We are not powerless over Twitter. Admitting that our tweetstream has gotten out of control, is a good first step to recovery.

What's the value of 1000 tweeters tweeting? What's the noise of the 1000 tweeters that tweet 5 – 10 tweets a day? Am I receiving anything from this firehose of information? Or am I being hammered with another form of inane social media?

One thing is for sure, I don't listen to Twitter much. I check my Tweetdeck dashboard a few times a day (on a busy day) and I scan my lists for interesting tidbits of news, social media datasets and anything else I think might be worthy of passing along. And these days, there's really not much of value that I am finding in my personal tweet-feeds.

So let's unfollow some folks. Massively. Let's take the issue at hand and use a tool Manageflitter, to get at the root of the problem.

And here's what Manageflitter's unfollowing section looks like.

And when I select an entire group like this, I deselect (or continue to follow) those people who's avatar I recognize. That's all you've got really, a tiny thumbnail (pinkynail really) to define your tweetstream. Your brand. Your value.

And I admit I'm an abuser or Twitter. Let me rephrase that, I'm a user of Twitter for specific and tactical purposes.

1. I listen to a few hundred people on Twitter (I use Tweetdeck to manage the chafe from the wheat)
2. I follow groups of people when I discover a new vein of interest. (again Tweetdeck keeps the massive follows from really clogging my twitterfeed)
3. I move Tweeters into more permanent reading columns of my Tweetdeck as their content shows value
4. I remove people who tweet these things (teeth whitening ideas, MLM ideas, network marketing ideas, quotes, "getting a Diet Coke" type tweets, foodies [nothing personal, just not into it], overly Christian tweeters [me too,but I don't really need to broadcast it all the time], people who use TrueTwit [oh wait, I wasn't allowed to follow them, oh well], people without avatars, people who only tweet coupons or coupon-like self-promotion tweets 24/7, all coupon/deal/local tweeps – cause they ain't real folks)
5. I engage, retweet and @ message people who are conversing in real time about things that matter to me (voila: a conversation!)

So much of twitter has become Dell-ized. Yes the Factory Outlet tweet was/is a massive success, but… I don't want your coupons, I have a computer already, and if I want to buy something, let it be my idea that I need it in the first place. Buying something because it's a good DEAL is like subscribing to a daily delivery of Blue Bell Ice Cream. It seems like a good idea at the time, it makes you feel good for a minute or two, and then you wake up at 300 #s or in debt up to your eyeballs. But hey, you got a killer deal on that flat screen tv!

Tweet on people, and tweet yourself and your ideas. Cause if it ain't a person and it ain't about real stuff then it's just a coupon or a corporate news feed, neither of which I subscribe to.

Enough.

UPDATE: And yes I know this is going to reek havoc on my following, but it must be done. What's a follower worth anyway? If they are reading as much of me as I am of them… well…

I've run out of people to unfollow indiscriminately. Now what to do?

@jmacofearth
permalink:  http://uber.la/2011/05/twitter-stream/

All my Twitter-centric posts are on The Twitter Way tab.

Here are a few highlights:

• BE REAL, BE REAL-TIME, AUTO-NOTHING, CONVERSE
• INFOSTREAM STRATEGY #2: Tweetdeck – Putting a Dashboard Around Twitter
• Fire Everything! – Twitter Facebook LinkedIN Convergence – What's Okay What's Not
• WHY TWITTER? My Client Doesn't Need to Be ON Twitter, Right?
• Twitter Enemies: When I Was Blocked By You and Your Friends
• The Twitter Problem: We Love This, But What Are We Going to Do For Money?

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