Recently Ryan Biddulph from Blogging From Paradise unfollowed everyone on Twitter. Yes, you read that right, everyone! You may be wondering how to unfollow everyone on Twitter quickly or easily, right?
As you can imagine, I was quite intrigued by this massive move.
So, I asked Ryan if I could do an interview about this experience.
Here is the interview:
Ryan, how did you unfollow everyone on Twitter? (I’m not sure there is such a button to delete follower profiles.)
Yes, I did. I spent a few hours daily unfollowing everybody one at a time. I worked in chunks. Over 2 weeks, I unfollowed all 47,000 people I had followed. It was not easy as there is no way how to mass unfollow everyone on Twitter at the same time.
Table of Contents
What Inspired You To Stop Following Everyone?
First, my stream became a newsfeed. Since I do not follow the news I began unfollowing 1000s of Tweeters who tweeted news items. I have zero tolerance for the news because it is designed to scare scared humans through manipulation.
But after unfollowing these 1000s I soon realized how many folks I followed who tweeted content not resonant with who I’ve become over the past 12 years.
The guy who joined Twitter in 2008 seemed unclear and largely filled with fear and doubts concerning Twitter and blogging.
The 2020 Ryan has faced, felt, and released many deep fears over 12 years through an intense personal growth campaign.
I simply started at 0 again on Twitter because this has pretty much mirrored my life strategy; Then, I follow a few folks in life these days as I tighten my circles.
Why Did You Follow Me First?
You are the best Tweeter and Twitter. I can say that after 12 years and tweeting 574,000 times.
(This shocked me, I didn’t comprehend why he would only follow me at first. Now, he’s up to about 6 others.)
Why Did You Only Choose Following a Few Others?
I deeply value-wise, loving, compassionate, genuine human beings focused almost exclusively on helping people, befriending people, and lifting up humanity. Such humans are few and far between.
But even more than that, I intend to give 99.99% of my attention and energy to serving my followers and .01% to following 5-10 folks, if that.
Helping and chatting with followers became easier when I only followed a few folks; virtually no mental and physical clutter in my main Twitter stream.
Did You Lose Many Twitter Followers?
I have no idea, Lisa. I genuinely, honestly, give almost all of my attention to gain and none to lose. The way I look at it, if someone followed me only because I followed them, they did not follow me based on my skills, merit, blog posts, eBooks, and courses.
If they were readers, customers, clients, or brand advocates, they were illusory numbers, and a number never bought an eBook or mine, RTed a blog post, or hired me to help them.
Do You Use Twitter lists?
I do not. I see the benefits of Twitter lists.
However, between publishing 10-12 blog posts on some days – between articles, guest posts, podcasts, and videos – it is tough to spend much time doing anything else.
(Hmm, I can’t imagine writing 10-12 blog posts per day! Can you?)
What is Your Goal By Mass Unfollowing People On Twitter?
I intended to maintain clarity, peace of mind, and pure posture. Hence, I had little Twitter posture for my 12 years online.
I actually followed people just because they asked me to follow them, versus observing if they tweeted valuable content, built genuine bonds, and published wise tweets that uplifted me, inspired me, and moved me.
What Has Been Your Result To Unfollow Everyone on Twitter?
Clarity, peace of mind, and pure posture 😉 All intents manifested for me. I give much more time to my loyal followers and also cleared out the fear-pain-suffering in my mainstream consistent with politics, news and other manipulate tweets.
I also became hyper-aware of the news narrative on Twitter, or, the general narrative. Unenlightened human beings with a heavy bias on Twitter.
That is OK, as I do not expect the folks over there to have the wisdom of King Solomon or the altruism of the Dalai Lama.
However, during my unfollowing on Twitter, I saw again and again how tweets Twitter gave priority to largely aligned with the dominant news aka trending topics. I have no political skin in the game so I can see this as clear as day.
The mass unfollows allowed me to block out the biased narrative, the noise, and general ridiculous manipulation, to simply follow a few kinds, open, compassionate, wise Tweeters who vibe with my vision.
Do You Have More Than One Account to Unfollow Everyone on Twitter?
No, I do not. I only have one Twitter account.
What Social Media Platform Are You Most Active On?
Definitely Twitter.
How About the Least Social Media Network You Are On?
Definitely LinkedIn.
Which Social Media Platform Draws the Most Traffic To Your Blog?
I do no metrics stuff Lisa, but assume it is Twitter. I basically do what my intuition tells me to do, and it has always told me to trust my gut and to ignore stats.
Most bloggers would say this is reckless, but I still have not met a blogger who’s lived as cool as life as me 🙂
(I’m still a stats girl here but I do understand how you can “feel” oftentimes what works or not!)
Do You Envision Social Media Disappearing and Blogs To Remain?
I am not sure; social media is likely to stick around for a bit because most folks are asleep and entirely unaware, but more deeply, clear thinkers finally observed the narrative up close and personal during recent political events.
Blogs will be around for a long time because more bloggers are genuine, honest, truthful, and open-minded than are not.
Social media offers you a great channel for connecting with many like-minded folks given the topic fits into their narrative – most topics do – but all of their power, influence, and clout is in the billions of humans who use social media.
The more users close down or do not use their accounts, the less power they have. We will see what the future brings.
My Take On Mass Unfollowing
I’ve unfollowed a bunch of folks the past few weeks as many that I followed 10 years ago are no longer relevant to my interests. But I still use and love Twitter lists. However, it’s not easy how to quickly unfollow everyone on Twitter X.
Of course, I’m now on Minds spending some time on that Twitter alternative network.
It feels free to not follow so many people on Twitter. However, it feels even better not to be aggravated by the main Twitter feed when you log on to Twitter today.
How To Quickly Unfollow Everyone On Twitter
You can’t unfollow all your Twitter followers with just one click. The good news is, you can do it manually on Twitter or consider using third-party community management tools.
Most tools doesn’t support this type of automated mass unfollowing. Why? Twitter doesn’t allow mass unfollowing, especially when done through automated tools.
Twitter frowns upon what it calls aggressive following behavior. Essentially, unfollowing many accounts quickly can result in your account being frozen, suspended, or even banned.
Now, Your Turn – How To Unfollow Everyone On Twitter
Would you know how to quickly unfollow everyone on Twitter X as Ryan has? Before you do, be sure you are up on the Twitter rules or you’ll lose your Twitter account.
I’d love to know more in the comments below on your thoughts on unfollowing many people on Twitter.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 12 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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Hi Lisa,
I’m not sure if I would be willing to start over following people on Twitter. If I did, I probably would follow mostly people in my niche or related topics. I followed friends or people I found through Facebook blogging groups and through other means.
Hi Cynthia, It’s not easy! I’ve cleaned up my folks there and I’m still not done. I’m weeding through them all from time to time but it makes it for a nicer experience. Of course, I do love my Twitter lists. Thanks for coming by and welcome to Inspire To Thrive!
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for interviewing Ryan and sharing a deeper understanding of his new approach to Twitter. Something that he said caught my attention because I heard a similar sentiment on a podcast I was listening to. Planet Upload is the name of the show and the host was speaking about Twitter saying that it “has replaced the Newswire for a lot of journalists”.
I must admit that I get most of my news from Twitter on desktop in the “What’s happening” sidebar on the right, because I can easily ignore any items I’m not interested in and click through topics that I’m intrigued by.
Fantastic interview and I applaud Ryan for taking further action toward his personal growth goals!
You are welcome, Ileane. You know I had to ask him, right? Twitter has been known for news and I believe they changed the category in the app store years ago to news vs. social media. We just keep on using Twitter for social media though, those in the business of it. I unfollowed a bunch of folks too as they changed their whole profile and cover photos to reflect news vs. their old blogs and businesses. A lot changes in 12 years especially on Twitter!
Thanks for coming by on this one Ileane and make it a great day there!
I can see the discussion is already on heat, lisa! I’m here to just learn.
Just a little Mudassir, love to know your thoughts after you have gathered them on this one. Make it a great day!
Lisa: I am not sure that I want to unfollow everyone and start from scratch, but I want to “clean up” my following and tweeps that I follow, in the near future. I am still looking for a good tool for doing this…
We will talk more about alternatives to Twitter in the near future.
All the Best,
Martin
Hi Martin, Yes, I’ve been cleaning up my Twitter followers a little at a time. It feels good after a decade+ of being on the network. Thanks for coming by and have a great weekend .
Hello Lisa,
Interesting Case Study and interview too. I think when you followed too many people then it must flood your news feed with some unwanted tweets. Ryan is a generous blogger and love to help others. He quickly follows others which is not a good Decision. Personally follow only relevant folks that are in my interest. Yes, have seen that Ryan also unfollowed me too. Hope things will soon get normalize. Thanks for sharing
Regards,
Vishwajeet Kumar
Hi Vishwajeet, nice to see you back here! Yes, but you can use lists for that too but Ryan doesn’t have the time to make and use lists today with all the writing he does everywhere. I can understand that. It will be interesting to see how many may unfollow him or not. I don’t think he lost too many, maybe 5,000-10,000 out of over 50,000? That’s not bad. And that means they were not really digging his content if they did unfollow him. Right? Thanks for coming by on this one and have a great day. I’m with about getting back to normal but I’m not sure things will ever be the same again.
Hello Lisa,
Good interview with Ryan.
It is always good to unfollow people who do not resonate with us. Ryan did the right thing by unfollowing them.
Hi Jenny, welcome to Inspire To Thrive. Thank you. I was so intrigued by it that I had to find out more. I started to unfollow some because I hadn’t paid that much attention to who I was following after all these years. Some were no longer even active on Twitter in years! Always good to give your social media accounts a good cleaning from time to time. Thanks for coming by on this Jenny and make it a wonderful day!
Hi Lisa!
Wonderful interview. Can definitely relate to the “no news” policy. I have also unfollowed a few accounts recently who started retweeting political things and mainstream media posts.
Removing mental clutter is one of the most freeing experiences. Glad to hear Ryan has found a strategy for Twitter that keeps him inspired!
Cheers,
James
Hi James, thank you. I was intrigued by Ryan’s unfollowing method. I love the term “mental clutter”. I’ve got work on narrowing mine down more in the coming weeks as well. Thanks for coming by on this one and make it a great day James!
Hi Lisa and Ryan. How are you, guys?
Interesting interview. Here’s what I think…
1) Doing something that makes you feel good right now may or may not lead to something good on long term, so whether it was a good decision or not is yet to be assessed by Ryan in the future.
2) When you’re part of a community, your actions inside the community influence, more or less, the community. So, maybe isn’t always good to focus 100% on you and 0% on your peers. Not criticizing Ryan in any way, but what I mean is that yelling inside my cabin from the woods (because it made me feel good – not true, just saying) is very much different from yelling inside my office when I’m not alone. (of course that yelling and unfollowing aren’t the same thing, don’t focus on this point)
Not looking for a debate or trying to look smart. This is just food for thought for other people who may consider following Ryan’s path.
Hi Adrian, wow, a blast from the past. Nice to see you again. I do understand what you are saying, Adrian. It would not work for everyone, that is for sure! But for some it does. Many “highly” popular accounts do not follow many people. But they have millions of followers. I don’t think Ryan did it for that reason. I think it just made it easier for him on Twitter.
I still use lists but I do like seeing fewer people in my main feed. There were some folks I followed that had actually passed and others left the businesses I had interacted with. It’s good to clean up those social media contacts if you have been on for as long as we have. (including you!) Thanks for coming by Adrian and have a great rest of the week. Hope things are well on your end!
Hi Lisa,
Indeed there are people doing great by not following many people but still being followed by millions. Some of them are fake stars who followed and then unfollowed people for the purpose of showing how great they are, others are very popular persons who never got that ratio by following and then unfollowing. And then there is a third category, Ryan being included here.
However, my previous comment didn’t take into consideration these things. I didn’t thought that Ryan’s intention was other one than the one he stated (clarity, piece of mind).
At the risk of becoming annoying (I’m mastering this art. Unfortunately.), I’ll stop trying to be a diplomat. Here’s the thing…
I bet that some people shared Ryan’s articles and then after several minutes or hours Ryan unfollowed them. These are people important to Ryan, they help him grow his business. How did they feel being slapped in their face right after helping him? Maybe I’m exaggerating when I refer to a slap in the face, but anyway, the feeling conveyed by the unfollow cannot be described as positive. So why doing it?
Why doing it when there’s a better alternative? Why wasting a lot of time by unfollowing tons of people one by one, and making feel uncomfortable some of the people that helped you, when there’s another way?
Make a list. Add Lisa and several others to it. That’s it. And never check again your Twitter home feed but only the feed for that list. Less than five minutes, not making your friends feeling uncomfortable, getting clarity and peace of mind.
Once again, I’m not criticizing Ryan. What he’s doing is none of my business and isn’t affecting me in any way. Just sharing some of my ideas that contradict his ideas. That’s all
Hi Adrian, I hear you. And yes, I love using those Twitter lists. Even those have to be cleaned up from time to time. But one other thing: What about those big folks who don’t follow others but still get shares all the time? Just thinking Adrian. I’m more for the underdog. Have a great day.
“What about those big folks who don’t follow others but still get shares all the time?”
Who share their stuff? Friends, fans, customers, ordinary people interested in a certain topic or in that particular star, etc. Actually it also depends on who the big folks are and what they do. Not easy to give a short answer that includes all possible cases.
Anyway, the idea is that if you copy what this or that star did today at noon, most probably you won’t get the same result.
The same on Twitter. If I open a new account and I don’t follow anyone or almost anyone, I cannot expect millions of followers just because Roger Federer or another star did it. Why? Because I’m not a popular guy like Federer. I’m a nobody outside my circle of 100, 500 or 1000 friends, relatives, customers. Another reason is that the area I write about (internet marketing) has a tiny audience in comparison with tennis, US politics or another world-wide popular topic. So even if I become overnight the God of internet marketing, I still won’t get the same popularity as Federer or other very popular star.
Anyway, we’re quite off-topic already. Nice chatting with you again!
Hi Adrian.I hear you and you are correct on your points. It depends on the niche and so much more! Nice chatting and have a great weekend.
Hi Lisa,
I wondered why Ryan unfollowed people (including me) so I am enlightened by this interview. Thank you! Like Philip Ariel, I am also waiting for Ryan to follow me back. I am in his blogging tips niche as you know.
I do have a question though. I try never to air my politics on Twitter. As a blogger and teacher, it would be a bad idea. However, I do click the like button if someone who shares my politics tweets something I agree with. Can my followers see my Likes if they don’t follow the people who shared the Tweet? I hope not, but I always wondered. Thanks again for giving us clarity about Ryan and in advance for answering my question.
Janice
Hi Janice, You are most welcome. Yes, followers can see your likes and replies if they go through them from your profile. It takes a lot of work to do it so not sure how many would actually do that.
You are welcome and I’m loving following fewer people as well. It really cleans up the feed after being on Twitter for over 10 years. So many are no longer bloggers or in the business of social media and have become political activists. Not that I’m saying it’s bad but I’m trying to stay more focused there.
Thanks for coming by and have a great day and Happy December Janice.
Hi Lisa,
I appreciate the reply. Thanks for letting me know the answer to my question. I agree people aren’t going to go to that trouble regarding discovering my likes. As far as my tweets: I only tweet blog promotions or a thanks to my followers that I can recall. As far as retweets: I retweet your wonderful inspirational quotes and other tweets of content in my niche.
I find this conversation fascinating, especially Adrian’s analogy about yelling alone in a cabin in the woods.
I have always considered Ryan a friend and a mentor. Also, he is in my blogging tips niche. I hope I make the cut when he returns to following people. =)
Janice
Hi Janice, you are most welcome. Oh yes, Adrian can think of everything – gotta love it! Glad to see him back. Have a great weekend Janice!
Hi Lisa and Ryan,
what surprising news it is! As Ryan is one of the amazing bloggers the entire blogging community gives respect and honor to him and his breathtaking travel notes.
I don’t find any surprises in following back you as the #1 in his followers’ list! Indeed you deserve it and he honored it!!
Anyway, I am still waiting for his follow!! LOL
I am sure he can’t leave me alone!
I am happy that after this amazing act he is getting peace of mind, that’s what we all want!
Wish you and Ryan a great and peaceful journey ahead all over the blogging space as well as the social media sites.
I am really surprised to note Ryan’s least interest in LinkedIn!
Hey, Ryan will you please elaborate a bit more on this.
Thanks, Lisa for this amazing and surprising interview with our dear blog spinner or let me say Blog King Ryan!!
Best
~ Phil
Hi Phillip, nice to see you back. Praying for your strength to get you through your very tough time.
Yes, I was amazed when Ryan did this and really wanted to know what was behind it all. I think it’s great that we re-evaluate who we follow especially since we have been on Twitter for over a decade. So much has happened over that time period. Many of the people we follow are in different fields and such now too. Many like Ryan said, became political activists and no longer bloggers, etc. A very smart move I believe by Ryan. Do take care Phillip!
Hey Lisa and Ryan,
Very interesting concept. I’m not sure I would unfollow everyone only because of the time (and I don’t spend a lot of it on any social media platform as it is), but I can completely understand why this is appealing. Besides, I’m a total klutz on social media. Always have been. I’ve unfollowed and refollowed tons of people accidentally, needed to edit or delete posts thanks to typos I don’t see, links that don’t work, etc. And I got rid of my personal FB profile last year. Best decision. I feel much lighter from that.
These days, now more than ever, it’s so important to be mindful of what we pay attention to. Information surrounds us at all times and I’ve become picky about what shows up in my own newsfeed. I have no doubt others feel the importance of it – especially those who spend time doing inner-work. To me, life is similar to The Truman Show. We believe the reality with which we’re presented. Social media is filled with fear and mainstream media produces it in droves. It’s their job to do so, it’s our job to guard our minds.
Great post. I wish you both a continued way of life based on peace and well-being.
Hi Dana, thank you for coming by on this one. I found it appealing too and have begun the process whenever I see stuff in my feed that does not bring me any joy. I’m on FB less and less except for business these days too.
LOL – I remember that show, that’s a good analogy. I keep thinking we are in the Matrix or the Twilight Zone. Sad it’s come to this level though. I’m glad they are alternative places we can go and other ways to stay on mainstream social media with a cleaning of the feed.
Thank you Dana, and I hope you have a great day and week down there filled with sunshine!
Lisa, thanks so much for sharing. Being able to REALLY engage my followers genuinely and actually having fun doing it has been my favorite benefit from mass unfollowing. No distractions. No noise in my main stream. Simply a few awesome folks tweeting value, then me @replying my loyal followers. What a neat journey.
Ryan
Hi Ryan – Thank you for following me and for having me do the interview. Very interesting concept! I’d love to know how it goes a month from now and down the road as well. It is important to have fun doing it because otherwise, you could never continue it – year after year! Glad to hear it’s going very well so far. Enjoy the rest of the day though it looks like a rainy one on this coast!
I love this and admire you, Ryan, for taking back your peace and sanity! I recently sis this on Facebook and am slowly added back those who offer value to my well-being. So, if you see a friend request, it’s legit!
Great interview, Lisa!
Thank you Brenda.Yes, it took Ryan a lot of guts and will power to do this. But I understand why as I’ve unfollowed thousands over the past 2 weeks. Love the new Twitter feed! Make it a great day and week Brenda! (and a new month tomorrow!)
Wonderful interview Lisa, I had wondered why Ryan had unfollowed everyone and now I know, am honoured that he is following me back now.
I have done something similar to Ryan and have cleared up my main account ( I now have two), I was auto tweeting stuff to do with tech and website based stuff (or so I thought) but stopped doing that and have deleted all my tweets older than 6 months and just deleted those tweets within the six months.
I know the feeling that Ryan had and my main account is also now a news feed so I will be doing the same. However American politics do fascinate me ( I remember spending hours watching the impeachment trial and the special council on russian interference on YT, fascinating stuff )
I setup a new Twitter profile, only because at the time I thought the handle was cool, now though I’m using it to be hyper focused on my passion of web development. Not following anyone apart from people who tweet interesting stuff and web development.
Great post Lisa and thanks for sharing your thoughts Ryan.
Stay well.
Phillip
Hi Phillip, Thank you! I’ve started to do the same Phillip and I love it! IF you love politics you may want to try Parler. Parler is similar to Twitter but more conservative. There are so many alternative social media sites out there today. It will be interesting to see which survive and thrive as we go into 2021. Thanks for coming by on this post Phillip. I’m glad I was able to satisfy your curiosity! Make it a great day and new week/month Phillip.