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At first I thought it was a Tweetdeck problem.
I noticed our lists having less and less tweets appearing. Either all our main tweeps suddenly fell off the Twitter Wagon, or there was a problem.
But I tweeted on.
Then, I was at Disney Social Media Moms Conference in March and a couple friends, whom I KNOW I was following, suddenly had it show up in their streams that, “@5MinutesforMom is now following you.” Huh?!?
SO, now I am left totally frustrated and concerned.
Not only are our streams missing so many of our regular tweeps, but I don’t even know where to START to figure out everyone I am no longer following!
And even WORSE, how many people think that we either: a) unfollowed them or b) never followed them.
SIGH…
SO to all our tweeps out there tweeting away and we can’t see you, please holler at us and we will re-follow.
And to all of you who may think that we unfollowed you on purpose, we did NOT! In fact, we have NEVER unfollowed anyone on purpose that I can recall.
Perhaps there is a way to find out whom we have unfollowed (read:Twitter unfollowed from our @5minutesformom account!) But if I don’t discover that, I guess we will slowly have to rebuild my Twitter lists and re-follow a TON of people!
TAKE AWAY: Please do NOT assume that someone has unfollowed you on purpose! Apparently bizarre Twitter unfollowings can occur. And in our case, they can remove hundreds of people we once followed without our knowledge!
Written by Janice Croze, co-founder of the mom blog, 5 Minutes for Mom.com, and lover of Twitter (@5minutesformom) and Facebook (/5minutesformom). Friend/Follow/Like — whatever you choose. Just holler at me to chat back!
Jill Amery says
Wow. Thanks for letting me know. And just when I was sending a ton of media kits – that will teach me to check all of our stats beforehand!
Joy of Desserts says
You’re showing as no longer following me.
@JoyOfDesserts
Twitter plays all sorts of tricks. It happens often. Don’t know if they are hacked or if it’s bad programing on their part.
christieo says
This drives me CRAZY! I thought it was just me, just when I think my follower count is growing, it takes a dive, it kills me! It makes me so conscious of what I’m tweeting!! LMAO! After reading a lot about how Twitter just does this, I don’t feel so bad anymore.
stacy says
Not only did I lose some followers but I can’t follow any new people because twitter says I’ve reached my limits. I don’t understand. I only follow 2000 and have 1000 followers. How come others that have thousands of followers are allowed to do it?
Carmen says
This happened to some of the SITS girls too – one mentioned “twitter follows are dropping like flies! am i doing something wrong?!!!” weird weird weird! maybe we need to take it up with twitter.
Deb says
You can check your unfollowers and who is not following back here http://who.unfollowed.me/ It’s a useful free tool. Yes you unfollowed me but it’s ok now I understand:(
Serendipity is Sweet says
That is very strange. I don’t use twitter as often as other social media but I did notice when I checked my account the other day that I was following hundreds of people that I know I did NOT follow. I assumed my account was hacked or something as most of them were self-help gurus and SEO sales people. I’ll admit I’m a twitter novice and need more experience to really understand twitter but it does seem like some bizarre stuff can happen.
Barbie says
I checked and it said I didn’t follow you, so I am following you now. You can follow me if you want, although I don’t Tweet very often. It’s so confusing to me.
LolliF says
How frustrating! I hardly even pay attention to who I’m following (except that I read the tweets as they show up). I wouldn’t even know unless someone told me.
Tarasview says
oh it happened to me too!! It has been driving me crazy- twitter has automatically unfollowed hundreds of people from my account and I have no idea how to figure out WHO! I’ve even had a few folks peeved at me for unfollowing them when I KNOW I didn’t. Plus I think twitter has followed a few people I am pretty sure I never agreed to follow (aka ladies of the night from Thailand!!).
So frustrating!
I am really glad to know it is not just me though!!
Susie's Homemade says
That IS bizzare!!!
Deborah / Mom2Michael says
So it’s not just my oncoming early senility? I’ve been finding a lot of folks in my stream that I am positive I’ve been following and tweeting with for months – but I’m no longer following them. It makes me feel very dotty. I think this issue is pretty widespread.
You can try friendorfollow.com – that will give you a list of everyone following you whom you’re not following back (“fans”). It also tells you who’s not following you back (ouch – “follows”) and who your mutual follows (“friends”) are.
Stephanie says
That happened to me too! I KNOW I was following certain people, they were my friends! And then all of a sudden I wasnt following them anymore. Its so weird! Now whenever anyone tweets at me I double check to make sure Im following them.
Florence says
This explains it. I was surprised to see you become my follower during UBP11 when I know you were already following me since UBP10. Oh Twitter, can’t live with it, can’t live without it, 🙂
Janice says
Yes – I am so worried SO many people might think that we unfollowed them!!!
DIStherapy says
Hi Gals-
You no longer follow me :(( (since the UBP)
Good to know that these things happen…
Janice says
Oh gosh — tweet me and tell me and I will follow back right away!
Amy says
That is a great takeaway. I don’t have nearly the amount of followers that you do, but it’s an important point!
Janice says
Yes – I have so often heard about people being upset when someone unfollows and I worry. Twitter is WAY too unpredictable to let it tell you if someone really did do that.