Lead, Follow or Block: When to Use Twitter’s Block Function

23 Comments

1. 
   Comment by jazzgumpy:
   Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 8:40 am | 

   I think that sums it up quite well. I haven’t blocked anyone yet. I don’t know how many try to find inappropriate users in their group followers. Can prove quite difficult and take a long time I think.
2. 
   Comment by Wendy:
   Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 8:49 am | 

   I’ve only ever blocked an account twice. The first time was someone that would not stop trying to argue with me. Even though I never said anything to this person, just ignored the @replies from them completely, this person continued to disagree with everything I said.

   The second time was a man who kept sending perverted @replies and DM’s. Even after telling him that I’m married and don’t appreciate it, and unfollowed him, he continued.

   Blocking a person is a little ridiculous because, like you said, they can still see your tweets if they want to. However, it does send the message to them that you don’t want to talk to them (I’m pretty sure but not positive that the blocked person receives some sort of alert if they try to reply or click on you?). It also means you won’t even get direct @replies from them.

   • 
     Comment by James Dickey:
     Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 4:16 pm | 

     Wendy-

     Both your scenarios seem very reasonable and appropriate uses of blocking.

     To answer your question, yes, if you’ve blocked someone and they later come across your profile and click on the “follow” button they will get a message that says “you cannot follow this person because they have blocked you”. But since you will have been removed from their “following” list, the likelihood of them coming across you randomly and trying to re-follow you is not that large.
3. 
   Comment by John:
   Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 9:06 am | 

   This was very helpful. I am already noticing the amount of link advertising or blog advertising in people who Twitter. I am still new to Twitter but I really enjoy it. Like the demo video from Common Craft (Twitter in Plain English), I have been able to connect more with friends and new acquaintances and learn more about their habits. I have more in common with people than I originally thought.

   Regarding Block feature – consider me trained.
4. 
   Comment by James Dickey:
   Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 9:39 am | 

   From a female Twitter user who will remain anonymous for obvious reasons:

   “I block men who follow only women and post suggestive comments.”

   A perfectly understandable position, and absolutely appropriate. Exactly the type of account that should be blocked, and ultimately banned as a result.
5. 
   Comment by A.J. Pape:
   Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 12:04 pm | 

   James -

   Thanks for your thoughtful take on all this, and for your welcoming way of inviting me into the conversation.

   I admire your response to my having blocked you initially. I love that you used that to explore the
   phenomenon rather than personalizing it. You’ve earned my respect for that.

   Here’s how and why my Blocking Philosophy is evolving.

   I still feel pretty new to Twitter. Really started playing around with it during the end of December holidays.
   While my feeling is evolving somewhat, I still like the sense of knowing the people who are following me, and paying attention to everyone I follow. When I started, I was blocking anyone who tried to follow me who I thought:

   1 – Was a spammer.

   2 – Was just doing weird/inappropriate (by my standards) stuff. As you say above, in those cases I didn’t want any association.

   or 3 (and this is how I perceived you and why I blocked you)
   If I thought their “Following”number was so incredibly high that (as I perceived it) none of my tweets would ever actually connect with the person behind the account.

   Twitter was and is, for me, personal. As you say above, it’s about Listening. But scale does change that somewhat. As of Sunday night I think I had something like 25ish followers. It’s Wednesday morning, and I have 99. Contrary to a week ago, I no longer have time to check them all out. Instead of being worried about even the one-way connection of being followed by someone who I may not know, like, respect, or want to be associated with, I have an entirely new worry. Maybe wonderful interesting people are now following me and I’m not following them back.

   And you proved me absolutely wrong that I would ever been “seen” by someone with as many followers as you have.

   As with everything in life and nature, Twitter is a balance. I probably tweet more times now per day than I will on an ongoing basis. I see myself in a bit of a fun/honeymoon phase. And I trust that if there is someone following me who really would be a great collaborator or friend or recipient of my skills, they will @ me just as I have @’d others. (If you’re new to Twitter: when I say @ as a verb I mean to address a message specifically to me so that I’ll see it even if I’m not following them).

   So am I blocking fewer people now? Oh heck yes. Just don’t have the time any more. Or rather I chose not to spend my time that way. I think the challenge for me now is to define more clearly my Twitter Do’s and Don’t’s from a time-management point of view, e.g.

   Do engage people who are local to L.A. and interesting/talented.
   Do engage people who are working in organizational change and leadership development.

   Don’t read all the potentially interesting technical blogs about web 2.0 stuff.

   I have a challenge of abundance now, and it requires new practices compared to an earlier time. Like, say, four days ago.

   Thanks again, James.

   • 
     Comment by James Dickey:
     Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 4:15 pm | 

     A.J.-

     Thank you for the thoughtful feedback and follow up.

     For me Twitter is an incredible river of knowledge more valuable than any in California’s Gold Rush days. The more interesting, valuable contributors (like yourself) that I can have upstream from me, the more likely it is that I’ll find a nugget of wisdom those few times each day when I’m able to dip my pan in the water.

     I have no doubt there are millions of tons of refreshing water that I miss each day, but it’s a wonderful and rewarding experience nonetheless and I choose to appreciate what I can receive rather than mourn what I miss.

     Of course, I hope that I’m able to contribute nuggets of value as well, and am convinced that watching and learning from several thousand great people (albeit for one brief, limited snapshot at a time), makes that much more likely.

     That is the balance I’ve struck. I wish you great success in finding the right balance for you.
6. 
   Comment by Themelis Cuiper:
   Friday, January 16th 2009 at 10:23 am | 

   Hello James,

   Themelis Cuiper here from
   Amsterdam The Netherlands

   Great discussion, what i wanted to ask you:
   What about all those fake identities with photo’s that
   are in your follow list. I f you try to block them it says
   that they are under investigation and i can not block

   You maybe have a solution ?

   Yes it is about listening and be with the people you
   like to spend your time with.

   Thank you for the post, i found it trough following your twitterid

   Themelis.

   my twitterid is http://twitter.com/Themelis_Cuiper

   • 
     Comment by James Dickey:
     Saturday, January 17th 2009 at 4:34 pm | 

     Themelis-
     Thanks so much for the comment. It’s true that if you click on the photo or handle of someone following you (or on “follow” under their handle) and they’re already under investigation, you’ll see the “move along” owl image and not be able to even see the profile, much less block the person from that screen. If you hit back, though, and go to your list of followers, you’ll see that next to “follow” is a “block” button. You can click on that and confirm the block and they’ll be gone from your following list as well.
     Welcome and happy Twittering!
     James
7. 
   Comment by Kelly:
   Saturday, January 17th 2009 at 11:29 pm | 

   Good article. I was considering my first block, a user that apparently exists only to send a single rude message to people. Decided against it.
8. 
   Comment by Pepperfire:
   Wednesday, January 21st 2009 at 5:01 pm | 

   Hey… James, I need a lesson in how to ease “listening” in Twitter. I can’t believe what a total noob I still am! I keep thinking I’ve got it, and then learn that I can get it better. I really like twitter.

   I met a tweeter today who actually made a rather eloquent comment that I wanted to learn more about. So I tweeted him. Well, he took one look at my profile and dropped me into a box. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, but he was aggressive in his stance, got personal and actually threatened to block me in a series of posts, rapid fire, one after the other. My heart started to race and I simply responded, “You don’t have to block me, I have done it for you. and hit the block button”.

   Then @aceconcierge, sent me here. (Thanks Susan). And now I’m not such a noob.

   And the fact is, had this tweeter been the first person I had ever made “contact” with, I wouldn’t love twitter! I probably wouldn’t have stayed!
9. 
   Comment by Lindy Asimus:
   Sunday, February 1st 2009 at 1:29 am | 

   Timely article. I have experienced an increase in spam and other kinds of dubious Followers in recent times. I don’t autofollow people and do check out their profiles before deciding if this is a legitimate person and worth following. I have no hesitation in blocking obvious tricksters and seeing the faces in their Follower list who apparently auto follow, has firmed my resolve that I am not going to allow them to Follow me as a means of fabricating some kind of ‘credibility’ to others they may go on to spam.
10. 
    Comment by Jane Chambers:
    Sunday, February 1st 2009 at 2:11 am | 

    Thank you for explaining “block.” I had not thought it through or seen anything as cogent as your discussion of this function. I have blocked only one person, whose bio said that the person would not send any posts. I do not post anything that cannot be read by everyone I know, but this just did not feel right. It is not a “relating-ship” when one does all of the talking, and social media is about relating.
11. 
    Comment by AJ in Nashville:
    Sunday, February 1st 2009 at 3:58 am | 

    Well said, James, as usual. However, unlike the previous ‘AJ’ commenter I’ve never come close to blocking anyone. As a matter of fact I’ve only un-followed just a few (3) folks: one a fellow who was otherwise a nice guy but who supported a spamming scheme that allowed an app to auto-broadcast within his Tweet stream; another gal who hadn’t posted anything since the day I followed her three weeks previously, and a third person who pulled the old ‘I’ll-drop-you-after-you-follow-me’ routine.

    That third one made me mad. It stung, not that I shouldn’t have expected such nonsense from someone eventually, but I was sort of offended that someone would do that. Of course now after being heavily involved with Twitter for over three months, I’ve kinda gotten the lay of the land. I know that there are anywhere from 5-10% of my followers who won’t stick around beyond a couple weeks. A lot who fall into that category are just spammers who usually get the axe from Twitter on their own merit anyway. But beyond that I realize that I’m not a particularly valuable follow to those interested in building a ‘power’ base or business network in Twitter. My reasons for being here are strictly to build connections — not to build business, necessarily.

    My Tweets are mostly of a personal, lighthearted nature. I joke a lot and play off others’ tweets, but do try to contribute tech or web design-related links whenever I find them. However, Guy Kawasaki I ain’t, and that’ll never be my M.O. here.

    I followed you near the beginning of my Twitter experience because I liked your style, your gentle demeanor, and genuineness. I was delighted when you followed me back. However I was disappointed a few weeks ago when I realized you had un-followed me at some point. It was then I finally realized that it’s not always personal; that who you choose to keep in your followers group really ought to be someone who benefits and completes your purpose for being on Twitter. I think that’s the point of this long, rambling comment. Blocking is appropriate in certain circumstances, but shouldn’t be resorted to as an emotional response. You can re-follow someone you’ve un-followed without much incident, but blocking is a much more serious event. And I believe that’s what you’re arguing here.

    And to that point, thanks for re-following me back a few days ago…

    Take care, and keep up the great work.

    • 
      Comment by James Dickey:
      Sunday, February 1st 2009 at 9:48 am | 

      AJ-
      Thanks so much for your comment. I have found multiple cases where I am no longer following someone (or no longer being followed by someone) where it was not intended. I periodically have to review my following list to be sure I am following back all those who are not spammers or bots. As you can imagine that takes some time, but I am pleased to be one of your followers. As this comment clearly shows you are an involved, conscientious Twitter user and as a result I consider myself fortunate to know you. Keep it up, and thank you.
      James
12. 
    Comment by Themelis Cuiper:
    Thursday, February 5th 2009 at 4:30 am | 

    Hello James,

    YES! that was helpful !
    It is now a few weeks past since you gave the advise.
    My way how i use twitter has changed,
    the way i connect and talk back with people has changed.
    Who you follow, and how, matters on how others percieve you.

    To follow or not to follow that is the question.

    I am a person with many talents and interests,
    that makes me a butterfly who is hopping from
    flower to flower.

    People feel that as a contradiction of their values
    when I talk about giving for the people-without-clean-water and my
    next tweet is about how to use wordpress to make money online,
    answering a friend I program with, there is a big drop in followers
    even while im genuine Me and not doing any selling or promotion.

    When i talk about Oracle plsql, the Paint with Acryl and Oil people
    get annoyed and unfollow.

    A marketer answered me that he knows i do someting, but
    he does not see at my blog where my focus is.
    The girl from the charitycause was big dissapointed that im asking
    money while my blog and certainly my tweets do not.

    How do you think about taking more twitter identities ?

    Thank you for your help James.

    Themelis
    http://twitter.com/Themelis_cuiper

    • 
      Comment by James Dickey:
      Thursday, February 5th 2009 at 11:05 am | 

      Themelis-

      Given what you’ve experienced, I’d think separate twitter identities might be the solution. I’ve seen several people who manage separate identities so that each can be laser-focused – and that fit their goals better.

      My goal is to learn from different people in different fields. I’m interested in the cross-pollination of ideas, if you will, so for me the single identity works better. Either way I wish you great luck.

      James
13. 
    Comment by peter honeyman:
    Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 9:05 am | 

    james,

    i am not so private (or careless) that i need to keep my tweets off the public timeline, but i reckon that a twit who follows thousands upon thousands of others is not engaged in any meaningful way with her cohort. i prefer not to have twits like that hanging around, listening in, recording everything i say, so i block them.

    your reaction to having been blocked by me, i.e., your arrogant presumption that you could school me on twittiquette, suggests that you were offended by my selectivity. don’t be: it’s nothing personal. how could it be? i don’t even know you.

    • 
      Comment by James Dickey:
      Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 9:41 am | 

      Peter-

      Thanks for the comment. It’s ironic that a professor would take offense at being “schooled”. I was, in fact, offering to educate you, as I hope to educate many, with the information in this post. I was not offended by your selectivity, I was informing you of your incorrect assumption, specifically:

      Blocking someone does not in any way prevent them from seeing your posts. All it does is prevent attempts at interaction and signal to Twitter the possibility of spam.

      The former is logically inconsistent given your stance that people who follow many can’t be “engaged in any meaningful way” and the latter is false, so your use of blocking is inappropriate. It’s not that big of a deal (and I had actually forgotten about the interchange until you posted this comment), but again, I was seeking to inform and educate, which I expected (obviously inaccurately) to be well received given your profession.

      Finally, it is also illogical to state that people who follow thousands are both incapable of being engaged, and yet for some reason would be “hanging around, listening in, recording everything [you] say”. Few people do that with truly interesting and entertaining people on Twitter like Shaq or MC Hammer. Let me be the first to reassure you that no one is doing that with you.

      I wish you well on Twitter and in general and sincerely hope that in your classes you are more open to learning and less logically challenged.

      James
14. 
    Comment by Judy:
    Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 9:58 am | 

    I have not blocked anyone unless the account has already been deemed as disabled. I have let the others still follow me but I do not want to follow some that don’t seem appropriate from a business standpoint. We have turned a tool that was developed for friends to follow friends into a business tool to follow what is going on in the business world. I also do not follow someone that is following me when I cannot see some other proof of their credibility when they do not have some other type of website or their short bio tells me nothing more.
15. 
    Comment by John:
    Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 10:20 am | 

    I have wondered how diligently the twitter-overlords take the Block function. Then again, I’ve seen the random-assorted-letter-owlie followers disappear, so somebody’s doing something somewhere. I can’t rightly recall, but I think I blocked just one person who trolled me on #TCOT, but I’ve probably been blocked just the same.

    Not to take the topic off kilter, but it’s similar to the voting hands on Facebooks ads, or the old rating system at Yahoo News. Systems say they want our feedback. Then when they don’t like our feedback, they change the system.
16. 
    Comment by Donna Hornsby:
    Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 1:04 pm | 

    I consider myself a twitter newbie. I am glad that you are following me and I am following you. I have already learned a lot from you. This post has educated me more on the nuances of twittering. I admit I have blocked two individuals (within a few days of signing up for my twitter account). I am glad they did not call me out on the rug. Now that I understand more about the different following action types, unless you are a total dweeb (I use the term loosely), I will probably never block anyone again. I will simply choose not to follow. I was glad to read your reply about having multiple twitter identities as I now have two. Both established for very specific reasons. My personal twitter (djhornsby) and my business twitter (cdwmag). Each with its own unique info gathering and sharing goals in mind. Thank you for this wonderful, well thought-out post.
17. 
    Comment by peter honeyman:
    Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 5:48 pm | 

    once again, james, you presume to educate and enlighten me by telling me things i already know.

    you continue to try to prove me quote logically inconsistent (and closed minded and logically challenged, but of course i overlook these base ad hominem accusations) because i exclude you from my circle of correspondents.

    dude.

    don’t take it so personally.

    i fully realize that you are free to dip your cup in the public timeline; stalk away. but i ejected you from my list of followers because i don’t care to address you. (and that was well before you got all snarky, er, i mean sincere on me.)

    again, nothing personal, stranger, but when my tweets toll, they do not toll for thee.

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