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My 7 year old twitter account has reached the max of 2000 following, so I can no longer subscribe to more users. This has turned me off twitter since it's so an

by 0x0 12y ago

My 7 year old twitter account has reached the max of 2000 following, so I can no longer subscribe to more users. This has turned me off twitter since it's so annoying finding more interesting users but not being able to subscribe to them. Maybe I should pony up $5 and buy some followers, which apparently increases the limit on following too.

ritchiea 12y ago
I recommend using lists. I'm not sure if there's a limit on the number of people you can add to a list but I haven't hit one yet. I typically follow only friends and people who I find particularly interesting but I put lots of other people on lists. The other benefit of twitter lists is you can divide accounts by categories. For instance I have a list called hackers that is only programmers, and a list that is only designers, etc. I find lists can give useful context to twitter and help pull some signal out of the noise.
- 0x0 12y ago
  That's interesting. Unfortunately the UI is all about "follow @user" buttons, lists not so much. I'm guessing browsing list feeds aren't as prominent in the mobile apps either, but I haven't tried yet. Anyway the user hostile error messages I got when I tried to add following user #2001 - instead of a suggestion like yours, perhaps - made me lose interest in the whole thing.
  - ritchiea 12y ago
    The UX makes it pretty easy to add users to lists. You click on the gear next to the follow button then click Add/Remove from lists. And I'm pretty sure it's present in the mobile app as well.
    - 0x0 12y ago
      Looks like it's there in the main mobile app. But what about embeddable widgets on websites? And now i need multiple taps to add a follower. And will it show "added to your list" status like it shows "following"? Too much effort. Plus, it seems twitter thinks I'm using their service in the wrong way. If the way I like to use it is wrong, I guess it's better to just stay away, makes everyone happier.
- reledi 12y ago
  My problem with Twitter lists is that they're so hidden that I never browse them. They're not as prominent as your normal feed, which is front and centre.
  - GotAnyMegadeth 12y ago
    To get round this problem I use TweetDeck, which allows you to have more than one column on display. I've only tried the desktop version and haven't tried any similar mobile apps though.
    - reledi 12y ago
      Thanks, that sounds handy. I'll check it out.
      - walterbell 12y ago
        Flipboard can read twitter lists like a magazine.
- GotAnyMegadeth 12y ago
  I think the upper limit for one list is 5000 [0] [0] https://twitter.com/TwitterForNews/status/340206438364368896 https://twitter.com/TwitterForNews/status/340206438364368896
Udo 12y ago
Out of curiosity, what's the value of following 2000+ people on Twitter? I'm following about 100 and the noise is already incredibly counterproductive.
- horseemergency 12y ago
  I was going to say the same thing. I've got about 50 followers and sometimes it's all I can do to not unsubscribe from half of them. I'd bet that getting to 100 is much harder to handle, and I can't even imagine 2000...
- withdavidli 12y ago
  Agreed. I was at about 800 following and decided to trim down to 25-30 people. Unfollowing takes so long on Twitter I had to use 3rd party apps to speed up the process.
  - macromaniac 12y ago
    I had made a twitter account a long while ago but didn't really use it. A month or two ago I decided I wanted to start using it again but I had somehow started following 2000 people. I couldn't find a 3rd party app for unfollowing that didn't have me sign up for something so I used document.getElementByClassName(unfollowButtonString) to click all the unfollow buttons at once. Regardless of that hassle, finding and using inactive accounts is probably pretty easy for the people selling these follows. I imagine they just try passwords leaked from other services or applications or hire people to make fake accounts.
  - reledi 12y ago
    Which apps did you use? I have a difficult time unfollowing people. I try to purge my following list often, but I never make much progress.
    - withdavidli 12y ago
      Some that I used: justunfollow, unfollowers, and iunfollow(not sure if I used this one, looks familiar). Each cap their fast unfollow feature to about 25 a day. So it took me about a week to get it down using all the services.

by 0x0 12y ago

ritchiea 12y ago

I recommend using lists. I'm not sure if there's a limit on the number of people you can add to a list but I haven't hit one yet. I typically follow only friends and people who I find particularly interesting but I put lots of other people on lists. The other benefit of twitter lists is you can divide accounts by categories. For instance I have a list called hackers that is only programmers, and a list that is only designers, etc. I find lists can give useful context to twitter and help pull some signal out of the noise.

0x0 12y ago
That's interesting. Unfortunately the UI is all about "follow @user" buttons, lists not so much. I'm guessing browsing list feeds aren't as prominent in the mobile apps either, but I haven't tried yet. Anyway the user hostile error messages I got when I tried to add following user #2001 - instead of a suggestion like yours, perhaps - made me lose interest in the whole thing.
- ritchiea 12y ago
  The UX makes it pretty easy to add users to lists. You click on the gear next to the follow button then click Add/Remove from lists. And I'm pretty sure it's present in the mobile app as well.
  - 0x0 12y ago
    Looks like it's there in the main mobile app. But what about embeddable widgets on websites? And now i need multiple taps to add a follower. And will it show "added to your list" status like it shows "following"? Too much effort. Plus, it seems twitter thinks I'm using their service in the wrong way. If the way I like to use it is wrong, I guess it's better to just stay away, makes everyone happier.
reledi 12y ago
My problem with Twitter lists is that they're so hidden that I never browse them. They're not as prominent as your normal feed, which is front and centre.
- GotAnyMegadeth 12y ago
  To get round this problem I use TweetDeck, which allows you to have more than one column on display. I've only tried the desktop version and haven't tried any similar mobile apps though.
  - reledi 12y ago
    Thanks, that sounds handy. I'll check it out.
    - walterbell 12y ago
      Flipboard can read twitter lists like a magazine.
GotAnyMegadeth 12y ago
I think the upper limit for one list is 5000 [0] [0] https://twitter.com/TwitterForNews/status/340206438364368896 https://twitter.com/TwitterForNews/status/340206438364368896

Udo 12y ago

Out of curiosity, what's the value of following 2000+ people on Twitter? I'm following about 100 and the noise is already incredibly counterproductive.

horseemergency 12y ago
I was going to say the same thing. I've got about 50 followers and sometimes it's all I can do to not unsubscribe from half of them. I'd bet that getting to 100 is much harder to handle, and I can't even imagine 2000...
withdavidli 12y ago
Agreed. I was at about 800 following and decided to trim down to 25-30 people. Unfollowing takes so long on Twitter I had to use 3rd party apps to speed up the process.
- macromaniac 12y ago
  I had made a twitter account a long while ago but didn't really use it. A month or two ago I decided I wanted to start using it again but I had somehow started following 2000 people. I couldn't find a 3rd party app for unfollowing that didn't have me sign up for something so I used document.getElementByClassName(unfollowButtonString) to click all the unfollow buttons at once. Regardless of that hassle, finding and using inactive accounts is probably pretty easy for the people selling these follows. I imagine they just try passwords leaked from other services or applications or hire people to make fake accounts.
- reledi 12y ago
  Which apps did you use? I have a difficult time unfollowing people. I try to purge my following list often, but I never make much progress.
  - withdavidli 12y ago
    Some that I used: justunfollow, unfollowers, and iunfollow(not sure if I used this one, looks familiar). Each cap their fast unfollow feature to about 25 a day. So it took me about a week to get it down using all the services.