Why I'm dumping our Twitter followers

You guys, I’ve been going about this Twitter thing all wrong.

I like Twitter. I think it’s a great way to find information, and an easy and effective way to share information. But Twitter is like the ocean, man. If you turn your back on it, it can turn on you quickly.

That’s what’s happening to me. I’m drowning on Twitter.

Behold: a cautionary tale.

Follow the Formula, Win at Twitter

The thing about using Twitter for business is that, in order to share your information, you have to have people to share it with. And that of course means followers.

I’ve written before about the formula for instant Twitter success:

1. Search for influential people in your industry.

2. Follow them.

3. Follow the people they follow, and the people that follow them.

4. Engage with your new followers.

5. Repeat ad nauseaum.

Simples, right? But here’s the kicker: that fourth step — engage — is not a small thing. It’s what makes this whole process work.

No one is going to share your information simply because you want them to. Nor will they share your junk just because you share theirs, I’ve found.

Every once in awhile, someone will share your stuff if they think it’s legitimately good. But most often? I find that people share my posts because we have some kind of rapport, either on or off Twitter.

Taking the time to get friendly with folks. That’s the engage part of engagement.

So what happens when you build up a giant list of followers but don’t have the time to actually talk to any of them? Well, let me tell you.

If Following Is Wrong, I Don't Want to Be Right. (False)

When I took over the Buildicus Twitter account, I immediately started following people in the marketing world, and a lot of them followed me back. I shared their information, some of them shared mine. Everything was puppies and lollipops.

But then I did the thing everyone does. I looked at our number of followers and thought, “We need MORE.” So I followed the formula.

I devoted hours to following people. After a month, if they didn’t follow me back, I unfollowed them and then devoted more hours to following others. After awhile we ended up here:

My plan to increase our number of followers was working like a damn charm. I gave myself pats on the back, told myself I was a wizard at Twitter, and kept on working the formula.

Everything was coming up Millhouse. And then one day I decided I just didn’t give a crap about Twitter anymore.

What Would Buffy the Vampire Slayer Do?

Here’s what happened. The more people I followed, the more Twitter ceased being of use to me. Because it was all just a steady stream of noise.

It reminded me of a certain episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (the greatest show ever) called “Earshot.” Stay with me here.

In the episode, Buffy gets imbued with an aspect of a demon she fights — its ability to hear thoughts. At first, Buffy is like, “This is awesome. I can totally use this.”

But after awhile, Buffy starts to hear everyone’s thoughts, all at the same time. It gets to the point where she can’t distinguish one thought from another, and it slowly starts to drive her mad.

[caption id=”attachment_4610” align=”aligncenter” width=”480”] Too. Much. Twitter.
[photo: Vampire Placebo][/caption] 

This is what Twitter has become for me. Everyone’s thoughts, all at the same time. It’s starting to feel like way too much effort to try to weed out the really useful stuff from the absolute crap that comprises most of my timeline.

And since I’m not paying attention to what others are sharing on Twitter, and not trying to get to know folks, there’s no engagement. People are not sharing my content. Twitter has become all but useless to Buildicus.

So, since I don’t have a hot vampire boyfriend to feed me the blood of the demon to reverse these effects like Buffy did, I have to take matters into my own hands.

(Seriously, it’s a great show. BUFFY FOREVER.)

Putting the Toothpaste Back in the Tube

My idea is this: Clean house.

I know who I have relationships with on Twitter and who I don’t. It will be easy to let go of the “follow back-ers.”

Yes, I fully expect to lose followers. That’s how it should be.

And I fully expect to piss off my boss, Irma. (Sorry, dude.)

But I hope this grand experiment will re-invest me in this social network, enough to where I can really start using it to the advantage of our business.

And, of course, if I don’t see significant change in interest or engagement, I can always go on another following rampage (sigh).

What do you think? Am I batshit crazy for dumping our Twitter followers?