I was on a message board recently where a question was asked by someone about a person who had unfollowed her on Twitter.  She wanted to know whether others unfollow those they have discovered have stopped following them.

She also explained that about fifteen people unfollowed her right after a comment she made regarding the medical diagnosis of a young relative.  She knew this because she was using Qwitter, a website which tells you who stops following you and when–down to the specific tweet you made before it happened.

One of those fifteen people was someone she felt was a very important business connection, and she wanted to know how to ask him to to follow her again.  She was going to approach him about it and wanted advice.

Hmmm, tricky.

Twitter Masochism?

I myself never wanted to use Qwitter because I figured I didn’t need the negative energy of seeing unfollows.  I have a general idea of my number of followers but I don’t keep track to the point that I notice when I have lost some.  Basically, I don’t care.  🙂

I replied to her saying that occasionally glitches cause people to unfollow when they really never intended to. If she saw him unfollow right after that specific comment it may have been intentional, but I can’t imagine why 15 people would do so if all she mentioned was the diagnosis. Seems pretty harsh to me, but you just never know what’s going to “offend” people.

I advised her to think about whether it was worth asking him to follow her again. What if he did unfollow purposely–is that the kind of person she needs following her?

Plenty More Where That Came From

He may be the absolute best, most strategic business contact in the world, but there are so many twitterers in the sea.  Sites like Twellow and WeFollow can help you find other great business alliances in a matter of seconds.  And it is worth considering, what if he is not so nice when you ask him to re-follow you?

Do you pay attention to who unfollows you or use sites like Qwitter?  What advice would you have given in this particular situation?  I’d love to hear what you think.