I chose "too much corporate content" because that's how it is a lot of the time, but the quality of the tweet is another reason. It's kind of up in the air for me. I've unfollowed different people for different reasons. Too many @ replies, too much website promotion, retweets, etc.
shane - 15 years ago
I have been dropping those who use Twitter over tweet. It does them less good than harm since there are so many that I would loose way too much time reading them, And most are RT I already read anyway. I like the social aspect of Twitter, when someone I trust recommends a link or a RT it has value, but when someone simply copy/pastes every single RT that they receive it is annoying. I use my feed reader for general news.
Tone of voice. As soon as someone stops sounding authentic bang they go. Worst sin is consciously trying to turn yourself into an authority or trying to coerce followers to do a certain thing just to big up your own online profile. WORST OFFENDER: http://twitter.com/toadmeister (Author of How To Make Enemies and Alienate People).
sparkly - 15 years ago
When they nolonger interest me - I only follow those who I'm interested in following.
Too many posts is my number one reason for unfollowing people. Ten or twelve a day is fine by me, but 20 or 30? I have better things to do.
And one you missed from the list: too many negative tweets. I'm okay if you're having a bad day and you want to talk about it, but if all you ever talk about is how crap things are? No. I'm not going to be dragged down.
Usually i stop following if they do any of the listed items! and i also stop following if most of the content being posted is of no interest to me.
another thing that gets me to stop following is the tone of tweets, sometimes they sound like they came from a machine rather than a human, it certainly makes me less interested.
I tend to stick with anyone who interests me, amuses me or gives me a lift during the day. If someone posts @replies then I take a look at the person they're in conversation with to see whether I want to follow them, and that way I get to see both sides of the conversation. I tend to drop people who are simply acting as a one way mouthpiece for their own company or view point, particularly if they've followed me first and then never once engaged with anything I say. Until recently I felt really guilt-ridden about unfollowing people but I'm starting to become more selective as my follower numbers start to slowly creep upwards.
What would be great is to be able to say: I want to follow this person but not when they talk about x topic (sport, poker, real estate, how many terabytes they're adding to their raid setup etc). Generally speaking I'll stick with someone as long as their tweets are 'well rounded', largely reciprocal and not (as Patrick Byers mentions above) just another self-promotion syndication channel aimed at constantly building follower numbers with an unsubtle one-way street kind of attitude.
A constant barrage of retweets will have me reaching for unfollow. I already have web resources in my RSS reader I don't need multiple ppl regurgitating them in my twitter feed.
Irony: 1 such barrage got me here and I'm clicking on unfollow now.
Other than that, you can be as mundane, funny and personal as you like.
If you have bad spelling or grammar I won't follow you in the first place. Sorry, I judge you for that.
@ replies are okay because I only see them if I'm following the person you're replying to. That said, if you and that person start using Twitter as IM one of you is definitely getting un-followed.
Too many tweets in general (more than 10-15 per day) and I'll probably un-follow you. You're only, on average, awake 16hrs per day so calm down.
I don't mind hearing about what you're having for lunch, but make it up to me by tweeting an interesting link or two.
Don't retweet too much. Unless it's me :P. If you didn't get to tweet it first, bummer, move on and keep your eyes open for the next big thing!
I'd say you hit most of the reasons to quit following people. The one you missed when you follow someone and they fail to reciprocate.
Twitter is supposed to be about two way communication, but so many people consider it just another channel to syndicate their content.
I don't need or expect everyone to follow me back. But if you want me to follow you without reciprocation, you better provide a lot of meaning and value in those 140 characters.
Otherwise, why bother?
Jonathan - 15 years ago
I generally unfollow people who seem to be using twitter as a personal PR campaign... I will follow companies that use Twitter sparingly and when they have something valuable to get out there.
When a person's tweets are nothing but Retweets of other people's tweets, then i unfollow. Also, when their tweets are nothing but links to other websites then i unfollow.
I follow people because i'm interested in what *they* have to say... I can find those links on my own with delicious or from the website's RSS feed. tell me interesting stuff about you & what you're doing etc. Not a constant stream of links & retweets...
I generally stop following someone on Twitter when their Tweets no longer interest me. Usually this is because they've gotten too personal (99% @ replies regarding unimportant subjects), or because all they ever tweet about are things that would bore the pants off of any sane Follower.
totally agree with MarkB
I chose "too much corporate content" because that's how it is a lot of the time, but the quality of the tweet is another reason. It's kind of up in the air for me. I've unfollowed different people for different reasons. Too many @ replies, too much website promotion, retweets, etc.
I have been dropping those who use Twitter over tweet. It does them less good than harm since there are so many that I would loose way too much time reading them, And most are RT I already read anyway. I like the social aspect of Twitter, when someone I trust recommends a link or a RT it has value, but when someone simply copy/pastes every single RT that they receive it is annoying. I use my feed reader for general news.
Tone of voice. As soon as someone stops sounding authentic bang they go. Worst sin is consciously trying to turn yourself into an authority or trying to coerce followers to do a certain thing just to big up your own online profile. WORST OFFENDER: http://twitter.com/toadmeister (Author of How To Make Enemies and Alienate People).
When they nolonger interest me - I only follow those who I'm interested in following.
Too many posts is my number one reason for unfollowing people. Ten or twelve a day is fine by me, but 20 or 30? I have better things to do.
And one you missed from the list: too many negative tweets. I'm okay if you're having a bad day and you want to talk about it, but if all you ever talk about is how crap things are? No. I'm not going to be dragged down.
Usually i stop following if they do any of the listed items! and i also stop following if most of the content being posted is of no interest to me.
another thing that gets me to stop following is the tone of tweets, sometimes they sound like they came from a machine rather than a human, it certainly makes me less interested.
I tend to stick with anyone who interests me, amuses me or gives me a lift during the day. If someone posts @replies then I take a look at the person they're in conversation with to see whether I want to follow them, and that way I get to see both sides of the conversation. I tend to drop people who are simply acting as a one way mouthpiece for their own company or view point, particularly if they've followed me first and then never once engaged with anything I say. Until recently I felt really guilt-ridden about unfollowing people but I'm starting to become more selective as my follower numbers start to slowly creep upwards.
What would be great is to be able to say: I want to follow this person but not when they talk about x topic (sport, poker, real estate, how many terabytes they're adding to their raid setup etc). Generally speaking I'll stick with someone as long as their tweets are 'well rounded', largely reciprocal and not (as Patrick Byers mentions above) just another self-promotion syndication channel aimed at constantly building follower numbers with an unsubtle one-way street kind of attitude.
A constant barrage of retweets will have me reaching for unfollow. I already have web resources in my RSS reader I don't need multiple ppl regurgitating them in my twitter feed.
Irony: 1 such barrage got me here and I'm clicking on unfollow now.
Other than that, you can be as mundane, funny and personal as you like.
If you have bad spelling or grammar I won't follow you in the first place. Sorry, I judge you for that.
@ replies are okay because I only see them if I'm following the person you're replying to. That said, if you and that person start using Twitter as IM one of you is definitely getting un-followed.
Too many tweets in general (more than 10-15 per day) and I'll probably un-follow you. You're only, on average, awake 16hrs per day so calm down.
I don't mind hearing about what you're having for lunch, but make it up to me by tweeting an interesting link or two.
Don't retweet too much. Unless it's me :P. If you didn't get to tweet it first, bummer, move on and keep your eyes open for the next big thing!
i went for the first two options and i really mean it
I'd say you hit most of the reasons to quit following people. The one you missed when you follow someone and they fail to reciprocate.
Twitter is supposed to be about two way communication, but so many people consider it just another channel to syndicate their content.
I don't need or expect everyone to follow me back. But if you want me to follow you without reciprocation, you better provide a lot of meaning and value in those 140 characters.
Otherwise, why bother?
I generally unfollow people who seem to be using twitter as a personal PR campaign... I will follow companies that use Twitter sparingly and when they have something valuable to get out there.
Like the first commenter said, I usually stop following someone when 90% of their tweets are @replies.
When a person's tweets are nothing but Retweets of other people's tweets, then i unfollow. Also, when their tweets are nothing but links to other websites then i unfollow.
I follow people because i'm interested in what *they* have to say... I can find those links on my own with delicious or from the website's RSS feed. tell me interesting stuff about you & what you're doing etc. Not a constant stream of links & retweets...
I don't stop following!
I generally stop following someone on Twitter when their Tweets no longer interest me. Usually this is because they've gotten too personal (99% @ replies regarding unimportant subjects), or because all they ever tweet about are things that would bore the pants off of any sane Follower.
That, and terrible spelling.
-Kev