If you haven’t heard about it, Qwitter is this application that tracks when someone unfollows you on Twitter, and then sends you a notification along with the last tweet you sent before the unfollow.
Why, people, why?
Twitter is about building a personalized, authentic online community that ultimately leads to building better relationships with people – either personally or professionally. It’s not about numbers, and it’s a different experience for everyone. As unique as your individual social circle.
So how come we’re so obsessed with knowing when someone leaves? There’s a big fallacy being perpetuated by Qwitter: that the tweet they send you is the *cause* of said person ceasing to follow your tweets, and that their unfollow is in direct relation to the quality of your Twitter stream. Each day, I see dozens of people fretting over the last person to drop them, and speculating about why. Some fret about it nearly obsessively. (In fact, a quick Twitter Search query revealed one person – I’ll spare them here – that had over a half dozen tweets in a ROW about being “qwit”. Yikes.)
People of Earth, stop the madness.
Twitter should be about crafting your own experience.
Not unlike a real, live social situation, conversations ebb and flow on Twitter. Sometimes you’ll find yourself at the party, drifting in and out of smaller groups. Some you go back to with frequency, others you don’t. It’s purely a matter of personal choice, and it’s about making the evening’s experience as rich as it can be for you, based on your own tastes in conversation.
If someone’s following me on Twitter but I’m not creating an experience that’s valuable to them for whatever reason – they hate social media, my sense of humor bothers them, I share too many links or tweet too often – I *want* them to walk away. I want this experience to be as rich for them as it is for me.
It reminds me of The Law of Two Feet established by PodCamp. If you’re not finding value in what’s happening around you, get up, walk out. It’s nothing personal, it’s about creating a quality-saturated personal experience.
If you’re participating authentically, stop obsessing.
If you’re not a junk peddler, or a craptastic spammer, or just a generalized jerk, you are probably participating in Twitter in the most authentic way you know how. You’re having conversations on your terms, based on your personality and how you’re hoping to frame your experience within the Twitter community. That’s the essence of this, and its how it should be.
And if you ARE one of the offenders of being pitchy or smarmy or belligerent or rude, do you really need Qwitter to tell you why people stop following you?
It’s impossible to please everyone.
Instead of focusing on the myriad reasons why a particular person might decide that you’re no longer someone they want to follow, why not concentrate on bringing something really valuable to the people that are still there? They’ve asked for your attention, and they’re voluntarily giving you theirs.
Rather than expending so much energy overanalyzing the few, why not figure out how to bring an incredible experience to the many? What are you doing to make sure that the followers you HAVE are finding something in you, every day? Carpe diem and all that.
I’m sure you can provide me with a bunch of reasons why Qwitter is educational or enlightening or something, but I’m just not buying it. I will never be able to make the entire world love me, so I would much rather take the community I’ve built around me – the ones who are there because they wish to be – and deliver something wonderful to them each and every day. Twitter for me is about connecting, sharing, learning. So I’m going to focus on those elements, and stay far away from masochistic Qwitterland.
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For me, Qwitter is simply convenient. I have people I really hope remain in connection, and when I am alerted by Qwitter someone has left, I at least have the peace of mind to know who it was and don’t have to rummage through all the users to try to figure it out. I have seen people leave that I had a connection with at one time, who I haven’t talked to lately, and it gives me a bit of sadness to see them go… Twitter relationships are as real as you want them to be, and just like people we interact with in person, if you don’t cultivate the relationship it will dwindle and eventually be lost.
There are a few people so dear to me, if they qwit me, I would chase them down and beg their return, or at least try to sort out the issue. A lot of the people that qwit me however, are people I had never followed or created a dialogue with. It doesn’t mean it never would have happened, but some are too impatient to wait for an opening and just want the immediate gratification of return follows, etc.
I use qwitter for the tool that it is… it gives me some info I don’t have to track down, and lets me think about the “why” because there might be some behaviors I want to amend. I don’t like that the results seem aggregated – I am not sure if the “last tweet” that is reported is indeed when the person left. But I don’t plan to qwit qwitter anytime soon. It’s not worth obsessing over, but can be helpful if viewed with the right perspective.
For me, Qwitter is simply convenient. I have people I really hope remain in connection, and when I am alerted by Qwitter someone has left, I at least have the peace of mind to know who it was and don’t have to rummage through all the users to try to figure it out. I have seen people leave that I had a connection with at one time, who I haven’t talked to lately, and it gives me a bit of sadness to see them go… Twitter relationships are as real as you want them to be, and just like people we interact with in person, if you don’t cultivate the relationship it will dwindle and eventually be lost.
There are a few people so dear to me, if they qwit me, I would chase them down and beg their return, or at least try to sort out the issue. A lot of the people that qwit me however, are people I had never followed or created a dialogue with. It doesn’t mean it never would have happened, but some are too impatient to wait for an opening and just want the immediate gratification of return follows, etc.
I use qwitter for the tool that it is… it gives me some info I don’t have to track down, and lets me think about the “why” because there might be some behaviors I want to amend. I don’t like that the results seem aggregated – I am not sure if the “last tweet” that is reported is indeed when the person left. But I don’t plan to qwit qwitter anytime soon. It’s not worth obsessing over, but can be helpful if viewed with the right perspective.
That’s great advice. In my work as an administrator of a forum, I’ve had to learn to let it roll off my back when people unregistered and trust that if I’ve done something really wrong, I’d know it and that it’s likely more to do with them than anything under my control.
Tracys last blog post..The Paranoid Mom Reviews New Products: Stove Top Quick Cups
That’s great advice. In my work as an administrator of a forum, I’ve had to learn to let it roll off my back when people unregistered and trust that if I’ve done something really wrong, I’d know it and that it’s likely more to do with them than anything under my control.
Tracys last blog post..The Paranoid Mom Reviews New Products: Stove Top Quick Cups
Amber – It’s posts like this that re-affirm exactly why I follow people like you.
“Rather than expending so much energy overanalyzing the few, why not figure out how to bring an incredible experience to the many? What are you doing to make sure that the followers you HAVE are finding something in you, every day? Carpe diem and all that”
Sage words, young lady. Sage words
Gary
Amber – It’s posts like this that re-affirm exactly why I follow people like you.
“Rather than expending so much energy overanalyzing the few, why not figure out how to bring an incredible experience to the many? What are you doing to make sure that the followers you HAVE are finding something in you, every day? Carpe diem and all that”
Sage words, young lady. Sage words
Gary
Guilty, but now I can’t quit qwitter. I thank you for the advice and won’t take it personal when someone drops out of my conversation.
Guilty, but now I can’t quit qwitter. I thank you for the advice and won’t take it personal when someone drops out of my conversation.
Hi Amber, Hope Your Holiday was Grand
This reminds me of a saying I heard at a personal growth seminar I participated in years ago, in that one of our greatest fears is “If They Really Knew Me, They Wouldn’t Like Me”
I actually had an online conversion with someone last week about this topic, and my response to her was, I want to do things that make me feel good. If someone elects to quit following, which inevitably happens, if it doesn’t make me feel good, why do I need to know it, I don’t.
Eric Browns last blog post..Do The Right Thing, Someome is Watching
Oh dear, I use Qwitter to mentally tick off who has left. A case of goody?
Hi Amber, Hope Your Holiday was Grand
This reminds me of a saying I heard at a personal growth seminar I participated in years ago, in that one of our greatest fears is “If They Really Knew Me, They Wouldn’t Like Me”
I actually had an online conversion with someone last week about this topic, and my response to her was, I want to do things that make me feel good. If someone elects to quit following, which inevitably happens, if it doesn’t make me feel good, why do I need to know it, I don’t.
Eric Browns last blog post..Do The Right Thing, Someome is Watching
Oh dear, I use Qwitter to mentally tick off who has left. A case of goody?
@Kris, that’s an interesting take. But it makes me want to ask why you’d need Qwitter to know if someone important to you had left. Wouldn’t you know just by their absence, the lack of dialogue? It seems to me that the only time you’d need an automated service to know when someone unfollowed you is when you weren’t particularly connected to them in the first place. No?
@Tracy There are so many factors that shape a person’s experience on Twitter, it’s impossible to let yourself stew over the subtleties. And like I said, if you’d done something blatant, I have a feeling you’d know it yourself.
@Gary Thank you. 🙂
@Gary I hope you don’t. I see as many tweets from people saying “Well, I bet people will unfollow me for that one.” And if that’s the case, so be it! 🙂
@Eric Absolutely. Twitter should be an enriching experience for you, not an exercise in self-flagellation. Surround yourself with positivity, and give that positivity back. There’s far too much negative stuff in the world for us to add to it by lamenting something as trivial as Qwitter.
@Jo The question I’d ask is why? What insight is that mental list giving you? Is it truly shaping your experience on Twitter for the better, or is it making you hypersensitive and self-critical?
Thanks for writing this. Now I finally have a place to point people who’ve been qwit to a cogent argument as to why it likely has no relation to the last thing they tweeted.
People periodically go through their following/follower lists and decide if those people are still delivering value. Whether that value is humor, links, wisdom or something else entirely. If you’ve been qwit, it’s likely that the sum of your tweets is no longer of value to your reader.
Don’t fret. Just keep on truckin’.
Thanks for writing this. Now I finally have a place to point people who’ve been qwit to a cogent argument as to why it likely has no relation to the last thing they tweeted.
People periodically go through their following/follower lists and decide if those people are still delivering value. Whether that value is humor, links, wisdom or something else entirely. If you’ve been qwit, it’s likely that the sum of your tweets is no longer of value to your reader.
Don’t fret. Just keep on truckin’.
This part particularly resonated with me:
I will never be able to make the entire world love me, so I would much rather take the community I’ve built around me – the ones who are there because they wish to be – and deliver something wonderful to them each and every day. Twitter for me is about connecting, sharing, learning.
Why? Because the Twitterverse is another channel of communication to develop the relationships we want to develop. You want connecting, sharing, learning and aren’t shy about it. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy your Twitterstream. The people who wish to be there are the important people, because there’s an understanding of value received. Keep providing value, keep followers. The value received is the prerogative of the follower, and you can only be who you are.
If you compare Twitter to the phone, not everyone is going to return your calls and there’s nothing you can do to know why those people aren’t picking up or calling back. You develop different relationships. You start calling other people (people who pick up & call back) and you move on.
Twitter followers should be the same way. Really, how much energy have you invested into the relationship w/ someone’s who’s qwit? The individual relationship, not the community relationship? If quite a bit, chances are you know why this person’s qwit you or can find out via more direct means. If you haven’t invested that much into it, why the angst when being qwitted?
Anyone can only control two things – what one wants and what one does. Want to provide value, provide it and those who seek it will follow.
An Buis last blog post..Restaurants and Social Media
This part particularly resonated with me:
I will never be able to make the entire world love me, so I would much rather take the community I’ve built around me – the ones who are there because they wish to be – and deliver something wonderful to them each and every day. Twitter for me is about connecting, sharing, learning.
Why? Because the Twitterverse is another channel of communication to develop the relationships we want to develop. You want connecting, sharing, learning and aren’t shy about it. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy your Twitterstream. The people who wish to be there are the important people, because there’s an understanding of value received. Keep providing value, keep followers. The value received is the prerogative of the follower, and you can only be who you are.
If you compare Twitter to the phone, not everyone is going to return your calls and there’s nothing you can do to know why those people aren’t picking up or calling back. You develop different relationships. You start calling other people (people who pick up & call back) and you move on.
Twitter followers should be the same way. Really, how much energy have you invested into the relationship w/ someone’s who’s qwit? The individual relationship, not the community relationship? If quite a bit, chances are you know why this person’s qwit you or can find out via more direct means. If you haven’t invested that much into it, why the angst when being qwitted?
Anyone can only control two things – what one wants and what one does. Want to provide value, provide it and those who seek it will follow.
An Buis last blog post..Restaurants and Social Media
I agree that if someone doesn’t want to follow me, that they shouldn’t, and both our Twitter experiences will be richer. But I decided to check out Qwitter because it claims to let you know what Tweet you left when someone unfollowed you. So in theory, if I see that people are always unfollowing me every time I talk about a certain topic, then I can decide if I want to stop talking about that topic.
But Qwitter has proven to be highly unreliable. It seems to simply pick a time of the day to send me all the unfollows at once, and it simply picks my most recent tweet as being the ‘reason’ why they unfollowed me.
So I don’t see any real value to it at all. And it seems that most of the unfollows for me are coming from people that follow me, then wait a day or 2 to see if I will follow back, then they unfollow again if I don’t.
mack colliers last blog post..The Viral Garden’s Top 25 Marketing & Social Media Blogs – Week 130
I agree that if someone doesn’t want to follow me, that they shouldn’t, and both our Twitter experiences will be richer. But I decided to check out Qwitter because it claims to let you know what Tweet you left when someone unfollowed you. So in theory, if I see that people are always unfollowing me every time I talk about a certain topic, then I can decide if I want to stop talking about that topic.
But Qwitter has proven to be highly unreliable. It seems to simply pick a time of the day to send me all the unfollows at once, and it simply picks my most recent tweet as being the ‘reason’ why they unfollowed me.
So I don’t see any real value to it at all. And it seems that most of the unfollows for me are coming from people that follow me, then wait a day or 2 to see if I will follow back, then they unfollow again if I don’t.
mack colliers last blog post..The Viral Garden’s Top 25 Marketing & Social Media Blogs – Week 130
Maybe I have become British without looking – no surely not, I still talk to people on trains.
Let’s just be blunt. Someone follows me and I look at their twitter stream and think, no not for me! Now I am the embarrassing position of a) declining their invitation or b) saying nothing. When they withdraw their invitation (qwit), the embarrassment is taken away. I would love to thank them at that point for their kindness and consideration, but that would be perverse. Another application might provide that service!
Equally, if I have done a bit of cold calling and someone doesn’t follow me back – fine, I qwit – don’t want to be a nuisance.
For the people in between – the people in our professional networks – what to do? With Qwitter around, it is so much harder to unfollow discretely. If we bore each other, what are our choices? Reconnect under another handle if things get too bad? Use an app that allows us to group people by importance – I think there is one out there. A favourite tactic it seems is to say you have followed and not do it.
Ah, the foibles of the British!
Dare I suggest – anyone managing their Twitter stream by numbers, and not the enjoyability of the encounter, should switch it off and go ‘cold Turkey’ for a week. I have colleagues who do that from time to time and say they miss it not-one-bit.
PS I did have to reconnect at one point (nothing to do with ducking-and-diving). I reinvited from memory. Some people chose not to reconnect. A few who were sufficiently interesting to follow, I left on my follow list. Others I deleted. I made the choice case-by-case.
Equally people who have spammed me with Alltop, particularly, I ruthlessly deleted.
Nope, we aren’t all stressing because someone qwit.
Jos last blog post..BHAG for Britain!
Maybe I have become British without looking – no surely not, I still talk to people on trains.
Let’s just be blunt. Someone follows me and I look at their twitter stream and think, no not for me! Now I am the embarrassing position of a) declining their invitation or b) saying nothing. When they withdraw their invitation (qwit), the embarrassment is taken away. I would love to thank them at that point for their kindness and consideration, but that would be perverse. Another application might provide that service!
Equally, if I have done a bit of cold calling and someone doesn’t follow me back – fine, I qwit – don’t want to be a nuisance.
For the people in between – the people in our professional networks – what to do? With Qwitter around, it is so much harder to unfollow discretely. If we bore each other, what are our choices? Reconnect under another handle if things get too bad? Use an app that allows us to group people by importance – I think there is one out there. A favourite tactic it seems is to say you have followed and not do it.
Ah, the foibles of the British!
Dare I suggest – anyone managing their Twitter stream by numbers, and not the enjoyability of the encounter, should switch it off and go ‘cold Turkey’ for a week. I have colleagues who do that from time to time and say they miss it not-one-bit.
PS I did have to reconnect at one point (nothing to do with ducking-and-diving). I reinvited from memory. Some people chose not to reconnect. A few who were sufficiently interesting to follow, I left on my follow list. Others I deleted. I made the choice case-by-case.
Equally people who have spammed me with Alltop, particularly, I ruthlessly deleted.
Nope, we aren’t all stressing because someone qwit.
Jos last blog post..BHAG for Britain!
Love this. I was never interested in checking out Qwitter (just don’t see the point). But I have had people actually tweet me and say “A follower Qwitted me because I was tweeting with YOU!” Really?! Wow. What is this high school?! If someone who follows someone else qwits them because of me…egads, what can I say?! Um, sorry. (And really, was it because of me or was it the 300 tweets before?!)
The issue I have with Qwitter is from a business perspective. Will companies who are new to Twitter think they need this little tool? Then will they obsess over it just like they do over analytics (that also don’t mean much or tell the whole story)?
Beth Hartes last blog post..Social Media in Action
Love this. I was never interested in checking out Qwitter (just don’t see the point). But I have had people actually tweet me and say “A follower Qwitted me because I was tweeting with YOU!” Really?! Wow. What is this high school?! If someone who follows someone else qwits them because of me…egads, what can I say?! Um, sorry. (And really, was it because of me or was it the 300 tweets before?!)
The issue I have with Qwitter is from a business perspective. Will companies who are new to Twitter think they need this little tool? Then will they obsess over it just like they do over analytics (that also don’t mean much or tell the whole story)?
Beth Hartes last blog post..Social Media in Action
I have absolutely no drive to even check out Quitter. I used to wonder how people even knew that others had unfollowed. I don’t even keep track of the numbers; if someone unfollows me, I’m just not being interesting to them. Unless they block me I can still gain valuable information from them. Honestly, I think I’d develop a serious complex if I knew people were unfollowing.
Michelle Evanss last blog post..Running is good for the soul
I have absolutely no drive to even check out Quitter. I used to wonder how people even knew that others had unfollowed. I don’t even keep track of the numbers; if someone unfollows me, I’m just not being interesting to them. Unless they block me I can still gain valuable information from them. Honestly, I think I’d develop a serious complex if I knew people were unfollowing.
Michelle Evanss last blog post..Running is good for the soul
Timely post for me to read for I wrote a post about being unfollowed on twitter. I agree with you on EVERYTHING you have said.
Like Michelle has said before me, I have no desire to use Quitter and if someone unfollows me that is their loss.
My issue with social media though is dealing with the sexism on here which I have found to be very alarming. The snide comments by some men that I have experienced has been an eye opener as to whether these individuals have terrible offline communication skills? I don’t know. I have no desire to meet any of these guys.
Thanks again for sharing.
Absolutely!
Follow me, don’t follow me, un-follow me – your call! As I was once told, “what other people think of you is none of your business”…
Personally, since I am relatively new to the entire social media phenomenon, I don’t have much to contribute yet. Even when I begin to increase the level of my contributions, I can easily imagine my style, my sense of humor, my opinions, or all three, not being someone’s “cup of tea”…
A useful Twitter feature, in my opinion, would be the ability to temporarily toggle following a person…being able to “check back in” from time-to-time would be a welcome addition to the current follow/un-follow options.
One of my favorite pieces of tradional wisdom goes something like this:
“Of the people you meet in life, 20% are going to like you, no matter what you do. And 20% are going to dislike you, again, almost no matter what you do. The remaining 60% are going to be mostly indifferent, and focused on their own priorities.
So the key to a happy life is to find the first 20%, and spend as much time with them as possible. Entirely ignore the second 20%, to the degree possible. And be entirely civil to everyone else, encouraging them to be the same to you as they go about their business”.
There’s a lot to that particular bit of wisdom, and it has certainly helped me put things into perspective from time to time.
Keep up the good work, Amber! No matter which category any of us end up in, I’m still going to get a chuckle out of my “Click my junk” coffee mug…
Absolutely!
Follow me, don’t follow me, un-follow me – your call! As I was once told, “what other people think of you is none of your business”…
Personally, since I am relatively new to the entire social media phenomenon, I don’t have much to contribute yet. Even when I begin to increase the level of my contributions, I can easily imagine my style, my sense of humor, my opinions, or all three, not being someone’s “cup of tea”…
A useful Twitter feature, in my opinion, would be the ability to temporarily toggle following a person…being able to “check back in” from time-to-time would be a welcome addition to the current follow/un-follow options.
One of my favorite pieces of tradional wisdom goes something like this:
“Of the people you meet in life, 20% are going to like you, no matter what you do. And 20% are going to dislike you, again, almost no matter what you do. The remaining 60% are going to be mostly indifferent, and focused on their own priorities.
So the key to a happy life is to find the first 20%, and spend as much time with them as possible. Entirely ignore the second 20%, to the degree possible. And be entirely civil to everyone else, encouraging them to be the same to you as they go about their business”.
There’s a lot to that particular bit of wisdom, and it has certainly helped me put things into perspective from time to time.
Keep up the good work, Amber! No matter which category any of us end up in, I’m still going to get a chuckle out of my “Click my junk” coffee mug…
Another great post, Amber. I agree with you completely. I’ll admit I initially jumped onto the Qwitter bandwagon, but noticed myself wondering why this person or that person quit me. That’s when I quit Qwitter.
Qwitter feeds off of people’s inherent desire to be liked and worry when they are not liked. I really don’t see any reason to know why someone quit me on Twitter any more than I need to know why someone quit reading my blog. It’s their prerogative.
As for your Tweets, so far, “I can’t Qwit you.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Andrew Weavers last blog post..22 Ways To Make Someone’s Day
Another great post, Amber. I agree with you completely. I’ll admit I initially jumped onto the Qwitter bandwagon, but noticed myself wondering why this person or that person quit me. That’s when I quit Qwitter.
Qwitter feeds off of people’s inherent desire to be liked and worry when they are not liked. I really don’t see any reason to know why someone quit me on Twitter any more than I need to know why someone quit reading my blog. It’s their prerogative.
As for your Tweets, so far, “I can’t Qwit you.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Andrew Weavers last blog post..22 Ways To Make Someone’s Day
Agree with you here.
I”m always fascinated by all the tweets like “I have my 1,000th follower!” and such. I’m not sure what purpose that serves and in fact it seems to be a buzz-kill for any benefit one could simply enjoy from using Twitter.
This greed for fellowship-by-numbers I think is tied to Qwitter. If it’s about numbers and stats, by all means, you should use Qwitter. If you’re interested in ambient connection with interesting people, or if you want what I would call Social RSS, who follows/unfollows you means nothing.
Here’s one way to look at it: just because someone unfollows you, it doesn’t mean you have B.O: sometimes, people don’t share your interest, or maybe they want to pair-down their list to make their experience more intimate.
I can see @Kris’ point, but your rebuttal is strong enough to hold your arguments in place.
I wouldn’t tell people not to use Quitter. Rather, I’d encourage them to evaluate why they use Twitter and if they’ve gotten past Junior High School. Twitter’s pure social: if you’re not sociable (either online or offline), maybe Twitter isn’t your thing.
Smart post, Amber.
Agree with you here.
I”m always fascinated by all the tweets like “I have my 1,000th follower!” and such. I’m not sure what purpose that serves and in fact it seems to be a buzz-kill for any benefit one could simply enjoy from using Twitter.
This greed for fellowship-by-numbers I think is tied to Qwitter. If it’s about numbers and stats, by all means, you should use Qwitter. If you’re interested in ambient connection with interesting people, or if you want what I would call Social RSS, who follows/unfollows you means nothing.
Here’s one way to look at it: just because someone unfollows you, it doesn’t mean you have B.O: sometimes, people don’t share your interest, or maybe they want to pair-down their list to make their experience more intimate.
I can see @Kris’ point, but your rebuttal is strong enough to hold your arguments in place.
I wouldn’t tell people not to use Quitter. Rather, I’d encourage them to evaluate why they use Twitter and if they’ve gotten past Junior High School. Twitter’s pure social: if you’re not sociable (either online or offline), maybe Twitter isn’t your thing.
Smart post, Amber.
Articulate and action-driven post, as always, Amber. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I agree with all of your points about Qwitter and focusing on the ways in which you enrich the people’s lives who REMAIN in your network. I have yet to have anyone ‘qwit’ with whom I’ve developed a relationship; it is typically those who were waiting for a follow back to inflate their numbers or a spam account that was shut down or even something as simple as an errant contact clean up.
The most important thing is NOT to take it personally. Allow the social dynamics of the medium to bring kindred spirits bubbling up to the service while those not suitable for your community [for whatever reason] weed themselves out.
Plus, I think it’s critical to note that Qwitter is only correct about the dropped follower but NOT about which tweet. I know for a fact that people have stopped following me hours before I get my Qwitter email about it, and it merely extracts the last tweet you posted when it queried your follower list. So, people are wasting valuable time obsessing about a tweet that had absolutely nothing to do with the unfollow, and detracting from their true uniqueness of self by altering any behaviors as a result.
As a student of life who is fascinated by human nature, I use services like Qwitter merely for curiousity. It’s a fun exercise in psychology to see how long people wait for a return follow before dropping you, and even more interesting to click through to read their bios. But that should be the extent of it. Any further energy should be spent cultivating the network of people who stick with you day-to-day, and who care about you what you have to say and value what you bring to their community.
Articulate and action-driven post, as always, Amber. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I agree with all of your points about Qwitter and focusing on the ways in which you enrich the people’s lives who REMAIN in your network. I have yet to have anyone ‘qwit’ with whom I’ve developed a relationship; it is typically those who were waiting for a follow back to inflate their numbers or a spam account that was shut down or even something as simple as an errant contact clean up.
The most important thing is NOT to take it personally. Allow the social dynamics of the medium to bring kindred spirits bubbling up to the service while those not suitable for your community [for whatever reason] weed themselves out.
Plus, I think it’s critical to note that Qwitter is only correct about the dropped follower but NOT about which tweet. I know for a fact that people have stopped following me hours before I get my Qwitter email about it, and it merely extracts the last tweet you posted when it queried your follower list. So, people are wasting valuable time obsessing about a tweet that had absolutely nothing to do with the unfollow, and detracting from their true uniqueness of self by altering any behaviors as a result.
As a student of life who is fascinated by human nature, I use services like Qwitter merely for curiousity. It’s a fun exercise in psychology to see how long people wait for a return follow before dropping you, and even more interesting to click through to read their bios. But that should be the extent of it. Any further energy should be spent cultivating the network of people who stick with you day-to-day, and who care about you what you have to say and value what you bring to their community.
Amber, excellent post. The Qwitter phenomenon is useless and fits into our whole obsession with keeping score on Twitter, whether it’s number of followers, Twittergrade, or whatever the latest thing is.
Warren Sukerneks last blog post..Who cares about Qwitter?
Amber, excellent post. The Qwitter phenomenon is useless and fits into our whole obsession with keeping score on Twitter, whether it’s number of followers, Twittergrade, or whatever the latest thing is.
Warren Sukerneks last blog post..Who cares about Qwitter?
Amen.
Geoff Livingstons last blog post..Happy Thanksgiving!
Amen.
Geoff Livingstons last blog post..Happy Thanksgiving!
Definitely on the same page with you. I dislike Qwitter and what it represents. People definitely get too caught up in the numbers and tools that come out on what seems a daily basis. They’re all in good fun and provides great uses sometimes but personally, it’s just not for me.
Sonny Gills last blog post..what makes a great community manager?
Definitely on the same page with you. I dislike Qwitter and what it represents. People definitely get too caught up in the numbers and tools that come out on what seems a daily basis. They’re all in good fun and provides great uses sometimes but personally, it’s just not for me.
Sonny Gills last blog post..what makes a great community manager?
Qwitter removes part of the human element of knowing who your following, and whos following you. Its part of a growing list of tools that are over automating the twitter experience, and distracting from really getting to know folks.
Qwitter removes part of the human element of knowing who your following, and whos following you. Its part of a growing list of tools that are over automating the twitter experience, and distracting from really getting to know folks.
Good share. Like your perspective on this.
Todd Jordans last blog post..Link Love Sunday
Good share. Like your perspective on this.
Todd Jordans last blog post..Link Love Sunday
Good food for thought…I see Qwitter as a tool, and I have simply used it like one. Initially, I actually felt hurt, abandoned, but after time, I realized one Tweets to their own flock. Some people make noise that I like to hear, I imagine I don’t appeal to all either. Now it’s those insta-qwits that are curious. Is that when someone follows you, hopes for the same then dumps you? Only to increase their followers, which feels like many friends on FaceBook, which feels like being popular in junior high?
vikis last blog post..What to Give?
Good food for thought…I see Qwitter as a tool, and I have simply used it like one. Initially, I actually felt hurt, abandoned, but after time, I realized one Tweets to their own flock. Some people make noise that I like to hear, I imagine I don’t appeal to all either. Now it’s those insta-qwits that are curious. Is that when someone follows you, hopes for the same then dumps you? Only to increase their followers, which feels like many friends on FaceBook, which feels like being popular in junior high?
vikis last blog post..What to Give?
I will admit, I use qwitter. It’s a challenge not to take things personally, but at the same time I view it as a way to be better informed about my followers.
We state that social media is great for PR and customer service, so is qwitter not just another way for us to check to see if we’re satisfying people? If I find that my frequent rants about the number of followers I have cause a dip in the number of said followers, perhaps that will cause me to think more about what I tweet.
Obviously, there are those who don’t care about the contentment of their followers and don’t want to pander to them. That’s perfectly all right. But I think being informed isn’t a bad thing.
(Yes, obviously you’re assuming that that particular tweet was a back-breaking straw and you didn’t just happen to tweet at a time when someone was cleaning out their followers list.)
Andrea Hills last blog post..Separating content from presentation – social media style
I will admit, I use qwitter. It’s a challenge not to take things personally, but at the same time I view it as a way to be better informed about my followers.
We state that social media is great for PR and customer service, so is qwitter not just another way for us to check to see if we’re satisfying people? If I find that my frequent rants about the number of followers I have cause a dip in the number of said followers, perhaps that will cause me to think more about what I tweet.
Obviously, there are those who don’t care about the contentment of their followers and don’t want to pander to them. That’s perfectly all right. But I think being informed isn’t a bad thing.
(Yes, obviously you’re assuming that that particular tweet was a back-breaking straw and you didn’t just happen to tweet at a time when someone was cleaning out their followers list.)
Andrea Hills last blog post..Separating content from presentation – social media style
Well I’ve been referring people over here all night, perhaps I ought to at least comment!
Great post Amber (as usual) I think you hit it right in the middle.
As Twitter grows, we have different issues than we used to – but driving ourselves crazy over unfollows shouldn’t be one of them.
Lucretia Pruitts last blog post..Even a Chatterbox like Me Listens…
Well I’ve been referring people over here all night, perhaps I ought to at least comment!
Great post Amber (as usual) I think you hit it right in the middle.
As Twitter grows, we have different issues than we used to – but driving ourselves crazy over unfollows shouldn’t be one of them.
Lucretia Pruitts last blog post..Even a Chatterbox like Me Listens…
I just like to know. I don’t really care and I don’t believe for a minute it’s ever been the subject of my last tweet. Sometimes people just clean house and that’s fine. I just like to know if someone I actually have a real life relationship with qwits. The rest, if they like me fine, if not fine.
Colleen Dicks last blog post..Blogging is the Root of all Evil
I just like to know. I don’t really care and I don’t believe for a minute it’s ever been the subject of my last tweet. Sometimes people just clean house and that’s fine. I just like to know if someone I actually have a real life relationship with qwits. The rest, if they like me fine, if not fine.
Colleen Dicks last blog post..Blogging is the Root of all Evil
Qwitter isn’t about making everyone love me. It’s about making everyone love me more!
hubss last blog post..Tweets For The Week Of 2008-11-23
Qwitter isn’t about making everyone love me. It’s about making everyone love me more!
hubss last blog post..Tweets For The Week Of 2008-11-23
I will preface my feed back by saying: I am not “in” Social Media. That means I don’t make my living in PR, shilling anything or writing (well nothing anyone here would have read). I’ve brainstormed ways to have social media work in my highly specialized line of work and there is nothing there. I enjoy social media as I enjoy any reference, news outlet or social circle but I don’t make a living through it. That does not mean I don’t pay attention to it or don’t consider that some day I might use social media in my career.
I think of Twitter as a really cool party. I walk into the room and see hundreds of people. There is no way that all of these people are going to like me or agree with everything I believe but that does not mean I am going to alter who I am. I will be polite and avoid being offensive but I still want to have fun. As I travel the room I end up in different circles, having different conversations. Some I participate in; some I linger and listen to; and some I pass by. Sometimes I try to escape conversations and sometimes, as I am talking, I see my listener’s eyes glaze over and I finish my sentence quickly. I don’t want to bore people but I also don’t want to waste my own time. If people unfollow me on Twitter, I rarely take it personally and when I do, I am quick to let it go. I did not contribute to what they are looking for but that doesn’t make me bad – just not their cup of tea. Similarly, if I unfollow someone, this is not an indictment on their life. I just have too many conversations I am trying to keep track of and their conversation did not fall into all the things I am interested in learning about or mulling over.
Heck, I’m not even human on Twitter. When people started to take Twitter too seriously and it became reminiscent of high school, I changed my persona and name to a guinea pig. I gave people permission to not take me seriously but other than entertaining a few people from my cage and singing skat, to cheer people up, when it comes to what I believe in, I still state my opinion. I still ask to be educated and sometimes ask to be listened to. If I don’t add value to your life in some fashion, I don’t want to waste your time. You are not a quitter of ME – you just would rather have a different conversation. I’m cool with that.
Someone else already said Qwitter is a tool to further automate Twitter and they are right. If you need a tool to tell you someone quit you, I think you have a bigger issue. Analyze your message & how you are delivering it. Quitter is not going to give you that. This is life, not high school. There are no short cuts or cheat sheets.
I will preface my feed back by saying: I am not “in” Social Media. That means I don’t make my living in PR, shilling anything or writing (well nothing anyone here would have read). I’ve brainstormed ways to have social media work in my highly specialized line of work and there is nothing there. I enjoy social media as I enjoy any reference, news outlet or social circle but I don’t make a living through it. That does not mean I don’t pay attention to it or don’t consider that some day I might use social media in my career.
I think of Twitter as a really cool party. I walk into the room and see hundreds of people. There is no way that all of these people are going to like me or agree with everything I believe but that does not mean I am going to alter who I am. I will be polite and avoid being offensive but I still want to have fun. As I travel the room I end up in different circles, having different conversations. Some I participate in; some I linger and listen to; and some I pass by. Sometimes I try to escape conversations and sometimes, as I am talking, I see my listener’s eyes glaze over and I finish my sentence quickly. I don’t want to bore people but I also don’t want to waste my own time. If people unfollow me on Twitter, I rarely take it personally and when I do, I am quick to let it go. I did not contribute to what they are looking for but that doesn’t make me bad – just not their cup of tea. Similarly, if I unfollow someone, this is not an indictment on their life. I just have too many conversations I am trying to keep track of and their conversation did not fall into all the things I am interested in learning about or mulling over.
Heck, I’m not even human on Twitter. When people started to take Twitter too seriously and it became reminiscent of high school, I changed my persona and name to a guinea pig. I gave people permission to not take me seriously but other than entertaining a few people from my cage and singing skat, to cheer people up, when it comes to what I believe in, I still state my opinion. I still ask to be educated and sometimes ask to be listened to. If I don’t add value to your life in some fashion, I don’t want to waste your time. You are not a quitter of ME – you just would rather have a different conversation. I’m cool with that.
Someone else already said Qwitter is a tool to further automate Twitter and they are right. If you need a tool to tell you someone quit you, I think you have a bigger issue. Analyze your message & how you are delivering it. Quitter is not going to give you that. This is life, not high school. There are no short cuts or cheat sheets.
Never heard of Qwitter and not interested in Qwitter, but thank you for the advice.
I totally agree with your post. I don’t use Twitter as often as I would like, however, I do enjoy it when I’m there. The idea of connecting with people I would never know in “real life” is amazing.
I learn something new everyday………….:)
LisaNewtons last blog post..What’s the Cost of an Indoor Minimalist Gym?
Never heard of Qwitter and not interested in Qwitter, but thank you for the advice.
I totally agree with your post. I don’t use Twitter as often as I would like, however, I do enjoy it when I’m there. The idea of connecting with people I would never know in “real life” is amazing.
I learn something new everyday………….:)
LisaNewtons last blog post..What’s the Cost of an Indoor Minimalist Gym?
Great post and I agree with your philosophy wholeheartedly.
However, there is one thing I *do* get out of Qwitter. I’ve noticed a trend among marketers (as Twitter inches toward the mainstream) to follow me. Then, if I follow back, they immediately un-follow me. Basically, they are trying to improve their ratio of followers to following in order to seem like more of a resource.
It’s a dishonest tactic and I don’t understand why people would resort to it. BUT, I do know that I don’t want to follow people who resort to these shenanigans. Qwitter lets me know right away who the lame folks are so I can purge them.
Otherwise, I totally agree that people are getting a little nutsy on Qwitter. If they put half the thought into their posts as they do in their Twitter numbers, the world would be a more intelligent place.
Best,
DJ
@MarketerBlog
DJs last blog post..Marketing During A Recession: Economic Slowdowns Are Opportunities
Great post and I agree with your philosophy wholeheartedly.
However, there is one thing I *do* get out of Qwitter. I’ve noticed a trend among marketers (as Twitter inches toward the mainstream) to follow me. Then, if I follow back, they immediately un-follow me. Basically, they are trying to improve their ratio of followers to following in order to seem like more of a resource.
It’s a dishonest tactic and I don’t understand why people would resort to it. BUT, I do know that I don’t want to follow people who resort to these shenanigans. Qwitter lets me know right away who the lame folks are so I can purge them.
Otherwise, I totally agree that people are getting a little nutsy on Qwitter. If they put half the thought into their posts as they do in their Twitter numbers, the world would be a more intelligent place.
Best,
DJ
@MarketerBlog
DJs last blog post..Marketing During A Recession: Economic Slowdowns Are Opportunities
I haven’t used Qwitter, on purpose. There was a brief period of time when I had Feedburner send me updates whenever anyone would unsubscribe to my blog – and I would contact them and ask why. Only a few responded, and they had good points. Soon I stopped worrying about it and focused more on writing what my core readers and commenters wanted – now the subs go up and down, and I have learned not to worry about it.
I haven’t used Qwitter, on purpose. There was a brief period of time when I had Feedburner send me updates whenever anyone would unsubscribe to my blog – and I would contact them and ask why. Only a few responded, and they had good points. Soon I stopped worrying about it and focused more on writing what my core readers and commenters wanted – now the subs go up and down, and I have learned not to worry about it.
@DJ good point, and what a more tactful way to end a relationship!
Jos last blog post..BHAG for Britain!
@DJ good point, and what a more tactful way to end a relationship!
Jos last blog post..BHAG for Britain!
OMG this is both hilarious and psychotic!!
OMG this is both hilarious and psychotic!!
Amber, I loved this!
I have to say I agree with DJ above. The only reason I use Qwitter is to weed out the tweeps that “collect” followers. I call them out publicly to basically say “Hey, I noticed you like collecting tweeps and I want everyone to know you’re not in this for the conversation.”
If one of my favorites quits me (you for example!), I’ll be DM’ing them in a second to find out why.
I want to contribute to the conversation, to be a part of our community. At the same time, I want those who follow me to know that this isn’t a numbers game. For everyone that has met me in person or online, they know I tell it like I see it, call it “tough tweet love”. :o)
Thanks Amber, for your excellent perspective! BTW: I do understand what Eric was talking about, and I highly value his opinion on the topic. Maybe I will remember not to get so annoyed by the obvious tweep collectors next time!
Amber, I loved this!
I have to say I agree with DJ above. The only reason I use Qwitter is to weed out the tweeps that “collect” followers. I call them out publicly to basically say “Hey, I noticed you like collecting tweeps and I want everyone to know you’re not in this for the conversation.”
If one of my favorites quits me (you for example!), I’ll be DM’ing them in a second to find out why.
I want to contribute to the conversation, to be a part of our community. At the same time, I want those who follow me to know that this isn’t a numbers game. For everyone that has met me in person or online, they know I tell it like I see it, call it “tough tweet love”. :o)
Thanks Amber, for your excellent perspective! BTW: I do understand what Eric was talking about, and I highly value his opinion on the topic. Maybe I will remember not to get so annoyed by the obvious tweep collectors next time!
Hi Amber
I just saw a link to your site via twitter (and enjoying your posts), and was interested to see what you would say about qwitter.
I too wondered what the morbid fascination was with qwitter – if someone leaves, they leave. Maybe because I tweet too much in one afternoon, maybe they don’t like my musical references, maybe they are cutting down on people they follow…maybe, maybe, maybe. I’m not sure if knowing why someone stops following me would make me change my tweets…
The thing I love about twitter is that I’ve connected with some pretty cool people who point me in the direction of very interesting/random/diverse things in the on-line and off-line world. People who I have stopped following, or people who have stopped following me have never made that connection. And you can’t take it personally…because it never is normally a “personal” thing (unless you are REALLY offensive! Ha!).
Hi Amber
I just saw a link to your site via twitter (and enjoying your posts), and was interested to see what you would say about qwitter.
I too wondered what the morbid fascination was with qwitter – if someone leaves, they leave. Maybe because I tweet too much in one afternoon, maybe they don’t like my musical references, maybe they are cutting down on people they follow…maybe, maybe, maybe. I’m not sure if knowing why someone stops following me would make me change my tweets…
The thing I love about twitter is that I’ve connected with some pretty cool people who point me in the direction of very interesting/random/diverse things in the on-line and off-line world. People who I have stopped following, or people who have stopped following me have never made that connection. And you can’t take it personally…because it never is normally a “personal” thing (unless you are REALLY offensive! Ha!).