Friday, March 19, 2010

Dear Person I just Unfollowed on Twitter:


It's not you, it's me.

Okay, that's not true. It's totally you. For most of you, it was a simple matter of you not following me back. Now, that's not to say I follow people simply to be followed back. I actually followed you because either someone in my "friends" column recommended you or someone I follow retweeted something amusing or interesting from you. Or maybe I know of you through your blog or something.

Or maybe you're in publishing or you're an agent or a well known author and I thought it would be a good idea to follow you to keep up with the latest goings on in the literary world. But then I figured, I follow plenty of publishers, agents, and well known authors who follow me back. And it's pretty rare I read something in 140 characters or less that I would put into the category of "life changing".

I followed a few of you celebrities for a bit. But then I remembered I don't care what you ate for lunch, where you ate your lunch, who you ate your lunch with, that your new album is selling really well, or that OMG you're LMAO.

And then there are the "social media experts" who I followed a long time ago before I knew any better. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Here's the thing about me and the twitter - I actually like having conversations with people. If you're not following me, how am I supposed to talk to you or give you unsolicited advice about things that are absolutely none of my business?

I'm sure you see my point.

Love,

@katdish

P.S. - Now that I've cleaned out my following list, I need some new folks to follow. Gimme some good suggestions, will you please?

32 comments:

♥ Kathy said...

First I had to look and make sure I wasn't one of the deleted ones...I barely keep up with conversations there but I try! Hmmm good people to follow? IDK I got all my best people off your list!

Real Life Sarah said...

I like your straightforward talk! I wonder if you ever talked back to those who you think should follow you back? I had someone say to me yesterday, "You're missing out by not following me." She and I had had conversations and I simply did not realize I wasn't following her. I promptly apologized and followed her.

Lots of tweeps just run out of time to look through their followers and make sure they follow back the non-spammers, so a helpful nudge is great sometimes!

Unknown said...

Love this! You're probably following many of the same people I am, but a few I love are @Bahamabob, @MaryDeMuth, @amysorrells, and @rawarrior.

Anonymous said...

I can't stand people who call themselves "social media experts." They always have 50,000 followers, because their expertise is in spamming everyone, though they have nothing to say. I can't imagine having that kind of platform and offering nothing of value.

Unknown said...

Ooh... I bet I got deleted. I haven't been on Twitter, in, like, months. OMG.

Cassandra Frear said...

Love the letter! What a hoot!

Richard Mabry said...

You're doing what I've threatened to do for some time--clean house on Twitter and Facebook. One group I'll be certain to drop are those who use Twitter to send messages meant for one person but sent to the world. Haven't they heard of direct messaging?

Thanks for your post.

Michael said...

This is too cool. Absolutely loved this.

Billy Coffey said...

This is awesome, Katdish. I need to clean out my twitter account, too. But no way am I unfollowing Brad Paisley. I can't believe you did that.

Melissa_Rae said...

I loved the comment about unsolicited advice. So funny! My problem with Twitter is that I feel strange just striking up a conversation with someone I don't know. But after following people for a while I'll start chatting...then watch out, you'll never get me to shut up. :)

Helen said...

I have accidentally not followed real people back. I try to check lists of who they follow or following them to look for mutual friends. I wish Twitter had a mutual friends button.

Jason said...

Great post. I unfollowed a bunch myself about a week ago because I realized I really wasn't getting much from following them.

Anonymous said...

i definitely enjoy your own writing way, very interesting,
don't quit and keep creating mainly because it simply very well worth to read it.
looking forward to see more of your own content, enjoy your day ;)

jasonS said...

Yeah, I need to go back in a clean a little more. Some of them are scary to face though! I've been trying to keep up with the "quitters" through Nutshell Mail updates. I definitely feel what you're saying here...

April said...

This post cracks me up. I am SO new to Twitter and was feeling self-conscious that I had practically no followers but was following a ton of people. I cleaned house last week but now my Twitter looks so sparse. But, I grew tired of following people that I hadn't truly connected with...I kind of felt like that tag-along kid from grade school. Now, I'll just follow people that I may be able to relate to better. Who knows, I may tag along behind you!

Anonymous said...

I would say to follow @vanityofvanities, but if there is such a person on Twitter, she is not me. Don't follow her. She could be a heretic.

:)

katdish said...

Oh, Angela!

Why must you be so stubborn? Did you see that Matt made the Top 100 influential church websites? Do you think he could have done that without the twitter? Me thinks not. Just admit that I'm right and cave already! You know you want to.

Anonymous said...

Loved this! And reading the comments was hilarious! Now I'm going to rant for a while. :D Get used to it.

Billy, *gasp* I can't believe you follow Brad Paisley. That's just... well... sad.

Melissa Rae, You can get all up in my hood anytime. I love it when people (like @katdish) stick their noses in my business. Sometimes, it's really good advice!

Great post Katdish!

Why do I have this impulsive need to always say "meow" after seeing your name anywhere? It's not a sensual suggestion. Trust me. It's just "cat dish" = "meow"

Meow,
Marty

Anonymous said...

Found your post via Twitter (shocking)! This was pretty funny... now I'm off to clean my own following list. Too much clutter!

Laura said...

Sigh. This is something I must do too. what was I thinking? I honestly don't tweet a lot, but when I do visit my page, I like to be greeted by updates about stuff I care about. You inspire bravery. Maybe I'll go over now and wipe a few out.

Anonymous said...

You've inspired me to do some spring cleaning myself.

Your comments always seem to take on a life of their own. *meow*

Amy Sorrells said...

I can't believe you freaking deleted me. GAAAAAAAA!!!!! At least Jodi Whisenhunt loves me.

Jeanne Damoff said...

My twitter time has been drastically limited by injury. If you unfollow me, I'll come down there and give you a double eye poke. Don't think I won't. Same goes for Billy "Sponge Bob" Coffey.

xo

katdish said...

Oh shut up Amy. You know I caint quit you!

Anonymous said...

wipe em out, baby!
go for it!

Corinne Cunningham said...

I've been meaning to go through my list... it gets so overwhelming!

katdish said...

Okay, dang it. I accidentally rejected a comment, & I don't know how to get it back from the abyss, so here it is:

Robin Arnold said:

I Twitter clean every couple of weeks. I get housework points of course. I like lists. I put folks in lists which makes a nice pod then unfollow to strain them out of the main feed. I'm too old and bifocaled and font challenged to use Tweetdeck etc, at least until they make it possible to make things bigger. Have you ever cleaned up your followers too? I have a hard time understanding why some of them follow me, especially the scantily clad.

Megan Willome said...

You rock, girlfriend! I resisted Twitter for a long time b/c people told me I "had" to do it a certain way. Now I'm doing it in a way that blesses me and doesn't clutter up my life. P.S. Love your blog!

Anonymous said...

Katdish - But, I don't want to be an influential church website.

Wendy said...

Of course, everything I tweet is life changing, so you'll never unfollow me, right? Katdish? Hello?

Matt mmWine Horbund said...

Interesting post.. glad I stumbled upon it from a fellow twitter friend.

I follow a lot of people, about 2600. And I have about double that following me. Not everyone is for everyone else. The courtesy part of twitter, giving everyone a follow back, only goes so far. If I tweet about wine, and you don't drink wine and don't to learn about wine, why would you automagically follow me back once I've followed you? Makes no sense, we wont engage each other, and we're just propping up each ohter's ego.

Twitter is a tool -different for all - but still a tool. if you fail to use the tool effectively, you'll fail at whatever objectives you set for yourself.

All that being said, follow me on twitter @mmwine :)

Cheers
Matt

katdish said...

Matt,

Okay. I will. But if you don't courtesy refollow, I'm laying down thr unfollow hammer on you.