3 Simple Ways to Organize and Eliminate Noise On Twitter

Posted by on March 10, 2010 in Featured, Social Media

A guest post by Jordan Cooper of Not A Pro Blog

You’ve woken up for a new day, brushed your teeth, fed the cats and quietly taken your seat in front of the computer. As you sip the coffee from your favorite mug, you load up Google Reader and TweetDeck on your screen. Turning away for just one short moment to find your slippers, you look back at the monitor and see the horror that rears its ugly head. So frightened, your face is stuck in a perpetual state of shock, your body shivering uncontrollably. Unable to flee, unable to move, you take a short breath and with all your might, the words finally reach the end of your quivering lips…

384 unread posts and 1784 incoming tweets!

twitter bird

The Twitter bird, Tweebles, flys in search of his daily meal.

How can you organize all this information without going crazy?

  1. Stop following everyone! There’s no law that says you must follow all those who follow you on Twitter. Trust me, I’ve checked the penal code. Cut down on the noise by simply cutting out users who you’re not gaining any benefit by following. People who you don’t engage with or aren’t relevant to your interests. Refollow is an excellent tool for this purpose to sort out your hundreds, if not thousands of follows on Twitter. Use the variables wisely – you’ll find plenty of ways to decrease the noise factor and keep your account manageable.
  2. Decide on a platform for blog feed reading! We naturally default to our favorite RSS reader, but information can easily get redundant if you follow the blog on Twitter also. Do you really need to be informed about new blog posts multiple times on different platforms? Choose one or the other – especially when the blogger’s Twitter account is only being used as a non-engaging stream of their blog’s content. This can significantly decrease the “echo chamber” effect.
  3. Lists, lists and more lists! If you’re keeping track of all those you follow in one stream, it’s a recipe for disaster for controlling the noise. Use Twitter’s list functionality to segment people into smaller groups. You can do this by subject matter, but also by your engagement level with the particular set of people. Divide them up accordingly and track the most important lists closer than you would others.You can even add users to a list without even actually following them! This surely cuts down on the unneeded tweets on your end.

You don’t have to fear waking up in the morning. You don’t have to be afraid starting up your computer and wondering how you’re going to keep up with everything. Just grind things down into the simplest terms. Eliminate multiple streams and sources of information. If you’ve utilized these three simple methods of attack, breathe easier knowing you have control over the noise, not the other way around.

Jordan Cooper is a 13-year veteran professional stand-up comedian who showcases his sarcastic humor with videos and written rants about blogging, social media & marketing at Not A Pro Blog.

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