Why I Am Unfollowing

Many of my Twitter follows may notice I am in process of cleaning up my account and unfollowing several. Due to my medical condition, I need to reduce stress in my life. I get upset while reading certain tweets. I've tried muting and lists, but it's time to take out the shears and prune back my follows, particularly since I randomly followed anyone. 

I am sure many of the ones I unfollow are nice people. I need to take care of myself at this time. If you tweet "@" my account, I will continue to respond. But I cannot follow you for these reasons:

- You are not following me. If you are not following me, why must I follow you?

- Inactive accounts for 8 months or more. Some have been inactive for up to 5 years. It's been a long time since I last pruned. 

- Hate tweets. This includes but is not limited to anti-gay, anti-muslim, anti-Christian, and especially the anti-Obama, conservative tweets that have become particularly nasty. This stresses me more than most, particularly from self-proclaimed Christians who do not follow Christ's teachings. 

- Ads / Sales Pitches / Promotions. I know several accounts are out there to make money or promote a product, but I am not interested in having these in my tweet stream. 

- Make Money Tweets. Similar to ads, I am not interested in these, including marketing advice. 

- Contests / Giveaways / Win Prizes. I do not want to "check out" something, particularly when asked for my email address, personal information or computer cookies. 

- Pornography and Solicitous tweets. No, I am not interested in how big your breasts are, details of male anatomy, having sex with you, or watching you have sex. 

- Facebook / Instantgram / Others. These are tweets that are either the link alone or are cut off with the link at the end. If I must go to another social media site to see the full message, I don't want to read it. 

-  Just links. The same as above, with the added caution that I don't know where the link will take me. I don't want trojans on my computer. If I cannot see the link address or see a preview on the Twitter page, I will not follow. 

- Automatic Tweets. These include horoscopes, iPapers, follow/unfollow counts, and others. These are particularly irksome in inactive accounts, which makes it impossible for search engines to identify it as inactive. 

- Tweets used to gain followers. I'm looking for more substance and less focus on how many followers you can get. 

- Tweets that are groups of names only. Primarily these are used for the same purpose as above and unfollowed for the same reason. 

- Repeated tweets, including those who retweet themselves. I don't want to read the same tweet multiple times. 

- SHOUTING TWEETS. TWEETS THAT ARE IN ALL CAPS may catch the readers attention, but if you are constantly shouting it is irksome. 

- #Hash#tag# #Extreme#. Tweets where almost every word is marked with a hashtag are not only difficult to read; it is impossible for online translators to translate. One does not need a hashtag to trend on twitter; the same for searching on Twitter. 

- iRegUlar Grmr. Irregular use of capitalization and grammar may be creative, save on the character count, but it is difficult for me to read, and does not translate. 

So, if I have unfollowed you recently, now you know the reason. It is not anything against you personally, just a pruning of what I do not wish to read in my twitter stream. 

~ ESA

Hide and Go Tweet

It is no secret I enjoy tweeting, but sometimes I am so overwhelmed I tuck tail-feathers between my legs and hide.

A recent count revealed that I received 540 responses in one 24-hour period. I get hundreds of direct (@me) tweets per day, not counting in the main twitter stream (home page).

At 300 followers, I could not read every tweet from every person I follow. I continued to read every direct tweet, however. But I needed a smarter way to manage them.

I once thanked each mention, retweet, favorite and follow. Plus there are endless loops, where I would thank someone, they would retweet that, I'd thank them again, etc... Thanking each via DM (direct message) took even more time.

So as I reach the 10,000 mark... 

Replies and Responses:

I send lyrical blessing or response when I can to every mention in chronological order. Sometimes I am months behind, due to health reasons or other responsibilities.

An exception to this rule: I respond immediately when Spirit grabs me by the scruff of the neck and points out a tweet. 

There are a few that clearly try to get someone to mention them (think "advertising"). I may respond, but often not.

I respond to tweets in large groups, responding as little as ONCE per account per grouping, regardless of number. I sincerely appreciate each one, but I can no longer respond to all.

I also cannot reply to every "amen" or "thank you."

Retweets and Requests:

If a tweet really inspires/impacts me positively, I may favorite or retweet it.

I share prayer requests, if asked. I also do pray when I receive a request ~ sincerely.

I do not (re-)tweet ads, company pages, voting sites, fundraisers or similar. On occasion, I share a link in response to major disasters. But my tweets are ad-free.

Direct Messages:

I may not respond to DM's immediately, as I do not check Twitter daily. Please also note, based on Twitter's technical requirements, you need to follow me in order for me to respond to your DM.

I delete DM's with unknown links, unopened.

I happily accept prayer requests via DM, and will tweet a prayer request (including anonymously), if asked.

What you tell me privately remains private, unless a life is in danger, including yours. In which case, I do NOT post anything on Twitter, but may contact others via other DM's or make a phone call to appropriate authorities.

Following and Friends:

I follow people who mention, follow or retweet me, as well as accounts suggested by others or Twitter on a whim. 

I do not refuse to follow based on religion, opinions, political party, language (either foreign or foul), or adult content.

I don't tweet follow requests.

Occasionally, I free account space by unfollowing those not following me.

I also unfollow accounts that read like a newspaper classifieds section (all ads), or are full of hatred and animosity.

In Sum:

While this seems unnecessarily complex, I seek to find a balance between sharing positive tweets, showing my gratitude and not feeling so overwhelmed.

May God's Blessings reach you each day.
May you find Joy on Twitter I do pray. :D

~ ESA / @JesusSister

Church Bells

Church bells are a common sound throughout New England, ringing several times per day, every day. Today church bells will peal an additional time in Connecticut at 9:30 am in memory of the lives lost in Newtown. I've heard there will be church bells ringing not only in this State, but other communities as well.

In my own way, below are some past tweets that echo the melody of church bells and what they sing to me:

• A lone church bell rings in the quiet morning: a new day begins.
• New England church bells ring now, echoing the song my heart sings somehow.

• New England church bells ring in the sunny morning light. I say a little prayer to guide me in what’s right. 
• Church bells ring in a new day, reminding me it’s time to pray.
• New England church bells peal under bright morning sun. I raise my head from prayer; a new day has begun. 
• Church bells ring at the start of a new day, reminding me to pause, reflect and pray.
• From a choir and full orchestra, to solo or simple bell, there's something deep inside, that music brings out so well. 

 

• At the dawning of the sun, New England church bells ring. Song of love wells within my heart; I just have to sing! 
• New England church bells ring at the start of my day. Yet it seems much brighter when I take a moment to pray. 
• Church bells ring across the land; the lavender sky glows over sparsely-leaved trees; a lone car drives by: a new day begins. 
• The day dawns overcast as church bells ring over the blanketed landscape, but nothing dims the song in my heart.
• It's still dark outside, as the morning church bell rings. Oh what changes the winter season brings.
• Church bells ring melodiously on this winter's night. Sometimes things just sound and feel so right.

 .

~ESA