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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.

1. 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.
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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?
5. 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.

Recently, a study by Morse found that a lack of productivity due to social media is costing UK businesses about $2.25 billion. Regardless of whether or not these numbers are skewed, it’s no secret that social media has a tendency to rob your time, making it more difficult for you to get important tasks done.

Thankfully, there are many things you can do to increase your productivity. From using social media tools to Tweeting on the go from your phone, being productive with social media really isn’t that hard. I’ve come up with 4 more easy tips you can put into practice right now to boost your social media productivity.

• Set goals—Goals give you direction. They provide something for you to work toward with your social media usage, so that you can measure your results. Make sure the goals you set align with your overall marketing goals for growing your business.

Your social media goals could be to:

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  • Increase the number of positive mentions of your company
  • Build more back links to your website
  • Improve customer retention
  • Build brand awareness so people know who you are

• Have a plan—Once you have some goals in place, it’s time to set a plan for making these goals a reality. For example, if you want to get more back links, you need to write linkbait-style blog posts and promote them on Twitter, Facebook, and social voting sites.

All of your social media usage should be devoted to helping you achieve those goals. Anything else is a waste of time. So, stick to the plan so you can stay productive.

• Create a schedule—It might seem a bit restricting, but scheduling time for your social media use keeps you focused and on track. For example, if you know you have a block of 15 minutes to devote to promoting your blog, you’ll focus on this task, rather than killing time chatting on Facebook or Twitter. Set a schedule and stick to it!

• Get help—Don’t be a hero. Ask for help with achieving your social media goals. This could mean getting employees to contribute to your blog. It could also mean soliciting guest posts. Or you could hire a ghost blogger to blog and Tweet under your name. This would free you up to work on your normal daily tasks while letting an expert do all the dirty work.

How do you stay productive while still being a social media junkie? Share your best tips in the replies.