There are hundreds of posts (some of them mine) on the Twitter follower/following dynamic, how to find people worth following, etc. Less has been written about strategies for not following/unfollowing people.
So here’s mine. I’ve decided to start unfollowing/not follow back certain classes of followers.

Celebrities
I first started following celebrities a couple of years ago when Twitter was relatively new. There was a novelty factor. I was interested in learning about the latest celebrities on Twitter, their behavior, their reasons for being there, and of course, whether they were real.

I’m not big in celebrity watching. It’s hard not to be fascinated by celebrities, particularly by their achievements in their respective fields. But I don’t subscribe to People magazine. Or Us. Or Them. Or Those. I don’t even watch TV. And it’s becoming increasingly harder to be fascinated by the latest celebrities who show up on Twitter, so that’s one category I am whacking right away. (MC Hammer stays. He has class, responds to people, has been on Twitter since back in the day, and unlike most celebrities, is there for reasons that may include self promotion, but are not limited to it.)

Seriously, Ashton Kutcher is a dork. Twitter has become the latest hip shiny object for celebrities. Here’s a hint: When you go in search of hipness, anything widely recognized as “hip” is no longer so. And remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Hummers were big with celebrities.

On the other hand, fake Twitter celebrities can be really awesome. My favorite is Chuck Norris.

MLMers
I hate multi-level marketing (MLM), network marketing or whatever it’s called these days. When I can detect it in a follower, I will opt out. MLM is just another way of saying “Ponzi scheme.” BLOCK.

Strange Stuff
I’ve had a couple of weird followers. I was followed by Berchtesgaden, which was Hitler’s summer home. (The account was later suspended, so my suspicions that it was not “legitimate” were confirmed.) I’ve had several followers promote colon cleansing products. BLOCK or NO FOLLOW depending on how offensive.

Follow Schemers
I’m so not interested in people who are in any way involved in schemes to amass Twitter followers. NO FOLLOW.

Spammers
Yes, there are spammers on Twitter. They don’t email you, they follow you. Forget all the disingenuous crap about how “you don’t have to follow them back.” If you’re on Twitter to meet liked minded people, learn, share, and carry on conversations, then you have to validate your followers, so spammers are just as annoying on Twitter as they are anywhere else. BLOCK or NO FOLLOW depending on how offensive.

That’s it for now, though I am sure as I work my way through 5000+ followers, I’ll identify other categories worth ignoring. I just wish I had become more selective a long time ago.

Tags: twitter, celebrity, celebrities, ashton kutcher, follow, unfollow, followers, spam, block, mc hammer, chuck norris