More Tweets, Less Twaddle?
I’m just picking up here from a train of thought by Rich Baker over at his new site Conversational UK — which he in turn picked up from the arch-tweeter @darren_bbc. His point was about how, as your numbers within Twitter grow, it’s becoming less of a conversation and more of a broadcast shout.
Rich says in his post Feed Me, Twitter!
“Over recent weeks, I have been investing more time in unfollowing people I don’t have conversations with and seeking out new people to follow. My network is taking more and more maintenance to keep it relevant.”
I’m struggling with the same issue. I think trying to keep the number of those I follow below the 1,000 mark is reasonable. I know myself that when I check out profiles of people who have followed me, if that person is following thousands I find it hard to believe that they are listening to any. Or that my voice is valued at all.
Twitter is of course a time-leech. The more people you follow, the louder the distracting noise. And I do of course worry about all the tweets I’m missing. So in a way, keeping the numbers that I follow down is a relief (in the way that having less choice when shopping is a relief ).
To help the periodic Twitter-cull, there are two fab free gadgets which make it very easy: Twitter Karma shows when the love isn’t mutual and you’re wasting your time, which can be important (if hurtful) to know. * And then there’s the the madly simple-to-use Twitcleaner which sorts the wheat from the chaff, finds the “time wasters, spammers, the boring, the bots” in those you follow.
Also – I’m using Tweetdeck (though I hear that Hootsuite may be becoming the Twitter app de jour?) – and find it easy to make lots of columns of smallish groups of people whose Tweets I really don’t want to miss. Any lists you have created can also be viewed at a click in Tweetdeck also.
Does anyone else have any other Twitter coping strategies?
*Stop press on Twitter Karma. @richard_baker has just told me he thinks that it may be broken and showing the wrong data (I haven’t used it for a while). I’ll try to check it out.
Tia Fisher
Coming from a marketing background, Tia Fisher arrived at eModeration by happy chance in 2007. Tia is passionate about Internet safety and usability and frustrated by those who don't seem to share her view. Tia's kids - and all kids - come first.
Coming from a marketing background, Tia Fisher arrived at eModeration by happy chance in 2007. Tia is passionate about Internet safety and usability and frustrated by those who don't seem to share her view. Tia's kids - and all kids - come first. ...less info
