- 02.19.09
Why I’m Qwitting You On Twitter
This is a Dear John letter to my Tweople.
Listen, it’s been great hanging out these past few months. Twitter feels like it’s hitting the mainstream and things are really heating up. And that’s the problem.
When I first started using the service, it was like I was listening in to the superstars of marketing, writing, and social media. I’d been reading their blogs for year, but now I was offered a glimpse into their real lives (OMG, Guy Kawasaki likes spam musibi!).
And this Twitter thing had a positive business application as well. By watching the superstars, I was able to stay current with up-to-the-minute news. I read the articles they recommended, decreasing the time I spent searching for good content and increasing the time I spent reading it. I was even able to engage them myself and network a little.
The most important aspect of all was that I could follow discussions occurring between them. If Brian from Copyblogger and Liz Strauss get into an argument, I want to know about it! These conversations taught me to be a better marketer, expanded my thinking, and consoled me that the best minds were wrestling with the very same issues I was.
When Things Went Wrong
This break-up: it’s not me, it’s you. It’s the fact that you’re too good for me.
As I found more and more smart marketers to follow, I expanded my customized news feed and my learning capability. Don’t get me wrong, I was very selective. But I wanted too much.
Everything that made Twitter useful to me was being overshadowed in the torrent of content, ideas, and conversation. I was following people who were too good, too interesting, too smart – and it was just too much.
Roundtablers, Cacophonists, Spammers, and Me
I’ve noticed four (very) general variations when it comes to a particular person’s follower/following volume and ratio.
