May 16, 2014 admin
Earlier this week, Twitter announced a new feature that would enable users to “mute” certain accounts they follow. The tool allows you to control what content you see on your Twitter stream without unfollowing or blocking anyone (and ultimately losing any friends).
“Muting a user on Twitter means their Tweets and Retweets will no longer be visible in your home timeline, and you will no longer receive push or SMS notifications from that user,” Twitter’s blog post explains. However, Twitter also specifies that the muted individual will still be able to see, retweet and favorite the muter’s tweets, remaining completely oblivious to their unrequited Twitter relationship.
While this new feature is great for streamlining your own timeline (no more of Jenny’s #SelfieSunday posts!), how can you avoid being muted yourself? Here are a few tips:
- Don’t spam your followers: Tweeting 10 times in 10 minutes is a rookie move and comes across as such. Make sure to space out your tweets throughout the day so that you don’t overwhelm your followers with content.
- Shut up for a second and listen: As my colleague Danielle’s blog post states, listening is just as important as sharing on Twitter. Ask questions, respond to opinions and humanize your handle to encourage engagement.
- We get it, you’re at a conference: One of the more annoying essential evils of Twitter is live tweeting events. While it is important to actively participate in the social realm of the event, it is equally important to make the tweets worthwhile. Do not tweet for the sake of tweeting. Additionally, be sure to warn followers ahead of time that your handle is going to be posting about a particular event—that way those who care can follow along and those who don’t…well, they were warned.
*Bonus tip* Never EVER tweet spoilers: No one wants to accidentally see who was killed on Game of Thrones last night or read about the finale of Breaking Bad before they get to see it themselves. Many have deemed this as actual grounds for unfollowing altogether.
This feature is not widely available yet, but Twitter plans on rolling it out to everyone in the coming weeks. So for those Twitter offenders in your feed that do not adhere to these tips, here's how to shut them up (and if you immediately regret your decision, it’s easy enough to unmute by just doing the reverse of the below).
- To mute a user from a Tweet via the mobile app, tap more (or “…”) and then mute @username.
- To mute someone from their Twitter profile page, tap the gear icon on the page and select mute @username.
