Ten types of people to unfollow on Twitter

Just got into Twitter? Trying to decide who you should or shouldn’t follow? Maybe I can help. Here are the ten types of people I strongly recommend unfollowing:  

  1. People whose Twitter profile ends in guy, guru, expert, diva, evangelist or visionary
  2. People whose Twitter profile begins with Mr, followed by something digital
  3. People who send @ messages to stars in the hope of instant Twitter validation through a reply
  4. People whose automated ‘thanks for the follow’ messages make you want to vomit
  5. People whose automated ‘thanks for the follow’ messages contain a link to their site
  6. People who ask questions they could answer quicker on Google
  7. People who as soon as a star dies tweet “Just warning you, if anyone makes a joke about this, I’ll unfollow you.” Not if I can unfollow you first, petal.
  8. People who think adding the phrase “please RT” makes their spammy message more likely to be passed on .
  9. People who think putting fail on the end of another word and sticking a hash on the front is still clever. #originalityfail
  10. People who Tweet linkbait Twitter lists like this one. That’d be me…

You can follow (or unfollow) Tim Burrowes @mumbrella

July 29th, 2009 at 11:41 am

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Comments


  1. Cam
    29 Jul 09
    11:46 am

    2. If someone’s an ‘entrepreneur’, I’m not a follower.

  2. KimberleyL
    29 Jul 09
    11:46 am

    3. Here’s another two – people with zero updates and 364 followers + people with ‘see my sexy time video’.

  3. Leslie Nassar
    29 Jul 09
    11:49 am

    4. Also, anyone whose name starts with “Fake”

  4. Tim
    29 Jul 09
    11:50 am

    5. I would question the logic in following them in the first place Kimberley!

  5. KimberleyL
    29 Jul 09
    11:53 am

    6. Tim – I don’t follow these people, they follow me!

  6. heather ann snodgrass
    29 Jul 09
    11:54 am

    7. i think this list is incomplete without name-and-shame examples.

  7. Mel. PA For A Day
    29 Jul 09
    11:58 am

    8. I don’t click on a lot of links through Twitter, but yours was interesting, because I’ve recently been bombarded with loser skanks and evangelist types. One other hint you missed is if someone’s user name looks like “klh9af767″ – best to steer clear of these types, who simply wish to not be identifiable.

  8. Adam Joseph
    29 Jul 09
    12:05 pm

    9. Personally speaking, here are three things that stimulate the “flight” part of my brain when it comes to Twitter:

    1. Too much of the mundane

    Sure, Twitter literally asks ‘‘What are you doing?’’ but I have little interest in the fact
    you have a piece of sweetcorn stuck in your teeth right now. Unfollow.

    2. Random stream of consciousness

    If you tweet more than five times in five minutes, you’ve probably inadvertently
    wired Twitter to your cerebrum. You should see a brain doctor. Unfollow.

    3. Too much radio interference

    If you seem to be having 20 different public conversations at once and I’m having
    trouble following just one of them, I will tune out indefinitely. Unfollow.

    http://www.slideshare.net/Adam.....-june-2009

  9. Michael duvall
    29 Jul 09
    12:09 pm

    10. LOL. I really like this list, I was thinking of sending it out as a tweet, but after reading number ten, I guess that would be pointless. Thanks for sharing.

  10. KimberleyL
    29 Jul 09
    12:10 pm

    11. Here’s another one – people who only RT. Ever.

  11. mumbrella
    29 Jul 09
    12:12 pm

    12. Please don’t tempt me, Heather…

  12. Cheryl
    29 Jul 09
    12:24 pm

    13. Kimberly stole most of my thunder, but here’s one more:

    People with 2 followers (one of which is their mommy) trying to tell you that using product X will net you 2,000 followers a week.

  13. Wolfie Rankin
    29 Jul 09
    12:31 pm

    14. When I go to someones page and I see tweets with cash, money, invest etc… They don’t get followed back.

  14. Wilson Tuckey
    29 Jul 09
    12:37 pm

    15. I’m especially fond of Leslie’s suggestion.

    He’d know.

  15. Greg Smith
    29 Jul 09
    12:40 pm

    16. 1. People who use Twitter with the aim of building their business, simply by asking people for referrals. How dumb is that? 2. People who don’t have a decent bio. 3. People who tweet during movies/Tv shows.

  16. Isaac
    29 Jul 09
    12:50 pm

    17. KimberleyL and others – when followed by a spammer/bot/autofollower, make the effort to block them. I believe that Twitter uses that information to know who needs to be kicked off for abusing the service.

  17. Greg Smith
    29 Jul 09
    12:54 pm

    18. Wilson Tuckey (above) on Twitter? I thought it was too ridiculous.

  18. The J
    29 Jul 09
    2:21 pm

    19. I’ve tried and tried and tried and tried and still can’t get into twitter…. facebook is working just fine.

  19. chelsea
    29 Jul 09
    2:41 pm

    20. I make a point of unfollowing people who tweet entirely in emoticons and swirly graphics, ie
    ¸.•*¨`*.¸.♥☼

    or

    ♥˚◦☼◦˚♥˚~((((♥♥*HUGS*♥♥))))~˚♥˚

    I’m sure there is a place reserved in hell for me, but … eh.

    [Hope the examples above work]

  20. Carl Panczak
    29 Jul 09
    4:31 pm

    21. LOL your article is so awesomely FTW.

  21. Rob
    29 Jul 09
    5:19 pm

    22. i agree with most of these….except Greg’s comment about people who tweet during movies/tv shows. i have to admit i enjoy the to-and-fro on twitter during event tv like state of origin (though I’m sure the mates I’m watching it with wish I would cease and desist) or masterchef. to me this adds a dimension to both media that is really interesting.

    sure, I don’t necessarily think updating anyone on what’s happening on the seinfeld re-run I’m watching is productive, but a real-time interaction with a large community adds a nice depth to tv imo

  22. Kate Kendall
    29 Jul 09
    5:22 pm

    23. People who follow more people than follow them back.

  23. Rob
    29 Jul 09
    5:27 pm

    24. don’t know if you’re being tongue in cheek kate, or elitist? publishers and celebrities are naturally going to skew following/follower, but give the average punter a break (yes, I’m in the category of following more than are following me).

    especially when you are new to twitter and have to start by finding interesting people to follow before you’ve done much yourself by way of tweeting etc.

    plus, i’m no mathematician but is it even possible to have an entire community that conforms to more followers than following for every single member?

  24. Kate Kendall
    29 Jul 09
    5:35 pm

    25. @Rob – It seems that the majority of ‘Twexperts’ reach their glorified status as popular ‘Twurus’ from aggressively following people in hope of a return follow.

  25. Isaac
    29 Jul 09
    5:38 pm

    26. Instead of picking a specific ratio, I think you can cover that group by specifying anyone following more than they can feasibly read – e.g., more than, say, 150-200 people.

  26. Rob
    29 Jul 09
    5:40 pm

    27. i see what you’re saying. though amongst the non-glitterati it seems a rule of etiquette to follow everyone who follows you……particularly US tweeters. some of them even put in their bio – “follow me and I’ll follow you back”. seems a pointless exercise

  27. Kate Kendall
    29 Jul 09
    5:44 pm

    28. @Isaac – yeah, I agree. Couple hundred over is fine… it’s the ones that join, follow 1,000, send out commercial message… and so forth.

  28. Scott Esdaile
    29 Jul 09
    6:06 pm

    29. What about people that are obsessed with tweeting their current location? Yes, location-based apps/mashups can be cool… but not when all you do is go from home to work to home to work to home…

  29. Allen MacCannell
    29 Jul 09
    9:54 pm

    30. I kind of like the #OriginalityFail idea. But thanks for warning me it would be uncool. Gotta keep up with the cool cats. ;-)

    How is the Addtoany service that gives you the social media buttons at the end of the article? Does anyone know of the best looking offerings of any such button service?

  30. Dayton
    29 Jul 09
    10:01 pm

    31. Well this is the biggest problem with twitter after spam. This made up version of snobbery is just dumb. Telling people who to unfallow. Sounds like it is time to go to coffee shop gripe, kackle, and feel better about yourself. If you had any talent. Oh I am sorry
    a n y which means S O M E talent. You get could things done. So griping and tearing down others does not make you feel like da dumyy dumb you are. So even if you are a Dumyy dumb you can fallow me (EXCEPT SPAMMERS YOU BAS#$%DS) isilverthe@twitter.com

  31. Allen MacCannell @ SenderOK
    29 Jul 09
    10:22 pm

    32. Yes, it is true that the old LinkedIn phenomenon of “I will connect with anyone” doesn’t work on Twitter nor should it. With LinkedIn we never got a stream of spammy updates from others unless we joined groups and had newsletters clicked on in settings. So connecting to a lot of people on LinkedIn really only had the benefit of increasing the likelihood of getting someone to personally recommend you to a specific person you needed to do business with or get a job from. I remember wanting to connect with LIONS who connected with everybody who asked because it reduced the 6 degrees of separation down to the point where, for me, any serious businessperson in the USA was “in my network”.

    This worked for me in its time and probably still works well. LinkedIn got me hired within 40 days of putting myself on the market as the recession hit hard last winter. It could have been 20 days but for the need to move geographically. I had asked a venture capitalist if I could connect and he said “Sure and drop by anytime you’re in town”. Two weeks later I dropped by. I took LinkedIn into the real world quickly.

    Twitter doesn’t operate on 3 degrees of separation putting you “in the network” and such LinkedIn recommendations that would carry a lot of weight as to whether someone took you seriously or not. With Twitter, your stream is either interesting or not to the people you connect with or who are directed to look at it. Your stream at any one time becomes more relevant than the LinkedIn online resume and degree of separation.

    But a person’s willingness to follow your Twitter comments means, in and of itself, far less than their friending you on LinkedIn…their Auto-DMs are often bot driven which is unconscionable on LinkedIn. I present the above example of a LinkedIn VC saying “Sure I will connect and drop by anytime you are in town”.

    We are all guilty of letting questionable people at least follow us on Twitter (without our blocking them) in order to make our stats look good. I have blocked more than 1000 people however (more than follow me). That is how many spammers are out there. If you have 200 followers and never blocked anyone, it means that you probably only have 50 people reading your tweets.

  32. Dayton
    29 Jul 09
    11:46 pm

    33. Hey, pal I block 40 percent of all peeps. An it has nothing to do with the people. Just if they have ideas or abilities. I fallow people that can teach me or help me or think I am really cool. So I have not yet found someone to fallow on the last one. Just a matter of time. But, I do know that rigidity stiffels Creativity. Pal, l obliviously am not a english major. But, I can spell LAME.

  33. Dayton
    29 Jul 09
    11:48 pm

    34. Nice chit chatten. I work nights crash time hit me up. AND oh nevermind.

  34. Foxtail
    30 Jul 09
    10:06 am

    35. How can you tell when someone is trying to get “instant validation” from a celeb’s reply as opposed to someone who’s just tweeting/replying to a celeb? Twitter isn’t meant to be a one-way medium.

  35. Anand
    30 Jul 09
    3:30 pm

    36. @Michael duvall: Shucks! I didn’t read your comment first, and I ended up sending this link as a tweet (lol).

    A very amusing list indeed. I somehow feel glad that about a month ago, I changed my twitter uesrname to ‘anandspeak’ from the original ‘xpsguy’ (eeks! ending with guy).

  36. nafnosseb
    30 Jul 09
    5:10 pm

    37. Cool list, do not agree with #wordFAIL point though.

  37. Michael
    30 Jul 09
    10:51 pm

    38. Its called twitter because your all fu?king twits, you are all up yourselves, re read your own comments.

  38. Mia
    30 Jul 09
    10:59 pm

    39. What is your problem with people replying or tweeting to celebs? I do that, I don’t care if they reply or not, and I’m not hoping for instant twitter validation. Someone, not important who, replied to me, which was cool. The only people who know that is those who follow me and that celeb, I did not shout out to my entire list of followers, so I’m a bit offended by that point in your list! But hey, you’re entitled to your opinion!

  39. mumbrella
    31 Jul 09
    6:16 am

    40. Hi Mia,

    Thanks for your comment.

    To clarify, you sometimes see @celeb messages where the main intention appears to be to get them to publically reply to them because of the minor kudos that will bring, rather than hold a genuine conversation.

    Cheers,

    Tim – Mumbrella

  40. Kath Purkis
    31 Jul 09
    11:59 am

    41. Thank you for the tips!

  41. Susan Moore
    31 Jul 09
    12:22 pm

    42. I’ll add anyone who calls themselves a ‘maven’ or even uses the word.

  42. Simon Fitzgerald
    31 Jul 09
    12:48 pm

    43. People who use the phrase “OMG you guys” and I don’t think it was said above, people who lock their accounts!

  43. Michael
    4 Aug 09
    9:18 pm

    44. You all are still fucking twits, i was hopeful that you would all stop being such pompous fucks. Thats not going to happen is it!

  44. Zipfox
    6 Aug 09
    1:30 pm

    45. funny :)

  45. J.Warner
    14 Aug 09
    4:44 am

    46. follow when it makes utter SENSE and doesn’t waste brain matter, follow Oprah, CBS, TIMES, LAkers, ULA, MBA, Anderson Cooper 360…Google..other STARS..Celebs..and Top Deal and educating Sites like mine, lol. IQ sites..hey these are only suggestions. Buts are things I live with.

    As a matter of Fact My Tweet should be private, im a Pro Blogger and Graphics Designer & Logo Pro, a musician, im a Computer Sci. Scholar, at my local University and I tweet about my steps to successfully earning online to pay college bills. If interested.. im 19.lol. you can UNfollow me at *topdealz* lol.

  46. J.Warner
    14 Aug 09
    4:50 am

    47. My watch wordsare success, PROGRESSION, intelligence (even if you think for some reason you aint that smart, your still a friend, ok)….im new tweeting but great with facebookin, for some reason I draw a crowd of genuine people, who want to work, earn and life live to its fullest..

  47. J.Warner
    14 Aug 09
    5:13 am

    48. I think this is notices but utter non sense, people who lock their accounts want privacy from DESPERATE fools, and may accept those who promise a cleaner relationship or friendship, added success,and such forth, dont you THINK….,.also to escape spammers.

    roflol, it amazing what people argue about these days, you guys or girls are some seriously funny psycho’s, stop wasting brain space and adding trash to cycber-space and live with it, or go private or just quit all together. lol

  48. Joel Pearson
    14 Aug 09
    9:04 am

    49. What. The. Fuck?

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