Today, my twitter account @CTAspley was unfollowed. Publicly.
The person who unfollowed me sent a tweet that mentioned my name, and said as I’d unfollowed them first, they would reciprocate. Boo hoo.
The impact of this is that I became aware of the unfollowing, and anyone that they follow also saw that I’d unfollowed that person. After that sentence, do you still follow me? If you use twitter, that probably made sense.
Does this put a black mark against my name in the twitter world as someone who unfollows? Do I care?
Here’s the thing. I unfollow people. I currently follow over 1,000 people and I just can’t handle that amount of information on a constant basis. I’ve decided to do a bit of a cull.
If I unfollow you, please don’t take it personally. I tend to follow most of my new followers, unless they are a) blatantly spam bots b) tweet content that is repetitive c) tweet to sell services or products not applicable to me/my country or d) tweet how to make money or gain new followers easily. If you pass those tests, I’ll generally follow you for a while to see what your content is like.
In the future, I may unfollow you, usually for one of the same reasons above. It’s not because I don’t Ike you. It’s usually because your content topics are not relevant to me OR you haven’t engaged me in an actual conversation. Some people that I follow are not in my industry or market segment and do not have children. But if I’ve mentioned that it’s been a tough week, they’ll message me and agree and wish me a better weekend. Also, some people who’s content I am interested in, don’t follow me back. Thats ok too. I don’t want to miss out on what they have to say.
If I unfollow you, please don’t take it personally. It just didn’t work out. Is everyone in the real world your friend too? To publicize an unfollow just reeks of sour grapes. I don’t do #teamfollowback, I just don’t see the point. for me, twitter is about content, not numbers.
Similarly, if you unfollow me, that’s ok. I can handle it. I’m a big girl. Not everyone in the real world wants to be my friend either. Not everyone wants to hear about technology, small business, working from home & wrangling small children. I get that I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m alright with that.
The story ended with a handshake and best wishes. I told the person in question that their topics weren’t relevant to me and I wished them well for the future. They respected my option to unfollow and likewise wished me well. No animosity at all, just like it should be. So I’m still left wondering as to what the point of their tweet was.
Twitter. It’s a strange old follow/unfollow world.
-Scuffy