Our second installment of the Spring Craft Blog Hop 2015 #SCBH2015 has been amazing. So…
Spring cleaning your Twitter account and tackling the dreaded 2000 Following ceiling
It can be tricky to break through the Twitter limitation of 2000 Following ceiling. In this post, I provide strategic and actionable steps to help you break through and succeed in Twitter.
Recently, I’ve started to really embrace Twitter. I’ve gotten involved in Twitter parties, conversations, trends, and link-ups. I’ve made lots of fabulous new connections and friends. However, I also hit the infamous and widely dreaded 2000 Following ceiling. I was so annoyed that I couldn’t follow any more people, especially these great new Tweeps with whom I had just connected, that I almost quit Twitter. Grrr, Twitter… But I had just invested so much time and energy into expanding my connections; I didn’t want to throw all that away, so I did some research and realized that it was time to clean nest–clean my Twitter nest that is. Besides, I didn’t really want to spring-clean my pantry today anyway.
What is the dreaded 2000 Following ceiling?
If you’re like me, you followed everyone and anyone who seemed interesting when you first joined Twitter. But maybe now, you’ve gotten more involved and realized your tastes have changed your strategy has changed, your goals have changed, or maybe you are quickly reaching the dreaded Following 2000 ceiling. What is the Following 2000 ceiling? In order to combat spam and misuse, Twitter has a rule that once you “follow” 2000 users, you can not follow anyone else if you do not have a strong number of “Followers” yourself. No one knows the exact ratio. The general rule of thumb is two-thirds or 70%. So, once you’ve hit 2000, you’ll most likely need to reach 1400 followers before Twitter lifts your restriction enabling you to “follow” again. So, what should you do if you hit the dreaded 2000 limit? Clean Nest!
Clean up who you’re “Following”
Make the most of the Twitter List Functionality
Go through your Following list and start unfollowing people that are not following you back. I recommend Crowdfire (formerly Just Unfollow) It’s a free service that allows you to sort/review your Twitter account via: Non Followers, Fans, Who Unfollowed me, Inactive Following, and All Following. As it turns out, I had over 1300 people that I was following who weren’t following me back. (This is listed under “Non Followers.”) As you can see, since I started managing this 3 weeks ago, I’ve whittled away at this list and am down to 1079 Non Followers. It’s still a big number so whenever I have a chance, I go through and review this list and try to make it work for me.
Weeding through the Non Follower list
1) Make a private list.
Many of these Non Followers are companies or celebrities that I am still interested in “following.” So I created a list (in Twitter) to keep track of their tweets which will enable me to keep “following” them without wasting a precious “following” slot. Remember, if you “unfollow” anyone, you can always re-follow them at anytime. A good rule of thumb is before you click Follow-check to see what ratio the Tweeter has. Does it look like they follow-back most people? If not, you may want to just add them to a list and watch them from there until you’ve surpassed the 2000 Following ceiling.
2) Conduct a Friend Check
JustUnfollow.com also lets you search by name (via Friend Check), so you can see if real life friends or colleagues are following you and if not, you can send them a nice note reminding them to follow you back. It’s also a good time to send some Twitter love-make a point to interact with Tweeps that you know in real-life (Retweet, or Favorite some of their latest tweets). That will remind them of your Twitter presence and easily stimulate conversations since you know them.
3) Give non-followers one more chance
As I review my non-follower list, I often come across Tweeps who seem interesting and have a good ratio of followers to following. So for these folks, before I press Unfollow, I try and give them a second chance. I’ll go to their profile, check out their latest tweets. If I see something that I find interesting, I’ll Retweet it and/or send them a Reply and try to engage them. If after a week or so, I don’t receive a follow, then I’ll add them to my private list and Unfollow until I reach the point where I can follow folks more freely.
How do you stay organized on Twitter? Have you encountered the dreaded 2000 Following Ceiling? Do you have any suggestions related to Twitter organization or Unfollows? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
HI! I’m a Shana, self-proclaimed Media Mixologist, wife, and mom to two little girls. I love to mix up cocktails of crafts, recipes, wellness, family and business with just the right amount of sparkle to help you shine everyday. So, grab a glass, and let’s celebrate the cocktail of life!
Julie S. says
Great post! Yea when I first got in twitter, I followed SO MANY PEOPLE. Part of the problem was I used my account to enter book giveaways, and following an author is one way to enter. But if they don’t follow back, you start to run into problems. Every now and then I have to do a clean up of my non-followers to make it so I can follow people again. It is annoying, and really doesn’t make sense to me, but there it is. It took me a while to discover lists, but now I love them. I follow so many people anyway that my “feed” is useless. So I’ve made specific lists for my friends (who I really want to make sure I see their posts) and other important people like favorite bloggers and authors, so that I can check that list specifically and see what they’re talking about. I actually do that on facebook too. Lists are good.
admin says
Thanks! Glad you liked it. 🙂 Yes, i agree about the lists–they are complete life savers. As you said, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with your faves by just watching the regular feed. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t really understand the full purpose or potential of lists until recently. But I’m glad I have.
Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers!
Shana
Robin @ Redo It Yourself Inspirations says
I’m a new Twitter Tweeter and really appreciated your great tips! Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m pinning for reference 😀
Cheers!
~ Robin
admin says
Thanks for stopping by. I’m so glad this helped. I wish I would’ve known about it when i started, although I think the rule came into being after I had already started piling on the Follows. lol
Good luck!
beingawordsmith says
Shana, this is such a timely post for me. I have been battling the 2,000 follower ceiling for several months now. I have been dodging twitter parties and hops because I knew I couldn’t follow anyone back. Thanks for sharing this info. I just signed up for Just Unfollow and my jaw dropped at the number of people not following me back. Pinning!
admin says
Thanks! I’m so glad. Yeah, the nice thing about Just Unfollow is all the sorting functionality. There’s no way you could do any of that in Twitter itself. (I don’t get any compensation from Just Unfollow–I’m just a big fan). 🙂 And once you start using it, I’m sure you’ll see why. lol Good luck! And thanks for pinning. 🙂
Dee says
I’m not even close to this number, but I love Twitter, and I love making connections there. This is good to know, though, and I should really look into making lists–bad at organization! Thanks for the info! 🙂
admin says
Yes, definitely check into the List function. When i first started, i thought it was more of a way to give shout-outs to friends. I didn’t really understand the true value of it as an organization tool. But it’s so helpful. Really helps keep you sane amidst the Twitter chaos. 🙂