Twitter Follower Management or, Lack Thereof

Twitter2009-11-23 - Two of the most used words in my Twitter Stream are BLOCK and REMOVE. I do spend a fair amount of time managing new Followers. There are specific reasons for doing so and I'll explain those below. I'm hoping this article will give you a clearer picture of the importance of managing your Followers and your Social Media Profile.

Table of Contents

  1. Why Should I Manage My Twitter Followers?
  2. Social Media Influence
  3. Links, Links, and More Links
  4. The BLOCK Function
  5. The REMOVE Function
  6. Sending Twitter Signals
  7. BLOCKING Criteria
  8. Summary

Twitter Bouncer Why Should I Manage My Twitter Followers?

When I opened my Twitter Account, I started my own little neighborhood that I could call my own. I leased a nice piece of land with plenty of open space to roam. During those first few months on Twitter, I established the rules and guidelines of my fledgling community. TOS

At first I was like everyone else, not sure what to do with all the new Follower requests. Should I Follow back? Should I BLOCK them or take a softer approach and REMOVE them? I'll explain the Removal process as we progress through this article but first, let's talk a little about your Influence in Social Media.

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Social Media Influence

Following SidebarThere are a variety of things that take place when something Follows you. If you have Notices set to Email when someone starts following me, you'll of course receive an email notification. That is how I track the total number of new Followers, I've been saving those notifications since I went Public in 2009 March. I have thousands of them.

When that person or bot Follows, you now become associated through various channels. First and foremost, you become a part of that person's Following Timeline. Your Avatar and a link to your Profile will now appear in their Sidebar (see image at right) and other key areas of the Twitter platform. The association begins from that point forward. The longer you remain in that person's Following List, the more binding that association becomes.

What happens now depends on that person's own practices when it comes to managing their Following. If it is a user with large numbers in the Following/Followers, usually referred to as an FFA Following, that is where many of the challenges begin.

Think about the influential factors taking place when that person joins your Followers Timeline. Are they the type of person you'd invite to a party? Would you want them sitting next to you on a Train or a Plane? Would you take them home to meet the Parents? Yes, those are some of the thoughts that run through my mind when I review new Followers. If your answer was NO to any of the aforementioned questions, then you may want to BLOCK or REMOVE those people from your Timelines.

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Very few things take place on Twitter that don't involve/invoke a link to something else. That's the first part of the association. Depending on the destination of those links, the association may be positive or negative. Many would not be able to discern the difference if they are not managing their Followers - not those they are Following, but those Following them. I sure hope you are managing those you Follow. If not, you're creating associations that may have long term Social Media Profile health effects.

Are you aware of the many RSS and API entry points for Twitter? Do you know how many of those you appear on when a Follow takes place? There are even more when a reciprocal Follow occurs. The numbers are staggering once you really drill down and see where all the associations are happening.

Have you ever viewed the source of your Twitter Profile? Or any other Twitter document for that matter? Take a look at the number of <link rel="alternate"> references. Many of those are for type="application/rss+xml" feeds. Once you become associated through a link, that link spawns into other associations. I could list out a breadcrumb trail of at least 10 immediate associations that occur at the time of a Follow. Depending on how long that association is left to bind, determines the long term effects of that association.

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Actions The BLOCK Function

This is a very simple and effective method of cleansing those who wish to Follow you. From the Actions Menu, choose the Block option. You'll see this message appear afterwards confirming that you've BLOCKED that user.

Blocked - Undo

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Actions Protected The REMOVE Function

This methods requires a few extra steps if you are not in Protected Mode. Those users who have their Twitter Account Protected have an extra option the rest of us do not have, the REMOVE function. You can use this function yourself by Protecting your Tweets temporarily while you cleanse your Followers/Following.

Go to: Settings > Actions > Protect my Tweets

Protect my Tweets

After you choose the Protect my Tweets option, you'll now see this message appear in your Timeline, it can be closed but I'd leave it there as a reminder to Undo the Protection once you've finished your cleansing.

Your Tweets are now private

Note the last sentence, You can also manage who currently follows you. That just links to your Followers Timeline so you can easily manage your Followers. When you choose from the Actions menu on this page, you'll notice you now have a an option to Remove that Follower. This approach is a little less blunt than the BLOCK option.

I've not seen any adverse effects when performing these actions every 24-48 hours. I'll usually do a cursory review of new Followers and then go into Protected Mode for 5-10 minutes while I perform REMOVE procedures. My Tweets have not been affected at the search level by going into Protected Mode.

Note: You'd be surprised at the number of folks I've REMOVED and/or BLOCKED who don't even know it. That proves to me that those were probably Blind Follows or I was just another name in the hat. They've got me totally discombobulated.

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Smoke Signals Sending Twitter Signals

The BLOCK option sends signals to Twitter. If a user is BLOCKED by enough people, the auto-suspension routine may come into play. Now that we have the Report for Spam option, we can send a specific signal to Twitter letting them know that the account may be Spam. My definition of Spam may be a little different than yours, or Twitters. But, if enough people use that Report for Spam function, we can help Twitter determine whether or not the account should be shut down.

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BLOCKING Criteria

Many have asked me what criteria I utilize when BLOCKING something. You'll notice I use the word something instead of someone because a majority of the New Followers these days are bots. When Twitter changed the from link to separate out Web from API, that was the point I realized just how many bots were in our Timelines.

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Twitter Avatars

Avatars are a quick way to determine Follower quality. I BLOCK ALL default Twitter Avatars, I don't even browse to their Profile, I just BLOCK them automatically. I don't care that the user hasn't had time and/or has forgotten to update their picture, it is one of the first things that should be done and there are NO excuses for not doing it before coming out to play.

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From API

That from API is a good indicator that the account is automated. If you take a look at the Timeline of that account and see no interaction with others, it's a bot. I BLOCK those by default.

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Twitter Usernames

Usernames are a signal. Funky usernames that make no sense usually get BLOCKED by default. If you take a look at the Timeline of that account, you'll most likely see other signals to confirm your suspicions. I BLOCK all Britney usernames by default.

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Twitter Timeline

Most recent Tweets are another way to gauge a new Follower. I BLOCK ALL Make Money on Twitter catfish. I surely would not be wasting my time looking for ways to make money on Twitter. This applies to all marketing schemes on Twitter, I'm NOT interested.

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Profile Sidebar Twitter Profiles

Absolutely the best gauge of Follower quality. I can quickly profile a person with one glance of their Profile Sidebar. If I've made it this far and am reviewing this area, that means the something has now become a person and I may be interested.

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Web Address

An unrecognizable shortened URI in this area may be an indicator that this person might not be what they seem to be. I WILL NOT click on unrecognizable shortened URIs from this area. I've had a couple of unpleasant experiences by doing this and I learn the first time around, I don't need to be bitten twice.

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Bio

ALWAYS a solid indicator of quality. You have 160 characters to strut your stuff and I've Followed more people after getting to, and, reading their Bio. I've also BLOCKED people after reading their Bio. I have no idea what some of you were thinking when you typed those 160 characters.

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Following, Followers, Listed

This is the BIG ONE! I make an immediate determination on Follow quality based on the numbers in this area. The higher the numbers, the less likely I'm going to find a quality Follower. I've found that 8 out of 10 high volume Twitters are not worth Following. And, the other 2? I probably wouldn't Follow them because I know what happens once I board their train. I'm on one now and I'm about ready to get off at the next stop.

Some of you may think I've got it ALL backwards but, I don't. I think many of you have it ALL backwards. After being on Twitter for over a year now, I think I'm qualified to make certain statements about the use thereof. Those with high numbers in the Following/Followers area are typically of low quality. I challenge you to prove me wrong.

Now that we have Lists, these can be used as a solid gauge for determining Follower relevancy. I've found that a quick visual of List Names gives me a clear picture of who and what that person are about, at the Social Network level.

Related: Blocking Twitter Lists

Note: If you're stuck at 2001 Following, that's a sign that you've been somewhat aggressive in your Following routines and you have been throttled by Twitter. I typically BLOCK these folks. There's no telling what's going to happen once the pedal is to the metal again.

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Summary

That sure seems like a lot of work to do just to use Twitter, doesn't it? Well, it's not as bad as you may think it is. I like to think long term in this instance. If you don't manage your Followers/Following with some level of moderation, you WILL have challenges in the short and long term. Once you establish a routine and know what to look for, the process is simple, quick (about 5-10 seconds per), and an efficient means of maintaining some level of quality in your Social Media Profiles and, your Social Media Influence.

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