Twitter Tools: JustUnfollow & TwitListManager

Yesterday I wrote about my Twitter Journey. Today it's all about the tools. I've tried several tools and eventually settled into a couple that worked best for me. They all have free versions but I have paid for the premium for one or two (hey, I can always use a tax deductions). Here goes!

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Lists are a great way to filter folks into common interest groups, this makes it easier for you to follow their tweets in one spot. Back in Feb-Mar I started adding my current followers to lists plus any new followers were categorized as well. I started simply with categories like:

• My Fav Authors
  [the *famous* who I knew would never follow me]
• My Writing Friends
  [those I felt I had the closest relationship to]
• Writer/Authors
• Writing Business
• Readers
  [anyone who followed me and didn't fit elsewhere]
• Bloggers

This process became cumbersome. I was already following a couple of hundred folks. How to plow through hundred of profiles, adding them the lists I had created? The best solution I have found, and still use from time to time, is Twitlistmanager.com. It shows me a spreadsheet-like page with all my lists across the top and my subscribers down the left side. I can easily add/delete people from my lists. [One caution - be sure to update/save at the bottom of each page. The first time I tried checking everyone and then going to the next page. I lost all my changes. LOL!]

Over time my tweeps and thus my lists have changed. A bonus was finding out that you DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW someone to add them to your list (I only recently learned this). In addition, you can also follow other people's public lists. I recently started following one public list for Fiction Writers. My current lists are:

• A-List
• My Writing Friends
• CampNaNoWriMo [private]
• Tribemates [private]
• Writing Business
• RV/Travel
• Personal [private]

While lists and hashtags help keep me organized, I still needed to better manage the following/unfollowing of folks. I had learned, as mentioned in my last post, that I needed to continue following new folks or I'd end up losing followers. I learned that will rarely continue following someone who doesn't follow me, although there are a few exceptions: major companies, top writers/bloggers and special interest accounts. Why? Because once you follow 2000 folks, you can't follow more until your followers are at 90% of the number you follow. For a better explanation try this page. The 2000 Following Limit On Twitter.

My number one favorite site for managing followers is Just Unfollow. The interface/dashboard is intuitive and very easy to use. I spent one day using the free account and on the second day I opted for the premium pay version. It was only $9.99 for a year and lets me blacklist/whitelist 10,000 profiles. Another bonus, it lets me access both my Twitter accounts. (My pen name for erotica profile has been sadly neglected lately, @MarieDouglasxxx, it's on the free plan which lets me follow/unfollow up to 50 profiles a day.)

An interesting thing I have learned by using Just Unfollow, some folks will follow you and as soon as you follow them, they unfollow you. Yup, hard to believe....LOL! Now I can just as quickly unfollow them. I can also choose to see inactive profiles for 1+, 3+ or 6+ months.

Here is a sample from my dashboard with the photos/IDs shaded to protect the not-so-innocent.

[click to enlarge]

NOTE: Latest update on Just Unfollow, after using it for less than two weeks, I decided to pop for the $24.99/yr plan so I could add a third Twitter account, @Write4Ten. The bonus is now all three accounts are on upgraded and I no longer have daily limits. I emailed the contact account and almost immediately received a reply and was presented with an invoice for the difference between the two accounts...on a Sunday! Now that is customer service.

One more Twitter Tool post to go! Hope this is helping at least some of you navigate the Twitter maze or encourage you to give it a try.

---> More to come on Thursday