Eight reasons why I'll unfollow you on Twitter

I've finally come to the conclusion that Twitter can be annoying. In a big way.

See, the problem is, I decided not too long ago that following everyone who followed me on the microblogging service was in my best interest. I reasoned that doing so was good for the entire community.

Don't clog up my Twitter feed.

In recent weeks, however, I've realized that there are some reasons why, even with my decree in place, I just can't justify following some folks.

I'll unfollow you if:

You follow me merely because I'll follow you. I've found that as soon as I wrote the column saying that I'll follow everyone who follows me, I was followed by a bunch of people who have schemes to increase their follower count. I was directed to a site by one of these people, proving it.

The person wrote on his blog that if you follow all the people on his follower list, you would be able to increase your follower count substantially. I did a little digging and found that many (almost 25 people) were using this technique to weasel their way into this list from Twitterholic of the top 1,000 most followed people.

Regardless of whether this technique of gaining Twitter notoriety is acceptable, I believe that we should all add followers the right way, through compelling content and similar interests. Using an automated process games the system, and I don't appreciate it.

You're a company that doesn't contribute to the community. I follow some companies on Twitter, but recently I've noticed that some firms (I'm looking at you, Starbucks) use their Twitter profile only to market their products.

I understand that Twitter can be a fine marketing tool, but as a user who is constantly looking for something worth a look, seeing that your company was selected as one of the Top 10 coffee shop chains in Seattle doesn't appeal to me. In fact, it wastes my time. More importantly, it prevents better content from getting through. Why not tweet about something more behind-the-scenes?

You're a music lover (to a fault). I can't tell you how many times my Twitter stream has been filled with tweets from users filling me in on the songs they're listening to. Not only is it annoying, but it pushes real content off the first page of my stream. I can understand if it happens every once in a while, but once I'm inundated with tracks multiple times in a couple hours, I will unfollow you.

You're an adult film star. Sorry, but I don't need to know what's happening when you're "on set" in your latest flick. I also don't need to hear about all the things you've done in your latest films. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that some things need to be kept off Twitter. That kind of content is one of those "things."

You're a cursing fool. I don't mind the occasional F-bomb, but if it's included in almost every one of your tweets, you're getting unfollowed. It's not that I've never used the term or have something against cursing, but if you're using it in cases where it's unnecessary, it just ends up making you look crass. If I wanted to engage in that kind of talk, I'd hang out with my buddies at a local bar. But since I'm on Twitter, I don't need to see it.

You're a bot. There's nothing worse than following someone you think is a real person, only to find out that it's a bot sending ads and asking you to click on questionable links.

Due to the microblogging service's popularity, its use as a vehicle for spam was to be expected. But luckily for us, we have the opportunity to ignore the spammers by unfollowing those bots. It works. (Be sure to also let Twitter know when you come across a spambot.)

You're a celebrity impostor. While there are some real celebrities on Twitter, I've found that there are many more impostors. And when I find them in my feed, I just unfollow them and go about my day.

The reason is simple: Most don't provide any value. Their tweets are largely insulting to the people they're trying to impersonate, instead of doing it with bravado and snark, like Dan Lyons was able to do with the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs blog. I use Twitter to find real, informative content. Fake celebrity profiles don't provide that, so I unfollow those profiles.

You're a constant updater. Although I like to see what my followers have to say, it gets annoying when someone updates their Twitter account 30 times in the span of five minutes. It totally ruins my ability to see what others are saying.

I know that you might be updating us about something going on in your life, and I understand that this might be important to you, but think of all your followers who don't have the chance to see what others are posting. What about them?!

That's it. As long as you can keep it under those parameters, I'll never unfollow you on Twitter. But that's just me. Are there any other annoyances you've come across that makes you question following someone?

If so, let us know in the comments.

And follow me on Twitter while you're at it!

[SidianMSJones]

I like the first one - I'll follow you, then you follow me, so I'm unfollowing you.....then what? They unfollow you, so you follow them?

[Renegade Knight]

Catch the gap in your logic and you will know why he won't follow someone who just unfollwed him, and why he might.

[ShayFan]

I completely agree about the constant updater - there are some people who seem to bombard the space with tweet after tweet. One reason I often consider unfollowing someone is when I receive an automatic direct message - even worse is an automatic direct message asking me to be a Fan of theirs on facebook. Self-aggrandization much?

[sanjayb]

I don't know if this is common in Twitter but I don't find many direct replies to me. I have sent a few to reply to other people's tweets. I don't expect a reply back every time but once in awhile would be nice. I am not sure why not many respond back. Am I boring? Are there too many tweets for people to follow? Some people who think they are celebrities don't want to talk to the common folks like me?

Just wondering.

[p0ptarts]

i don't get direct replies either, but i've sent a few...for example, when i've read something from someone i'm following that is particularly relevant or interesting to me.

[ggfilm]

Great write up.

It's hard to unfollow a quality person that occasionally cranks their cyber boom box and let's the world know what's playing. It's the equivalent to driving down a main street in your car with the tunes cranked up. What makes you assume we all want to hear what you're playing?

[p0ptarts]

Your asking "What makes you assume we all want to hear what you're playing?" isn't any different from asking, "What makes you assume we all want to hear what you're doing?"

[Kev_Orng]

I just like to think that when the Zombie apocolypse starts, I'll hear it from Wil Wheaton first.

Just follow Wil Wheaton, Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry; you don't need to follow anyone else, they tweet more than the rest of the planet combined.

[rapier1]

I'd stop following you on twitter but I think twitter is pretty damn stupid so I don't follow anyone.

[ghostfear]

never used twitter and never will, getting too old for this. Just a fan of your articles.

[Wilman4g]

Damn I curse a lot, and play my songson the feed, and do a lot of twooping on twitter, and i follow my followers, You are talking about me...

[billreisinger]

haha, if I'm not mistaken YOU tweet music lyrics atleast a couple of times a week. perhaps you should delete your own account.

[friday04]

Love to say "I told you so."

How can you possibly enjoy Twitter if you're following 10,000 people? Even 1,000 people?

[ShinyHappyHead]

People I won't follow: If they have no updates period, if most of their updates include a link to their site which is already posted in their frickin' profile, if the first page I look at contains nothing but "social media" links (not ALL of us are interested in social media, SEO, PMS, etc.), and the obvious spammer profiles that have just one tweet saying how they got a free laptop.


Oh, and people who blog about Twitter.

Oh, snap.

:-D

[theGreenlightCoach]

I'm with you on un-following people who tweet 30X times/5 minutes! What's the point of that? I can't follow what people are doing if I have 3 pages of one person writing one word. I still haven't figured out Twitter, so I'll just keep following you and checking out your posts.

[sharletvk]

In agreement with every reason. Thank you.

[swimmer_steph]

Cursing doesn't bother me in the least. What DOES is constant tweeting about any of the following b/c I don't care about ANY of them:

Your child/children
Your religion
How depressed/bored you are (the news is bad enough)
Constant linking to your blog

That's about it for me.

[AdamEveToys]

I don't understand your gripe with adult film stars. A lot of Twitterers want to know what is going on during shoots, what the actors/actresses are doing in between shoots, and generally what adult companies are putting on sale or working on - just like people like to know those things about Southwest Airlines, Jimmy Fallon, or Ashton Kutcher.

If you are already following a porn star (because, per the article, you are giving reasons that you'd 'unfollow' someone), you know basically that there's going to be profanity and sexual innuendo, and those should be things that you're looking for. If you aren't looking for it, why'd you follow a porn star in the first place? What'd you expect Bree Olson or Kayden Kross to be talking about? I've seen worse tweets from the Average Joe about dropping kids off at the pool or his latest conquest, I don't think porn stars go any further out into left field than that.

@adamandeve

[leila_c]

Your point #2 can be applied to people, too: one thing that's frustrating is when people I follow post a high volume of physical status (e.g., "I'm eating a cupcake at the park!") or "building my personal brand" tweets. For some reason those things seem less annoying on Facebook as status updates than on Twitter.

[butchmama]

Totally agree with @adamandeve. That point is an over-generalization. Just because you're not interested in adult doesn't mean others aren't. The other reasons given were for annoying Twitter behavior, not just because the author doesn't like the subject and "believe[s] that some things need to be kept off Twitter." Not every adult star just Twitters about their films, just like every actor doesn't just Twitter about their movies, and some of the most interesting Twitterers (Tristan Taormino, Madison Young, Adrianna Nicole, etc.) are involved in the industry.

Get over yourself and stop being such a prude. Know what I think needs to be kept off Twitter? Yet *another* article claiming to know everything about Twitter.

[guruvan]

Wow...if "over updaters" cause you problems, you NEED a twitter client. The web is not sufficient to get ANY value out of twitter unless you are THE MASTER. Furthermore, you missed the memo that pointed out that Twitter is now a communications tool , not just something to tell me what you had for dinner.

[AnnRan5]

Lighten up folks - these rules aren't gospel, they're Don's reasons for unfollowing. Everyone has their own view of the value (or lack of value) of Twitter. Take what you want from his thoughts and ignore the rest.

I don't automatically follow everyone who follows me, so I generally don't have to unfollow. I look at a new follower's tweet stream and decide if it's for me or not. Don's reasons pretty much apply to why I won't follow someone back in the first place. Another peeve is a stream that includes nothing but links to the new items you just posted on Etsy, Bonanzle, eBay, etc. I list work in all these places, but I'm careful to scatter my links in with tweets about other things (some insightful, some mundane).

[nonameusername]

I don't understand...is this supposed to be a "guide" for other people or just your personal blog rant about your pet peeves?

I agree with adamandeve. Porn stars are actual people with real every day lives. Porn is just their job. Who really cares about what apps you're reviewing. Oh wait...you have a life outside of the office!!

I follow a couple of porn actresses primarily because they are cool people which I wouldn't have known had I not bothered to check it out, and secondarily I like their films and I don't have hangups about sex being one of "those things"--what is that? They are people I added, not the other way around.

I understand that sex stores and smaller adult film companies are going to start following me because they'll find me somewhere like http://whoshouldifollow.com in a mutual interest match. That's fine. (This however is not unique to porn--it happens when you add musicians, businesses practically anything marketable.) If they don't interest me, I don't follow them and If I don't want them following me, I can block them, that's what the function is there for.