In an e-mail to users, SocialToo announced it is discontinuing a feature which automatically unfollows accounts which unfollow the SocialToo subscriber. Apparently, Twitter asked SocialToo to make this change:

“I just wanted to make you aware of a change we’re making on SocialToo at the request of Twitter. As of February 1, we will no longer be offering the service to automatically unfollow those who unfollow you. We have turned off the ability to purchase this service if you had not previously purchased it, but you can run it as many times as you like until February 1. I encourage you to read more about this on our blog at http://blog.socialtoo.com/2010/01/14/per-twitters-request-were-removing-auto-unfollow/ where we explain more about why Twitter is requiring us to remove this feature.

Removing this feature is as disappointing for us as it is for you and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We are working on solutions in the meantime that will hopefully replace this feature and have Twitter’s blessing at the same time.”

Undoubtedly Twitter was not happy with the feature because it automatically reduced the number of people who were being followed, which is at the heart of the notion that a Twitter user’s “reach” or influence is exponentially enhanced by their second- and third-order followers.

Tags: socialtoo, automatic unfollows