Twitter Etiquette: To Block or Not to Block?
...Or, How NOT to Win Friends and Influence People
“She blocked me?”
Did you see the interesting discussion on our Facebook Page about blocking people on Twitter?
I referenced a post called “10 Reasons Not to Block People on Twitter,” by Diana Adams. Diana’s post touched a nerve with me, because I’ve been on the receiving end of being blocked on Twitter, both as New England Multimedia and in my work for another brand.
In both instances — and here’s the real clincher — I had some sort of networking relationship with the blocker. We had talked back and forth at least a few times, shared interests and goals online, and had/have common social media connections.
I’m not alone, either. I get DMs from folks asking me, “Do you know why so-and-so blocked me?” When I’ve tried to gently be a go-between behind the scenes, I’ve been either immediately blocked myself, or unfollowed, and had all conversation cease.
Maybe that says more about the blocker than anything else.
Are you following Twitter’s Rules of the Road?
In my own cases of being blocked on New England Multimedia, the experience left me puzzled, because I didn’t know what I’d done that would cause someone to block me. I know and obey the Spoken and Unspoken Rules of the Road when it comes to Twitter etiquette. I’m not a spambot. I never auto-DM. I don’t push sales messages. I don’t auto-post to Twitter from an application (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I use Twitter to converse and connect, not broadcast (again, not that there’s anything wrong with that, if the tweets are educational or otherwise interesting).
“Quit yer cryin’. What’s the big deal?”
Twitter for me is the 21st century version of a small-town village, just on a much wider scale. Relationships matter both in the short- and long-term. Even the perception of a relationship matters.
Social media provides the opportunity to build and nurture relationships with people, to encourage them, and to be kind, generous, and helpful. If we have a relationship on Twitter, I’m in your corner. If you’re good at what you do, I’ll refer you when you fit a niche for one of our customers. I’ll help you find a job. I’ll teach you what I know. I’ll promote your blog, your Tweets, and your causes, if they’re the kind of content our audience is interested in.
When to Block (and Report)
I realize there’s a time and place for blocking. I’ve blocked and reported bona fide spammers, like this “person,” but only if I end up in their list of @mentions:
It seems to me that unless someone is
1) a bona fide spammer, or
2) someone who’s flooding you with @replies and harassing you, or
3) someone who’s sending you objectionable tweets (porn, anyone?),
you’re running a “community risk” when you block someone.
When someone finds out you’ve blocked them, what’s the message they “hear”? Is the message about them? Or about you?
If you don’t want to see someone’s tweets in your stream, why not just unfollow them? It’s a nicer way, and leaves the door open for a conversation or relationship later on.
Maybe I’m missing something.
Two questions:
1) Have you ever blocked anyone on Twitter? Why?
2) Have you ever been blocked on Twitter? Do you know why?
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There’s a guy I really want to block because his creeping me out.Every time I tweet ,he tweets something related to it immediately ,he was ranting and raving about someone thinking there too good for him,what would it take for them to talk to him.That you and I are the sort of people that can change the world together,links to his facebook page,ranting about how what is hansome anyway /,how can you tell from a photo etc,links to his blog yada ,yada .We are in different time zones and the min I tweet,a second later there he goes,I just wish he’d get the message and unfollow me…his so creepy,exactly the type of guy I’d tell where to go in everyday life.
Jen, that’s so unsettling!
Are you not blocking him so you can keep an eye on him? Because unfortunately, blocking another Tweeter doesn’t prevent them from seeing your Tweets. It just prevents them from “following” you, putting you on a Twitter List, and a few other things. But your profile is completely open to them still.
This is a case where blocking a tweeter might even inflame a situation. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
I’ve never blocked anyone that I have a “connection” with, but I do block eggs, spammers, anyone with “questionable” content. Whenever someone follows me, I check out their tweetstream and website to see if I want to follow them. I may or may not choose to follow them. BUT, if their content raises red flags, I block. It’s easy to tell the eggs and the bots and the blatant spammers. And I’d NEVER block you, my friend:) Cheers! Kaarina
Kaarina, I check feeds, too, before following back.
I’ve been thinking a lot about reasons folks might block other than for spammers and tweeters of offensive content, and thought of a couple:
If someone was @replying to me all day long in a harassing, hateful way, or listing me on some horrible List designed to denigrate or besmirch the reputations of those on the List, I’d block.
And thank-you for promising to never block me! :)
So far, the only ones that I block on twitter are the Porn or Spam types – cause really, I don’t need it…and we can’t afford that for our little event that we work so hard on. As far as FB goes, so far so good…most of the time if a friend tells me not to invite/share my pgs or etc then I try to remember and not invite them. I don’t want to tarnish my reputation, which I am ready to do a post on shortly…(I hope).
Gia, I’m looking forward to your post on reputation! Thanks so much for commenting!
Hi Michelle,
At this point, I only block obvious spammers. I do that through the “report spammer” function on HootSuite. I don’t even know how to do it on Twitter.
I don’t block other non-relevant followers because, in my experience, the great majority are looking for a follow back. When I don’t follow back, they usually leave (only to be replaced by a new set!).
Good post and interesting topic!
Thanks, Adam!
A few weeks ago, our follower count went up by over 1,000 in 48 hours, and a week later, dropped right back to its previous level. We had one of those “follow back or else” spurts. Like you said, they go away on their own. No harm, no foul.
Thanks for popping in and commenting!
I hit Report Spammer which generates a block at least twice a day. Other than that, I’ve only blocked two individuals. I try really hard to just ignore fussy folks. Like you said, usually its about the other person and messes they’ve got in their own heads but that’s not always easy to see. I’m not really a fan of blocking but at the same time if someone doesn’t have the skills to navigate around some onslaught of trouble… the block can be a useful tool to restore sanity and keep them business-productive. It does burn bridges however so that has to be taken into account.
Kim
Well said, Kim. I hadn’t thought about folks who have run into some social media trouble with a follower, and don’t have the skill set to put it to rest.
A troublemaker who’s been blocked and knows it, though, is likely to feel like he or she has been “shut out” and might take their negativity to another level. I’ve seen some really ugly behavior out there!
Spammers, though? Real spammers? They’ll never notice. They don’t even expect a @reply to their @mentions.
Since talking about this yesterday, Michelle, I’ve had even more thoughts about this…so watch out.
I do actively block people, and here’s why. As much as I KNOW that # of followers does NOT matter – it doesn’t – it’s true that people are impressed by larger number of followers. “Wow, so and so has x number of followers! Wow!” heck even I’m impressed, despite the fact that I know better.
I think it was two years ago that I read some story about how “even Chris Brogan acknowledges probably half of the people who follow him are spammers or bots.” So, do we really want that number “tainted” by false positives? I guess I don’t.
One more point on this: Anyone can go in and look at who is following me. I do wonder about the perception of having certain kinds of unsavory types follow me. Did I put too much thought into this? Maybe. It’s been awhile since I got out the Twitter broom.
I don’t worry too much about the follower/followee ratio. I do tend to follow back as long as I’m interested in what someone tweets about. If they’re really special, they make it to one of my secret lists so I don’t miss their tweets. But I’m not one of those #teamfollowback people, because with all due respect, I think that’s a little obnoxious.
Thanks Michelle!
Hi, Jenn!! I see where you’re coming from on blocking spammers or bots, definitely. Bots are a no-brainer. Blocked and reported!
But what constitutes a spammer for you? Some people might say @SocialMediaInf0 or @ChrisVoss are spammers, but I see them as broadcasters of info and articles I may be interested in.
For one of the brands I “do” social media for, a lot of the followers there aren’t interested in the brand at all. I don’t know why they follow us, or if they’ll unfollow after a while, but I wouldn’t block them, since they’re neither spammers nor bots. At some point, they may see something I tweeted and jump on board, reply, RT, or otherwise reach out. If I block them, that’ll never happen.
When I first started using Twitter, all I did was broadcast. I had no clue. A lot of the folks I have relationships with now stuck it out with me back then, not knowing I’d figure it all out eventually!
I have a similar approach. I think I blocked three people / bots yesterday. That’s pretty typical for me. I figure every bit helps. Plus, I gent riled by the auto dms and folks who take my rt and then change the link to some crappy product. That’s so low.
Oh, wow, Jon! I’ve never noticed the links people use in RTs! That would never occur to me, that people would do something like that. That IS low.
OK. They should be blocked. And reported!
Auto-DMs don’t bother me. I don’t care for them, but I wouldn’t block someone for them. Truth is, they tend to come from businesses I follow. And I follow businesses because I want to be there for them should they nee one of our services, or need help of some kind.
Wow, I’ve never heard of blocking actual people as an actual strategy or regular technique… I only block spammers. I figure there’s gotta be a better way to “ignore” if that’s the intent. On Twitter my unfollows are generally no-love-lost ones.
Shakirah, I get unfollowed all the time, but it doesn’t bother me. I used to keep track of unfollows using NutshellMail, to see if there was a pattern, and what I found was nearly every person who unfollowed us was a “broadcaster only.” No @replies, no RTs, no conversations with anyone.
That leads me to think they’re using some sort of auto-follow program that also auto-unfollows after a few days or so, if I haven’t followed back.
What do you consider “spam,” by the way? Jenn Whinnem and I were talking about defining spam for this conversation.
I insta-block all spammers; the ones who just tweet links. Which brings another issue, what about the sacred follower/followed ratio? I have blocked gurus and celebrities rather than not following back just to not let that number of followers get out of hand. Even if you unfollow it still counts as a follow back. I have found, however, that if I don’t follow many of those accounts unfollow me so I guess it all works
Brad, why would you block gurus and celebrities instead of simply not following them? I’m confused by “even if you unfollow it still counts as a follow back.” What do you mean?