topic we posted. Therefore, we are not clogging anyone else timeline.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:40 am
My Cleenr.com only works for people who follow less than 700 people.
For myself, i use http://untweeps.com/
seems better, but you can only use their free service 3 times a month
February 12th, 2010 at 3:13 am
[Since it's on topic]
I run a site called The Twit Cleaner which deals with exactly the issue you’re discussing.
It will run a scan over the people you’re following, then categorise them into spammers, timewasters, people that never engage & so on.
You can then use the report to help decide who to keep, who to follow.
You get the report for free.
If you want us to auto-unfollow the bad guys on your report, it’s free if you follow up to 2000 people, then a small charge over that.
Of course, you’re welcome to just use your report to manually unfollow anyone you don’t like.
February 12th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Nice tips and points. Twitter is a great place to interact as well as place to let everyone what you are thinking and writing. If people comes to your posts and liked it then they will comment but if someone follows you, its really very nice that your posts has been liked by them.
February 14th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
I do admire all that tips – I've started using Twitter not long ago and now I need such ones.Thanks for all that really logical tips based only on the personal experience.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Thanks Gerald for the wonderful site that you have shared.
@Eric
When one is interested to follow people who are hyperactive on twitter or should I say social/twitter addicts , I think that is a problem then to follow a group of people whom you want to follow!
February 19th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Eric, some good suggestions. I totally agree with dumping inactive users, MLM gurus and twammers, but self promotion and auto following are quintessential elements of Twitter when used responsibly.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:11 am
"You follow back everyone who follows you—Just because someone is interested in what you have to say doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be interested in what they have to say. So, don’t automatically follow back everyone who follows you."
Ended this addiction with the one step program, deleted the Twitter account and started over. I have 9 followers and follow 6, after five months, couldn't be happier, I get no less than 12 referrals to my blog everyday!