I assume this means that marketers are testing the waters to see if they can capitalize on Twitter’s success, but they’re breaking one of the rules of social marketing. Social marketing only works when you have something people actually want, you have to add value (I hate that term but it fits). The best example I can think of is Dell. The only way this medium will last is if people are enjoying it.

A new trend is emerging. Unfollow everyone and start over. I just learned about it last night. At first I bristled against this but after giving it some thought I think its brilliant. The whole point of social media is to connect with people online. If you aren’t saying anything that I want to listen to, then why would I maintain the connection? Loïc Le Meur unfollowed everyone in his Twitter account yesterday, and is slowly adding people back. Its beautiful. Its the equivalent of hitting the refresh button. It preserves the value of Twitter for him. The alternative is to ditch social media altogether, and where’s the fun in that?

I don’t have 23,000 followers, so I probably won’t need to do this anytime soon, but I’m also not following everyone that finds me. If your Twitter account has become unruly then this could be just the trick to set things right. I promise I won’t be offended if you drop me, there’s a chance that I’ll unfollow you.