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Robert Stanke: Proof that Twitter is simply about ego

By Robert Stanke | 06/09/10

A little over a week ago, I went on a Twitter purge.  I simply was just getting to much noise and wanted to clear my stream of Twitter information, and kind of give things a fresh start.  Then I followed up that post with another one that explained that I was experiencing an interesting trend in my follower/following ratio.

It seemed that if I unfollowed someone, they felt it necessary to unfollow me in return.

Perhaps because they were offended that I stopped following them?  Why did they follow me in the first place, if only to dump me when I dumped them?  It led me to the conclusion that in a lot of cases Twitter is simply an ego-driven, "you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours" type of platform.

Too much consideration on your "numbers." Kind of disappointing, really. Ironically, when I would re-follow a person I had stopped following a week ago, they would follow me back!  Hmmm... interesting.


So even if my Twitter stream of links and ramblings might have offered value to someone, they still felt that just because I unfollowed them, they had to do the same.

Does anyone else see where this might be a problem?

Before I get to the heart of this post, I do want to mention that my Twitter purge was one of the best things I have ever done in Twitter.

I found my engagement level increase and I connected with new people, forging new relationships with the likes of individuals such as Judy Grundstrom.

I wouldn't trade this experiment for anything!

I did want to share with you that during my purge, there was a correlation between the followering/follower trend.  The first chart below shows the rate over a month period that I unfollowed accounts in Twitter:


The next chart shows the rate (over the same period of time), my count of followers:


It is pretty clear to see the relationship between the two charts.  I guess I don't really have much to say on the matter, and since my purge is done, I am just going to let this topic rest.  I just found the data very interesting.  I would love to hear your comments if you have any.

This blog was written by Robert Stanke and originally published on Robertstanke.com.

Comments (8)

Submitted by Missy Berggren on June 9, 2010 - 9:07am.

Robert,

As a fan of social media, including twitter, I found your post interesting.

Part of what you experienced may be software related. There are some programs twitter users sign up for that will automatically unfollow anyone who drops them first. They may not even notice it happened until they get a report later. I use ChirpStats, which sends me weekly e-mails of how many adds/drops I had, and shows me the names of those folks.

I've gone on twitter purges, too. In fact, I've started resisting the urge to follow back every new follower... because, like you, it was becoming too shallow and I wasn't enjoying it anymore.

Twitter is an interesting medium. I enjoy the interactive nature of it and have found and/or fostered many friendships because of it... so I won't be dropping Twitter itself for awhile. :)

Submitted by Bill Gleason on June 9, 2010 - 9:32am.

I am not really sure how someone can follow more than 500 people. Perhaps if you were a little more selective - initially - such pruning would not be necessary. And no, it is not necessary to follow everyone who follows you.

Submitted by Bob Stanke on June 9, 2010 - 9:54am.

Missy,

Yes, I totally agree - some of it is auto-app related. However, that is part of the problem. When you follow someone, you should be following them because you like their content, not because they are following you. That is why auto-follow and auto-unfollow programs are a mistake, in my opinion.

Bill,

Well, I use tools that allow me to aggregate and filter out content of the 600-1000 people I may be following, so that is not a huge deal. Also, I do not follow everyone who follows me. In fact, I have a specific strategy I use for who I follow. For example, I only follow people in my industry, industries I am interested in, or people in Minnesota (just to give you some examples). I follow that plan and it gives me the feed I want to see.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Bob Stanke

Submitted by Justin Ware on June 9, 2010 - 10:35am.

Great thoughts, Robert!

Before I go any further, allow me to be upfront and say that I am one of those you dumped and I, in turn, dumped you. Now here's my reasons why...

Twitter is, obviously, about communicating. When I post a tweet, it's meant to start a conversation, obtain advice, get a question answered ...rarely do I post a comment that isn't meant to garner a response from someone in the Twitterverse. The people I choose to follow are, for the most part, folks who I'd like to hear from. If those people aren't following me, then how would they be able to respond to my tweets? Unless their account is of extremely high value to me (a journalist I follow, for example), if someone stops following me, I'm going to unfollow them to keep their tweets from congesting my feeds.

Is that narcissism? Perhaps. I look at it more as a practical way of purging accounts that are less likely to provide value to my endeavors. Either way, it's certainly nothing personal.

Submitted by Bob Stanke on June 9, 2010 - 10:55am.

Justin,

I have enjoyed our conversations on Twitter, so you like so many others, will be one I will follow again (I noted accounts I want to revisit during my purge of over 600 accounts). I agree, it is about conversation. Is there a bit of narcissism in saying that you post questions to get a response, but then won't respond to mine if I have the same MO as you but now you can't because you are not following me?... Maybe, but I am not going to look that deep into it!

Specifically in regards to you you, Justin, I subscribe to your blog - which is a medium I enjoy a ton more than Twitter. That is where I hope the majority of our conversations happen in the future, especially since there is no guarantee that Twitter will be around a year from now, but a blog can live on.

Finally, I don't like to think I "dumped" you on Twitter. I was merely "realigning"! Hahaha! :)

Bob Stanke

Submitted by Karl Pearson-Cater on June 9, 2010 - 11:04am.

Interesting post, Robert. That's very curious about the 'unfollow = getting unfollowed' trend.

I follow more than 1000 people right now, and you're right that it's impossible to keep up.

But I treat Twitter more like radio these days -- I tune in when I have time. If I miss something good, I rely on others RTing the good stuff. Do I miss some things? Sure. Is there a lot of noise? Sometimes.

I personally don't worry about getting unfollowed. People have their own good reasons to adjust what tweets are showing up in their timelines. I can still communicate with them on Twitter with an @reply and they can @reply me back. So unless I get BLOCKED, it's all good.

Suggestion! Try BLOCKING @justjudyblog and write about what happens. That could turn into like 4 blog posts of material!

Submitted by Justin Ware on June 9, 2010 - 11:06am.

Robert,

You bring up a very good point ...Twitter is by no means the only medium to follow folks on in social media. Blogs (the macro kind), LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc. often provide much more meaningful conversations than what can be squeezed into 140 characters.

I'm glad to hear you think my ramblings over on my personal blog are worth following! And I truly appreciate your feedback. Furthermore, now that you're officially a MinnPost columnist, you'll probably be pushed to the top of most people's "must-follow" lists! :)

Keep the great thoughts coming,

JW

Submitted by Bob Stanke on June 9, 2010 - 11:26am.

Karl,

Thanks for the comments and I am glad you liked the post. And thanks for being part of the process to allow us "regular joe bloggers" the opportunity to be on MinnPost!

Justin,

I would re-follow you on Twitter right now if it wasn't down! Twitter has been on its knees all day today!

Bob Stanke