What makes me 'unfollow' people (and how can we apply such lessons to our approaches online)?

I recently had a little purge on Twitter and unfollowed a number of people. It's a healthy process and makes you feel somehow cleansed (a bit like having a good old clear out of your wardrobe). As I did so, I reflected on the reasons why I unfollowed people and thought I'd summarise those reasons here.

I unfollowed:

• People who only tweet about themselves (when their lives aren't particularly interesting);


• People who tweet inane crap (sorry, this is very general, but I'm looking for value-add from Twitter, otherwise I'm wasting my time on there, so if all your tweets are about how it is snowing in London, but I live in Newcastle, then that goes into the 'inane crap' bin for me);


• People who bulk-tweet and then disappear for a while (I cannot stand this - it's like invading a stage at a conference, shouting something, and then making a speedy exit without waiting around for the reaction);


• People who were interesting to me when I first started using Twitter, but have been 'overtaken' in the interesting/usefulness stakes by other people (this doesn't mean you're using Twitter 'wrong', it just means I have finessed and revised what I am using Twitter for and what I can get out of it - this has shifted as more and more people have joined the conversation in recent years);


• People who don't post any relevant information for me (absolutely critical for me - it is all about value-add);


• PR people who spend all their time tweeting about their clients (ugh, that's all I have to say about that one);


• People who just tweet press releases (ugh again, enough said);


• People who retweet positive things that others have said about them (okay, this won't necessarily make me unfollow you, but if you're great, then I'll know you're great and I won't need to see this little piece of self-indulgence - there are many other things to do with positive tweets about you that retweeting them to everyone else).

This isn't remotely scientific, but I often advise people to think about how they use social media themselves (and their own mental filtering processes) when they think about how they use social media to engage other people. Or, if you're not a heavy social media user, think about the mental filtering processes that you apply when deciding which emails to open first in your bulging inbox. We all apply these filtering processes to just about everything we do (it's decision making and prioritisation), but I often find that when we're trying to get messages out to other people, we forget that they too have their own mental filtering criteria (whether they're aware of it or not).

So, with this in mind, how can you ensure that people (forget about me, I'm not important) don't unfollow you or your organisation on Twitter or other such sites? Here are a few thoughts:

• Apply my mantra: useful, interesting, relevant. Make sure that what you are sharing is at least one of these things to them (this might not be the same thing as what is useful, interesting and relevant to you);


• Add value: provide content that adds value to their lives. This might be providing them with something that could save them time, offer them a new perspective on something, add another string to their professional bow, etc. If they are followers who really matter to you, then look out for opportunities to help them with something through signposting or forming useful connections for them;


• Be personable but not self-centered or self-obsessed. It's possible to inject your personality without talking about yourself all the time;


• Be humble. Be confident in your own worth and awesomeness. We don't need to see that someone said something great about you. Just be great, and we'll think the same thing anyway (show us, don't tell us);


• Don't tweet too much (you'll overpower us and make us weary);


• Don't tweet too little (we'll forget about you).

Underpinning all of this is a basic and simple guiding principle: know who you want your audience to be (keep it narrow and clearly defined) and know what makes them tick. If you understand these two things, then you'll know exactly how you can add value to their lives, what content they will engage with. If you know all of this, then there should never be any reason for them wanting to unfollow you.