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I’m a full-time working mom with an amazingly supportive husband, John, and two boys John-John (11) and Justin (6). We live in the DC metro area. I wo...
 
 
 
 

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Top Fifteen Reasons I May Block You on Twitter

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In the midst of writing a social media policy, I started compiling a list of reasons I block users on twitter. I do not auto-follow; I take a look at the tweet stream/account of each and every individual who follows me before determining if I will follow in return.

As the list grew longer, I thought others might be interested in this list and viola, blog post created. It originally started as a top ten list but quickly became more. Originally, I was just going to post this on my Tumbr page but, since there seemed to be an interest, I made a blog post out of it. So, without delay... the following are the top fifteen reasons I might block you on Twitter. While they were in order at some point, they are not any longer:


1. If you are an author and your tweet stream consists of nothing but tweets about your book. Want to sell books? Engage your followers. Allow them to see you are a real person not some tweeting robot.

2. If all your tweets consist of ads or links. I have a DVR at home because I detest commercials. Why would I want to see them on Twitter?

3. If you tweet nothing but random links, with no context. Similar to above. I don’t know how or why people would click on said links but they do, and then bad things happen.

4. If your avatar is an image of the body meant to be kept covered. Ew... just... ew!

5. If you haven’t tweeted at all yet are following 2,000 people. I look at a user’s tweet stream before following. If I don’t see any tweets at all, why would I want to follow you?

6. If you tweet stream consists of nothing but retweets. Really. Be original. Say something!

7. If all you tweet are quotes. I mean enough... really. It’s amazing how many “quote tweeters” are out there! If I want an inspiring quote, I’ll look it up myself.

8. If you are a blogger and the sole purpose of your twitter account is to gain contest entries by tweeting.

9. If your tweets consist of nothing but foul language, crude comments, etc.

10. A given: if you verbally attack me or otherwise annoy me.

11. If you pitch me your book to review. I do not accept or respond to pitches on any social media site. Frankly, I think it’s unprofessional and tacky. If you would like me to review your book, please see my review policy.

12. If you tweet nothing but rants about religious, social, political issues. I use social media as an escape from the drama called the nightly news. I don’t want to get a sermon, via tweets, thankyouverymuch.

13. Your twitter account is locked. If you won’t let me see what you tweet about, why should I allow you to do the same?

14. If you are an animal. Yes, there are apparently animals out there that tweet... or people tweeting on behalf of animals. Creepy, I tell you.

15. Another given: Spambots. There are all sorts, for every little thing you mention. Mention one word and suddenly you are bombarded with endless tweets mentioning that word. Words not to mention on Twitter: iPad, iPod, job, employment, Kindle, dating, or anything of a sexual nature (those result in really alarming spambots!)

Bottom line: Twitter is a social media outlet. Use it as it was intended. Engage with others, connect with those who have similar interests. Don’t abuse it!

Jenn Lawrence

www.jennsbookshelves.com
@jennsbookself

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Mandy_wellreadwife 5 pts

Love this! I can relate to so many of these.

Jane Byers Goodwin 21 pts

I will have to add that if your tweets (or posts, or anything else except your texts) are full of LOL's and U's and R's, I will assume you can't spell "cat," either, and I can't follow you because U R 13 years old. LOL.

Rachelcay 5 pts

I totally disagree with #14. There is a whole area of Twitter and blogs devoted to pets. My dog tweets,has facebook, and blogs . My pet blog(prestonspeaks.com) is written from my dogs point of view and we use this blog to promote animal issues, rescues, pet product reviews, animals up for adoptions, and his travels and adventures. Frankly, sometimes people pay attention more when a dog is talking than just another person who has blog, it make you unique and you can have fun with it as well. People let their guard down when they are "talking" to a dog/cat/etc. so I feel sometimes the online conversations are more sincere There is group on twitter that was twitter parties every month and raises ten of thousands of dollars of animal rescues and there is even an online anipals newspaper as well. Blogher has recently partnered with blogpaws a online pet blogging community. If you discount twitters with pet handles you are missing out on a growing nitch of pet bloggers and tweeters. And you will never get to know my Preston or his blog either :-)

teendoc 5 pts

I won't follow people who insist on spelling "voila" as if it were a musical instrument: viola.

KarenLynnn 826 pts

i agree with all of your reasons. i also would like to add that i detest DM's that are advertisements to buy something from you. Instant block.

peroxidedesigns 5 pts

Great post. I have to agree with most of these. We all use Twitter (or any type of social media) for different reasons, but it just amazes me how many people don't get it! I would like to add people who constantly link to their Facebook page to read a full update (if I wanted to log on to Facebook, I would be -- wait for the novel concept -- I WOULD BE ON FACEBOOK) and people who constantly use Twitlonger or other services to post updates that don't fit into 140 characters. It's Twitter. I didn't know the 140 character concept was so difficult to grasp.

Dresden 11 pts

YES! I can not stand the twitter links to facebook. I only use twitter on my phone and when I see an fb link I have to ignore it because it triggers my phone's browser to launch a log-in page for facebook and the next thing you know my password could be out there and yadda yadda..

andSHEruns 5 pts

Good list of reasons! I don't use twitter, I have an account but I'm not sure how to use it and I am pretty sure somebody hacked it because the last time I checked there were links posted on it that weren't mine {I'm sure they are viruses} and I can't even get into it because the password changed :(

sassymonkey 538 pts moderator

andSHEruns Oh! That's not good! Have you tried getting your password reset by clicking on "forgot password" on the sign in page? If the hackers didn't change the email address you should still be able to get in to your account after resetting.

Momfog 5 pts

Now I'm tempted to follow you and see if you follow me back. I'm pretty new at the whole Twitter thing and I worry if I'm "doing it right." It's like high school all over again.

Jane Byers Goodwin 21 pts

I agree with you, but I do enjoy the occasional cool quotation. However, if there's nothing BUT, I call bummer.

My biggest Twitter peeve is the automatic DM. Dealbreaker.

MyneWhitman 5 pts

I fail on a number of points, lol...

LBDDiaries 5 pts

This was really good and I am going to share it with many. Most of the people I follow have a problem with retweeting sometimes and it is NEVER something I am interested in. I so agree with all your points. Thank you for being bold enough to say so!!

Julie McGuire 6 pts

Agree. Especially with #9. If I wanted to hear bad language I would go hang out at a junior high school or watch HBO. And just in case you are interested: @jmcguire is my twitter name! Is that self-promotion?

Amanda_Magee 23 pts

It's amazing how differently people approach twitter. What mystifies me is how some of those incessant retweeters and self-promoters get followers. Then again, there are people who collect friends just for the sake of not being alone. I prefer giving my attention to people who I enjoy.

Karen Moran 9 pts

Great post - however I completely totally disagree with #14 - Yup my dog tweeted last year - @PoundPuppyChloe - She even had a Facebook page - it's sole purpose was to provide info on pet health and to ultimately raise much needed funds for the Jacksonville Humane Society. It worked - our goal was to collect $500 and through a random tweet some man Ive never met before had volunteered at the humane society high school - and donated enough money to to not only make our goal but exceed it by $20. There's something to be said for pets who tweet. :)

fitcat 6 pts

Karen Moran@poundpuppychloe I have a tweeting cat (@sparklecat) who is also an award-winning blogger (in fact, one of her posts was a BlogHer Voices of the Year Honoree) and an award-winning author! Through her various social media outlets, she has raised thousands of dollars for cat rescues and shelters all over the U.S. This is far more than I could have done as a human. Honestly, nobody really cares about me, but a lot of folks seem to care about what my cat has to say!

Lisapatb 5 pts

Number #1 and #5 are my pet peeves. Why be on Twitter if you are never going to tweet?

cdrdash 96 pts

I'm sort of a twitter newbie despite having a twitter account for quite a while. Is blocking someone different than not following them? If someone follows me who I do not know, I rarely follow them back. Does that mean I'm blocking them? I tend to only follow people and organizations I know.

Gena Haskett 20 pts

cdrdash To block means that you do not allow that person or company to see your tweet stream. You can go to their page and block that person. I have done this to people and companies that are just trying to rack up people to pitch the crud to.

mrslemon 5 pts

@Gena Haskett Does the "blockee" know they've.been blocked? My mom follows me on Twitter and hijacks every tweet. Bless her heart. :)

blujean55 5 pts

Loved the article! I enjoyed your insight on reasons to block folks on Twitter. Wanted to let you know your twitter id at the bottom is missing an 'h' so I had a hard time finding you on there at first. Just an fyi in case other people might have trouble too. :)

EmmaSays_ 6 pts

I hope you might reconsider your thoughts about locked accounts, some of those are locked for a measure of privacy for security reasons (e.g., stalker or harassment victim). As one of those people, and someone with heavy experience professionally in technology and the internet fields, unfortunately social media is a minefield and there's growing marginalization for those that cannot be completely transparent without putting themselves at increased (physical) risk. Some of those private accounts may have some interesting conversations they initiate and/or participate in and want to have a voice, they just need to take additional precautions. Perhaps you may reconsider and take a look at some of those accts, possibly considering who is following them and whether they have tweeted actively (by count).

Signed,

Not creepy, just need to protect myself from physical harm

Al_Pal 8 pts

EmmaSays_ Yes, thank you. There are quite a few of us with private accounts who have interesting conversations.

I look at mutual friends and tweet counts, as you mentioned.

Praefish 6 pts

I have a locked account; it hasn't always been locked and sometimes I test the waters with unlocking my account. I'm a pastor's wife. EVERYTHING we do gets judged by those in the church. I've 'checked-in' at a coffee shop and got quizzed for doing so because "do you think that's a wise way to spend your money?" "do you think that is the best way to spend your time?" "shouldn't you be ______ instead?" Our finances are tight, very, needing-help-kind-of-tight. My cousin sent me a gift card to Starbucks to treat myself for my birthday. This check-in situation and questioning gets on my last nerve. I shouldn't have to explain every little thing to the church members. Twitter and a locked account are my sanity. I used to be unlocked until they found me; now facebook is my "public" place and twitter is my "everyone but church fold" place. Most who ask to follow me (with the exception of many of your rules) are welcome to follow.

sassymonkey 538 pts moderator

I really have to agree with #11. I am rather weary of Twitter book pitches.

Nancy Hill 15 pts

Yes! These are the THE rules!

I will follow people who share my political passion and only tweet that stream, but I think we all have that one special area where we break our own rules.

Jen Wade 5 pts

I follow those same rules! lol

Conversation from Facebook

Maya Brown-Zimmerman
Maya Brown-Zimmerman

Why block? Why just not follow back? The only people I actually block are spammers.

Tara Pacheco
Tara Pacheco

And I don't keep a list of reasons to ignore, shun, or dislike people who may be interested in me.

Tara Pacheco
Tara Pacheco

That read like something that should have remained more of a mental note. As a post, it's bitchy. The overall tone is condescending. I feel as if I just got lectured. Also, it's Twitter. Lighten up.

Cheri Loughlin
Cheri Loughlin

#9 & #10 just today. Occasional use of foul language is fine, but not profanity which crosses the line into degrading & highly derogatory. If it shouldn't be said in front of one's mother or children, don't spew it into the Twitterverse.

Terri Patillo
Terri Patillo

Some of it is common sense -- some of it is personal to her and has no meaning for me.