The State of Twitter

As many are aware, Twitter is not gaining followers. In fact, it may be losing them. One of the many factors for this is simply, that it is useless. Not just to the average Joe on the street but even to advertisers. If people are not sharing things with each other and only use the site to fight in semi-real time, then usefulness of the platform is null.

Now I am sure a lot of people who read this might disagree. However, I should point out that I have been on Twitter for more than 5 yrs. and have 19.2k followers. Yes, that is not a huge amount of followers, but it is certainly enough to be able to figure out the average users posting behavior. That is why I stopped bothering spending the time gaining followers. What would be the point?

I have written multiple Tweets and posts regarding retweeting. I have explained on site and on my blog, how this benefits for everyone involved. However, the average user either does not care or just simply ignores the facts.

I have made it abundantly clear that if my followers retweet my tweets that I will gladly return he favor. It seems obvious that if you have a few hundred followers, getting someone with nearly 20k followers to retweet, your tweets, would be of benefit.Yet, they can’t or won’t get this simple common sense.

The state of Twitter is such that I can comfortably unfollow EVERY single one of my followers and not lose anything. If they are not sharing, they are simply doing a disservice to both of us and they make this glaringly clear. I would rather not tweet to a bunch of people who ignore the opportunities involved, than keep them around to make me feel like I am some kind of loser or burden. If you are just following people for another number and not taking advantage of that new connection, then YOU are the loser and the burden.

If other users are feeling like this, then there is certainly good reason for the decline of the platform. If the platform is filled with nothing but ignorant and lazy people who only care about themselves, it will just continue sliding downhill.

Seeing this has made me realize that the time for Twitter will likely end soon. In the interim, I will unfollow every follower, with the exception of those, who actually seem to get it. Even then, unfollowing the vast majority of my followers, I will still have over 9k followers and will be following a couple of handfuls of people at most. My account will still look fine, and it will be as useful ,as it was before I unfollowed most everyone.

When one considers the big picture, it s far better for me not to carry around dead-weight and feel like crap, and redirect my efforts to another platform that has potential. This make perfect sense to ANYONE who is trying to get a business up and running. You have to go where you have the most potential for opportunity. Twitter has proven time and time again, that it is not the best place to spend your time and resources.

Over the course of the next few months, I will be eliminating the baggage. I will be doing this extremely fast, so it is completely possible that I accidentally unfollow some people not intended. I wish I had more time to be careful in doing this, but that is not the case. I have thousands of pictures to process and upload. I simply do not have the time to spend on unfollowing people from Tweeter, but I also refuse to reward anyone for lazy and ignorant behavior.

If I accidentally unfollow you and you have been active, PLEASE just send a message to @JB_Thomas and I will re-follow you. I don’t want to lose any good followers. Most of those that I plan on keeping have become friends.

I really hope Twitter reads this and figures out that these ignorant people really need a better tutorial, when they join the site. If they don’t make some big changes, this site is done for.

As for me, I will be re-directing all my efforts towards Facebook and Instagram. I am sure they both offer much more than Twitter ever did, in regards to communication and connecting.

Lastly, I want to thank all of my loyal and completely helpful followers. You get how important it is for me to be successful in my online endeavors. You understand that this not only affects me, it also affects my wife, who works 2 jobs and is gone all the time. The sooner I can find some success in this, the sooner my wife gets to come home and relax some. After her stroke earlier this year, I am more concerned than ever and the loyal followers get, that this is why I am pushing 200% into this photo business.

My loyal and helpful followers have taken the time to get to know me. They know I understand not everyone has money to buy my stuff and that is why I never ask that of them. I only ask that they share. This not much to ask especially when you consider that I have ALWAYS been willing to reciprocate the sharing.

I really do hope that Twitter figures all this out and finds a way to get people to understand and become more involved in the site. If they do not, they will certainly lose more people.

Life is just too damn short for shit like this. Take care and enjoy what is left of your day!

Axe