In the past few weeks, a number of big-named bloggers dumped all of the people they followed on Twitter in one felt swoop.
First, Chris Brogan did it. Then, Michael Hyatt did it.
It didn’t take long for dozens of others to follow suit, creating a domino effect across the Twittersphere.
Although this idea might seem harsh, the reasons for doing it are valid – rampant twitter spam, full inboxes of direct messages and the fact that they really couldn’t keep up with more than 100,000 followers anyway.
The real reason many of these folks have ended up in this predicament in the first place is because they automated their following efforts. Every time someone followed one of these folks, they automatically followed that person back.
Although that sounds good in theory, they ended up following a list bloated with spam and other slimy individuals and businesses.
So, now they’re forced to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch.
And, the results have been positive for them. They have reclaimed their inbox and found Twitter to be more useful.
But, should you do it?
This approach certainly isn’t for everyone. It all boils down to your particular situation, your social media strategy and the goals for your business.
For instance, are you using Twitter to raise awareness about your brand, deepen relationships with your customers and prospects or drive traffic to your blog?
You need to have a good understanding of how you want Twitter to help your business or blog before you can best determine how to use it.
Chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you don’t have the same following that Chris or Michael does. You are still working hard to build and grow your audience. That’s why you’re here.
While industry leaders have great advice, you have to remember to apply it to your situation. What works for them may not work for you.
So, if you were to take this mass unfollow approach, the results might be drastically different for you.
Before you unfollow everyone on Twitter, ask yourself these questions:
1. What do I hope to accomplish by doing this?
Before you push the unfollow button, give some serious thought as to why you want to do it. Are you simply following a trend or do you have a legitimate reason to change your approach?
You might find that you have a really good motive for unfollowing everyone. Maybe you want to take the time to rediscover your audience. Unfollowing would be a good (but very time consuming) way to do that. Or, perhaps like Chris and Michael, you autofollowed a lot of folks and you want to push the reset button.
Whatever it is, make sure you are crystal clear about why you want to do this before you proceed.
2. Does this approach ring true with my overall strategy?
Take a long hard look at your Twitter approach. Does dumping the people you follow on Twitter fit with your goals? Does it align with your brand image?
For better or worse, the number of people you follow says a lot about your personality on social media. If you only follow a few people, some might say you’re an elitist (whether it’s true or not). Meanwhile, if you follow everyone back, you may be offering up a false sense of endorsement or attention.
Either option comes with strong perceptions attached. You have to consider what each approach says about you and which one best represents your brand.
And, when you examine these ideas, you just might find that the answer is somewhere in between.
3. What does this say to my audience?
In looking at your Twitter strategy, you also have to consider your audience and the people you are trying to serve.
If you unfollow everyone, what does that say to your customers, prospects and supporters? How will unfollowing make them feel?
Every blogger that went through this unfollowing endeavor experienced some backlash. It might be worth it for you to do that, but you have to be prepared for that kind of response.
It’s YOUR call
The bottom line is that there is no right answer to this question. You have to know what approach works best for you and your business.
Whatever you do, just make sure you take a moment to think things through before blindly following the advice of someone else.
Are you considering unfollowing everyone on Twitter? Why or why not? Or, need help deciding? Let me know what you’re thinking in the comments and we’ll talk this through together.
About Laura
Yes mass unfollowing may not be for everyone. To me, to have numerous Twitter followers is not a problem, because I create lists and organize the tweets. This way I am able to see tweets from almost all my followers, although not in real time line and not ALL tweets. But I can manage that way!
However if too many followers cause spam issues, then we should think about doing something. Yet we can still change the email notification settings in Twitter.
@janesheeba Yes, lists are AWESOME! That’s where I spend all of my time on Twitter.
The Mass Un -Follow debate this is fun
First a true story about Chris Brogan
I am on Chris’s email list as well as Stanfords
I followed Chris within a few months of opening my account on Twitter. I subscribe to a couple of his lists. I receive some great content. Chris has been getting a lot of stick about his approach to the hard sell. I have wrote a few post about the issue on my blog. In one of Chris emails a few months ago he said he automatically followed everybody back. This was not my experience because he was not following me. I was not bothered either way but when I read it in an email from Chris it made me wonder. But heck these things happen right 
Anyway popular blog A writes about Chris and his aggressive sales tactics. I see the post read it and comment in support of Chris’s right to market and sell services, after all he is clear on what he does and why. He is prolific, writes great content and for me delivers a lot of value. Anyway I make a joke about his email about following everybody back automatically. A week later I get DM from Chris very polite.We have giggle about it and I am impressed he took the time out communicate his reasons for not following me.
Few weeks later Chris stops following me. I was in Stitches
never felt the least bit offended and absolutely understood where he was coming from. How can you get any value out of following 1000000 Twitter accounts. Impossible it just turns into one big mess. What Chris provides is valuable. And he does it for free and a fee at times but mostly he provides value and not rehashed value either. He actually thinks about what he is writing and how it can help readers. Now he is also inconistent and contradicotry to an extent. I think that is because he is a human being. He changes his mind, his perspective and he grows as he goes. 
And by the way if your running a business that is what successful entrepreneurs do they keep moving forward looking for new innovation, creative solutions for clients and ways to make themselves better at what they do. That is why they are so successful.
Great Post Laura enjoyed reading it and the comments. And thanks Stanford. I followed you and it took me months for you to reciprocate
But we got their in the end but now your so busy I hardly see you unless I visit the outpost . I hope I stay interesting enough. All the best 
@kennyrose22 Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Kenny, I appreciate it!
I haven’t had any personal interaction with Chris myself, but by all accounts, he is a smart, nice guy. This post was in no way a dig on him or his approach. He has his reasons for taking this tact. I have mine. We all have to do what’s right for our own businesses. I think people tend to give Chris a lot of flack because he’s at the top. It’s easy to throw stones at a guy, but hard to walk a mile in their shoes.
You mentioned something very important about entrepreneurship – it definitely is a practice of trying out different approaches to see what works. In fact, Chris just wrote about that today. While his unfollowing folks was to improve his Twitter experience, it also was an experiment. I get that. It’s a shame so many people took it personally.
Thanks for the response Laura.
Agree completely. People do take it personally. Chris provides a lot of value. People forget he is also in business. And it is about results. Your post raised the question for discussion it is healthy to discuss these developments with respect. I did not get the sense you were trying to have a dig at Chris.
Balanced and informative article that will help people.
I have wrote about following and unfollowing on Twitter http://goo.gl/hLTku I think this explains my take on the following and unfollowing better than I could here..
What people also forget is how many times they use his ideas and don’t acknowledge the source of those ideas or that fact he help them make money or up their game.
I don’t agree with everything Chris does. But I absolutely respect him. I read his content, spread it when I believe it is relevant and @ him on Twitter when he tweets anything I find interesting or when I have a perspective I would like to share with him.
I believe this is part of the process of being social and also a way to give back to Chris. It is the ability to share perspectives in this way that makes social media work for all parties involved in the process of sharing.
Chris feeds of this process as do other high profile entrepreneurs and bloggers. I could go on about entrepreneurship and business but I will save the rest for my blog.
Enjoyed the article and the comments.
Hi Stanford and Laura,
I “follow” 80 peeps and I can not read everything that they post. Most of the people I follow are linking to blogs and articles. I haven’t used Twitter to broadcast yet, just to listen. That is how I found this blog.
I find this post really interesting, as I follow problogger who has 150k followers to about the same followed, and I just couldn’t see how that could translate into meaningful interaction. If I went to a concert and every one of the hundred thousand people attending all had an instrument and were rocking out I am fairly sure it would be a massive din, as I am sure a twitter feed with 100k also is, so it makes sense to me that they are culling the herd.
If I look at a random twitter user and they are following the same number of people they follow it does not make automatic sense that they are any kind of authority, but then perhaps there is something to be said for managing a large twitter feed with one of the many websites that let you do that and hiding the select few people that you want to follow. I mean journalists don’t reveal their sources right?
Peace,
Mike
Hi Mike – Thanks for stopping by and weighing in. I like your concert analogy – there’s something to that. Social media can get very noisy. The good news is there are ways to cull your engagement without pruning your list of people you follow. Twitter lists, for example, offer a great way to do that.
Even with 2500+ people I follow, there’s no way I can possibly see everything they tweet or even keep up with all of them. But, I dip in and see what folks are saying and because I follow them, the opportunity for engagement is there.
Hi Laura,
I personally do not agree that we should unfollow everyone and start from scratch. Yes, Chris has done it and so have a few others, but maybe that was because they had too many followers and in such a situation things do get more complicated to manage things. I think it is each one to his/her own. I had learnt very early to choose and follow people after proper selection, so I am alright in that aspect. However, once they have started on a clean slate, they sure are happier about it as now they are able to read the tweets and pay more attention to the people they are really following.
Thanks for sharing
You’re right – you have to find the right approach that works best for YOU. What works for Chris isn’t going to work for everyone else. Thanks for weighing in!
I wrote about this as well after hearing about Chris Brogan doing it. Personally, I won’t do it, but I wouldn’t just follow people because they were following me in the first place. I have a nice ratio, and truth be told, if people actually engage me back and I’m not following them, then I probably will.
As for the decision of others, they can do as they wish, but so many of them want to announce it and then get upset when other people freak about it. That’s the lesson of consequences; still do what you want to do, but weigh how you’re going to do it.
It’s all about striking a balance. I don’t blindly follow, just like I wouldn’t blindly follow. Everyone has to come up with their own reasons for why they choose to follow someone in the first place. Whatever you decide to do, it helps to think it through – and the consequences that go with it.
Thanks, Mitch!
Hey Laura,
Some really great points! The whole unfollow thing mystified me a bit. But frankly, I can’t conceive of the effects of having 100k followers. I think someone like Mark might have a better perspective.
I think you hit the nail on the head — it’s all about your own strategy and goals. I quite auto-following within the first few weeks of starting. As a result, I’ve got a pretty high percentage of real people who are interested in my content following me — but my numbers increase very slowly. So no, I won’t be jumping on the unfollow bandwagon, but it was good to see here that others are taking that approach.
You’re right – your growth tends to be a lot slower when you don’t automate things. But, by doing that, you end up with real, live people who are engaged with you. I’ll take that any day of the week!
Thanks for stopping by, Adam!
in Aug 2008,I did a mass cull and unfollowed approx 13,000 people that i had followed.. I took bad advice when I started and thought it was the right thing to do to be polite and follow everyone back that followed me… It was the worst piece of Twitter advice that i was ever given….
But i took a lot of abuse when I did it. some said i was plain rude, some telling me that if i am not following them, then they will stop following me.. my reaction.. was cool… follow me because I am interesting, interested in others, reply all the time, engage with as many as I can, provide great blogs, articles, information etc… if that is not enough of a reason to follow me, then its coll if you unfollow…
but I do not follow anyone automatically, I check people out, engage with them, message them about things etc… to see how or if they respond… most dont… to the few that do… i then look at other criteria.. and maybe decide to follow them…. people should follow others based on their own criteria and not because someone followed them first….
treat your twitter stream as a valuable piece of information. you should have a stream that is full of great links, great information, makes you smile, and generally improves your life… If you ignore all of your stream because its full os cheesey sales promotions and links to unsavoury websites, you so need to unfollow them…
I now follow approx 260 people… i get no dm spam.. it works for me.. and i do recommend it to others… but you need to do what is right for you…many others dont do a mass cull, instead they have a column of the people that they are really looking at… which usually is around a few hundred… same result but they are just nevous to do a mass cull, as yes you lose followers… and also it is so much harder to grow a following when you dont follow back…
at the end of the day… you want listeners not so much followers… remember that… you get listeners by engaging with people not just following people back who followed you…
Mark Shaw
@markshaw
Thank you so much for offering your perspective on this.
The interesting point is that their is bad advice on both sides of this Twitter coin. Initially, their was the follow-everyone advice. Now their is the unfollow everyone debate. It seems that the unfollow side is the symptom of a larger disease – bad strategy.
For me, its about curation. I follow almost everyone back but I also aggressively cull my following to make sure that my stream stays DM free. Followers are hard to get on Twitter and I’m not going to flush thousands down the toilet because I need to shave an hour off my day. DM Spam and cranky followers are the cost of doing business as a Social Media Coach
I really appreciate hearing from someone who has gone through this process, Mark. I agree with you that a lot of the reason people have dumped their list is because they were autofollowing or being completely reciprocal in the first place. So, I get why people have done it. I’m just glad I never adopted that practice.
I think everyone has to develop their own standards for who they follow back. Doing that prevents the need to wipe the slate clean.
Like Stan, I work hard to keep follow list clean and I don’t get much DM spam. I don’t think that’s by accident. If people take the time to intentionally follow and keep their following list clean, you shouldn’t have too many problems.
To throw in my two cents on a well-written and thoughtful post, here is my latest (potentially not my last) approach. In the beginning I would look daily at my new followers and make a reasoned decision about what they would add to my stream, and whether or not I needed to block them or report them for spam. Now, I have found that if I wait a week to review the follower list, and I specifically DO NOT follow back anyone, except colleagues and friends sooner than a week, many of the spammers will weed themselves out. Funny how they don’t want to stick around unless they get a follow back. So voila, a lot of my work is already done and it saved me a bunch of time.
Totally! My approach is very similar. I check out my new followers about once every few days. Because spam bots and other folks who are gaming the system tend to unfollow if you don’t follow back right away, they are gone within a couple of days anyway. It does make things easier.
Well i’d just suggest blocking people that are spamming. If you unfollow you cant DM, and sometimes cant see peoples tweets!
Yes, blocking spammers is a good idea.
I know it’s politcally correct to say “there is no right answer” but there kind of is. First, as you say, you should be clear about what you want to do. If you are dumping thousands of followers, you were not clear abotu what you wanted to do/strategy. RIght? So if you are serious about following your own advice, this would indicate something is amiss.
Your second point is about thinking about what it communicates. Based on the high volume of negative feedback and terrible buzz, I would say they probably didn’t think that through either … or didn’t care. Again, this seems to be askew.
Instead of sugar coating this, why not just say, it appears that these folks had not carefully considered the best practices you have articulated. Their strategies or choices … or both … seem oddly out of step.
If you believe what you say, make it stick. Blog boldly.Ok. Carry on.
Excellent points as always Mark.
However, the intent of this post was to stress the best practices not add more logs to the critique bonfire. I’ve thought a lot of about this and personally I wouldn’t have taken the route the Chris and others have. But I was more concerned with making sure PS readers had good guidance so that they wouldn’t make rash decisions about their own following. Laura did a great job walking this line. I feel that there are already a number of great blog posts that have stepped to the podium to deliver their critiques, in this case I wanted to be more useful than bold.
Hi Mark – Thanks for your thoughts. You’re right – I could have taken a much bolder stance on this. But, I do believe that everyone has their own reasons for their actions. There isn’t ONE right answer. There is a right answer for each person.
I, like Stan, wouldn’t have followed this approach. Part of the reason is that I never autofollowed everyone in the first place. I’m not coming from the same situation as these bloggers. If I had made that choice a long time ago, I might be confronted with a different scenario. If they hadn’t started autofollowing, they likely wouldn’t have this spam issue. I’m just glad I never embraced that practice. If I had, maybe I might be tempted to wipe the slate clean (or at least do some serious cleaning who I follow).
My hope with this post was to give people some guidance on how to decide for themselves instead of telling them what to do.
Sorry but you do not understand September 2011.
“Industry Leaders” ? Sorry but no. Dinasours more like it. Not even on Empire Avenue yet last time I checked.
This is a new age of being open, random and supportive yet your approach is closed, selective and controlling. I follow 46,000 people and had 6 unwanted DMS in the last 7 days. Not really worth complaining about. Use @optmeout to stop auto DMs
Michael, what do you mean “you do not understand September 2011″. You lost me man. Not hard to do but…
I think he means “You don;t understand the current age we are in.”
I speak fluent MQTodd.
Michael, I have a feeling that we are all in violent agreement.
Check my replies to get my view. I believe in follower curation. I also believe in having a strategy for using Twitter. Whatever your strategy may be, make sure it’s achieving your goal. It seems that he started with one strategy and found out that it conflicts with where he is heading now. My concern is that people who adopted his follow-all strategy are now racing to unfollow-all. Both strategies are equally wrongheaded. Laura gives some excellent questions to consider before blindly falling advice that could cause more trouble than its worth.
From the very beginning our policy was not to auto-follow people back. What if they are tweeting things that have no interest/relevance to us? Instead we would look at each person/company individually and decide if they were someone we wanted to follow back. Sticking to this policy enabled us to connect with great people and companies that we can connect and share with. There comes a point where following back to be polite can get out of hand and we didn’t want to get into that. Thanks Laura and Stanford for this great post.
That’s a great policy, Darla. Each person/company has to decide for themselves who they choose to follow. For me, I follow most people back, but there are some that I will absolutely not follow (see here: http://flybluekite.com/2010/11/11/7-reasons-i-won%E2%80%99t-follow-you-on-twitter/). Having your own guidelines in place makes the process a LOT easier.
I don’t need to do that because I wasn’t chasing numbers and popularity, I was connecting organically with people. No desire to be a big fish or any kind of fish for that matter. Know thy intention before thy jumpeth in, I sayeth. Glad I learned that lesson early
Excellent point. You have to know why you’re using the tool. If you want big numbers, that’s fine. You just have to understand some of the things that come along with it.
Tia – You hit it on the head and Laura mentioned it too. Those who auto-followed are probably the ones who need to worry. I follow those who I have an interest in following and I try not to worry about the ‘ratio’ of follows. It’s not about numbers, it’s about connecting. My goals have changed over time. Right now I use Twitter mostly to share what I find on my net surfing travels. I agree that having a strategy and goal for Twitter is key rather than following a trend that someone like Chris Brogan may start.
Hi Laura and Stanford – well you beat me to it – I’ve just drafted out a post on the same topic
My take is
a) i totally understand why they did it
b) for me, i treat my twitter inbox like a spam box anyway (apologies to anyone who sends me a legit DM if I ignore you!) – what between those ‘i tagged you in a photo’ and the auto-DMs. And they come from regular people I would probably want to follow anyway so how would that solve anything?
c) i like it when people I follow follow me back so i want to reciprocate out of politeness
So, no, I won’t be doing a mass unfollow anytime soon. I’m gonna stick to cleaning up inactive accounts (ie people who haven’t tweeted for a few months) for the moment.
Cathy
Hi Cathy – Thanks for taking the time to weigh in with your thoughts. I know a lot of people who don’t even pay attention to their DMs anymore. It’s a darn shame that spam has become so rampant that it has come to that. I find DMs to be really useful for me still, so I use them regularly.
I think you’ve got a good approach. On occasion, I’ll go through and use a couple of tools to clean out some spam that I inadvertently followed, but otherwise, I’m with you, I’m not doing a mass unfollow.
BTW – Be sure to share your post with us once you write it. I’d love to see it!