Hey there. I don’t mean this as a knock to you. There are a lot of ways to use twitter and feel free to continue on doing what it is you’re doing. It’s your online persona, do what you want with it. I just thought I would explain why I stopped following you and maybe offer some helpful info.

1. You are using the default avatar.

C’mon man show a little effort here.

2. You are spamming me and the rest of your followers.

Some people don’t even realize they’re doing it. I’ve done it by accident once or twice, but when I see you posting things like “get 2539475875645 followers in 4 hours!!” or “work from home!! In your underwear!” more than a few times or several times in a row, you’re cluttering my feed instead of being a person. I follow people not schemes. Followers aren’t worth anything if they don’t care about what you post and…

3. You don’t participate in the conversation.

If you don’t follow people back or jump into the conversation via @replies or otherwise, you’re nothing more than a bot to the people who you’re following/are followed by. Follow people who talk about things that interest you and share things with them. Think of twitter like a party where you don’t know anyone. A follow is a handshake and then things go from there. This is networking and we should all be here to offer feedback to each other, be it on the subject you consider yourself an authority on or otherwise. It’s ok to occasionally make me aware of your business, but only if you’ve convinced me that you’re good at what you do. Just don’t be constantly in my face about it. Especially if…

4. You post in ALL CAPS.

I don’t know about you, but on my keyboard the “Caps Lock” key is a mere 1/8 of a inch away from the rest of the keyboard. I feel like you’re yelling at me. Are you mad? I mean I can read just fine in regular type. Seriously though, when you do that it makes me think you aren’t all that sharp and you end up looking like that person in the middle of a crowded room SCREAMING your end of the conversation over all the rest of the people in the room.

5. Your updates bore me to tears.

I’m sorry. The truth is I don’t care about the mundane thing you’re doing right now. At least thats not ALL I care about. Just include a little personality along with that update. Here’s what I mean:

“I’m cutting an onion”

vs…

“Cutting onions always makes me cry almost as hard as thinking about how bad the x-files 2 was”

Ok, so I’m not that funny, but I’m just looking for a hint of personality in your tweets and NOT just what it is you’re doing.

6. I just got a canned direct message immediately after following you.

I’m really not stupid.  I’d be more likely to continue following you if you just ignored the fact that I started following you.  Either write something personally when you get around to it or continue on as usual.  A tip:  ”Welcome, @forbetaorworse! Thanks for following me”. Now THAT’s a good gesture.

7. You have extended conversations with people and I am forced to watch it.

You and your girlfriend/boyfriend can use AIM, Gtalk and so many other ways of IM.  Why do I need to read your passive aggressive domestic “wash the ****ing dishes” conversations?

…So that’s that. I’ll probably edit this and add things as I get more of a feel for twitter. Like I said, this isn’t meant as a knock to you. Twitter is sort of a strange beast, and finding your place in the community can be hard. All the best in the future….