4 Tips to Cut Useless Tweets Out of Your Twitter Timeline

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Just like the Facebook Newsfeed, keeping your Twitter timeline full of relevant information. As we increase the number of people we follow on Twitter, we also increase the number of distracting, useless information, otherwise known as noise, that flows into our Twitter timelines. Constantly pruning for fresh information is a tedious and time-consuming job that I only do once a month.

In the meantime and in between time, I use the following tips to keep the noise level down in my Twitter timeline.

 

Twitter Retweet option

Turn Off ReTweets for Individual Accounts

I have quite a few people I follow that love to RT other people’s tweets. Sometimes I’d rather opt-out of their retweets. Thankfully, Twitter gives you an option to turn retweets on and off for the people you’re following.

To turn retweets off, visit the person’s profile  and select “turn off retweets” from the person icon drop down on a user’s profile (next to the follow button).

 

Add people to lists rather than follow them

Another way I keep the noise down is by using lists. I try to limit who I’m following as much as possible, but sometimes you follow people simply to keep in contact with them even if they’re tweets suck. To avoid this, I just add that person to a private list. That way I can keep the connection to them, but only check-in when it works for me.

 

Monthly Following Cleanup

Once a month I use Manage Flitter to clean up my Twitter following. I unfollow people who haven’t tweeted for more than two months or people who haven’t followed me back in over 30 days. Sometimes I’ll move them to a list. Either way, follower management tools can help keep the noise down on Twitter.

 

Automatically Unfollow (in Bulk)

If you’d rather automate the clean-up process as much as possible, check out apps like TwitQuit that allow you to set parameters to automatically unfollow or follow people after a specified period of time or when they follow or unfollow you. If you have a mass following it’ll be easier if you use bulk unfollow tools to cut the noise down immediately.

 

Add Your Tip!

Have you mastered the art of keeping the noise out of your Twitter Timeline? Let me know what tips, shortcuts, apps, and hacks you’re using to keep your the tweets coming in your timeline relevant!

  • http://shinytoyrobots.com/ Robin Cannon

    Definitely with you on utilizing Manage Flitter to curate your Twitter follows. It’s a great tool.

    I use it more to weed out inactives than anything else. Sounds like you’re pretty strict in terms of unfollowing people who follow back; is that a universal thing? I find there are multiple accounts which I find are really worth following even if they aren’t reciprocal.

  • http://shegeeks.net/ Corvida Raven

    There are a handful of accounts that I do follow whether they reciprocate or not, but that’s generally not greater than 10 people.

    I’m more strict about the content that I’m taking the time to sort through during the day. I’m more focused on following those who get to the heart of what I’m looking for on Twitter, rather than those who do more general socializing. 

  • http://twitter.com/ChikaUwazie The Naija Careerist

    Thanks for these tips. I am really trying to use more list than following people because sometimes the people I follow make me miss out on good information from other tweeps. 

  • http://twitter.com/AbbottGiftware Abbott

    These are some fabulous tips Corvida! I am a huge fan of creating different lists rather than just following thousands of tweeters. Great posts and absolutely love your blog!

  • http://twitter.com/chrsmyrs Chris Myers

    Good, practical tips. I like the idea of using lists instead of following.

    I have taken task to clean up my twitter feed to make it more meaningful for me as opposed to haphazardly catching bits and pieces of information here and there. I started using SocialBro-beta to help sort things out. Aside of managing lists, it provides decent analytics and filtering options.