Free Up Your Time On Twitter With Auto-Follow And Auto-Unfollow

[EDIT – 04 July 2010 – Looks like Twitter no longer allow auto-unfollow.. and SocialOomph have had to comply http://www.socialoomphblog.com/twitter-auto-unfollow-go/]

I’m finding the older I get the less time I have.. and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

This is especially so when it comes to social media as more and more tools are being created both online and on mobile devices.

If you add up all the minutes and hours we spend doing stuff online.. it eventually adds up to days, weeks.. and even years!

Time is a finite resource and any little thing that can help maximize efficiency, I’m all for.

So here is a time saving tip that you might find useful if you are a Twitterholic.. automating the process of following back new Twitter followers, and unfollowing those people who unfollow you.

I will say from the outset that this strategy may not be for everyone.

This is especially so for those who have a relatively small following and who personally know all of their followers.. as well as those who don’t mind vetting everyone who follows them.

But for those people whose follower numbers have grown considerably, this may be a time saving strategy you have been looking.

SocialOomph

SocialOomph is a service that provides productivity enhancement services for social media users.

They were formerly known as TweetLater.com which originally focused on Twitter services only.. but have since broadened their scope to include the users of other social networking services and re-branded themselves by changing their name to SocialOomph.com

I have previously written how to Schedule Your Tweets with TweetLater which you may find interesting.

Setup

To get started head over to Social Oomph and register for a new account.

Once you have logged in the first thing you need to do is add your Twitter account.

On the Main Landing Page click on Add New Twitter Account,

Click on <Authorize Access>,

After logging into Twitter.. click on <Allow>,

Manage Accounts

Now that you have added your Twitter account, you need to enable auto-follow / auto-unfollow.

Click on Social Accounts then Manage Accounts,

Here you will notice that I have enabled,

• Auto Welcome – automatically send a welcome message to new followers. Just like with your phone’s answering machine.. one message for everyone.

Any new followers of mine will automatically receive the following welcome message,

Thanks for the follow! Please download my free Twitter Cheat Sheet (PDF) http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au/2009/11/03/twitter-cheat-sheet/

(Please feel free to download my Twitter Cheat Sheet if you haven’t already done so!)

• Auto Follow – anyone who follows me from this point forward, I will automatically follow them back. All new followers will also receive my automatic welcome message above.
• Auto Unfollow – if someone unfollows me from this point forward.. I will automatically unfollow them

Make sure you click <Save> when you are done.

And that’s it.

So to summaries,

• People follow me –> I automatically follow them back –> I also provide each new follower with an auto welcome message
• People unfollow me –> I automatically unfollow them

By setting this up and leaving it, will save you heaps of time when it comes to the maintenance of your Twitter account.. trust me!

Twitter House Cleaning

Spam

You will accrue spam by using this method. It is just a fact of life.

If a spam-bot automatically follows you, then you will automatically follow it back.

Every so often you may want to scan your account for spam.. and block any detected spam-bots.

This is very easily done by following my post on How to Stop Twitter Spam.

I might do this once a month, or ‘on-the-fly’.

Unfollowing Inactive Twitter Users

Some of your followers for whatever reason may not tweet for a long time.. sometimes many months.

Occasionally it is good to clean out inactive twitter users.

Please refer to my post A Dozen Tools to Unfollow Inactive Twitter Users which you may find useful.

Finally..

If you are a power Twitter user, automating auto-follow and auto-unfollow will save you plenty of time.

Just set and forget.

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