Did you know there’s a mute button on Twitter?
I know it’s old news. But have you used it?
Muting a user on Twitter means their Tweets and Re-tweets will no longer be visible in your home timeline. (They won’t know.)
Thank you Twitter for creating the Mute button. This is a great alternative to un-following someone. So when should you use it?
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Ranters/Complainers
Your typical ranter or complainer on twitter is someone who ONLY rants/complains. You can usually tell when you visit their page and all you see is text. No links, no hashtags, no images… As a matter of fact they may be using Twitter as an output to blow off steam. In most cases I would recommend to just un-follow them, but if it’s a friend/family/co-worker then the mute button will do. Also, if the person you follow usually doesn’t rant and all of a sudden your timeline is full of this person tweeting about their recent break-up, muting them until they’re over it may come in handy.
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80% Sales 20% Cool Facts
Tempted to name a few but nahh. These accounts are companies selling products or services. Usually they’re newbs to Social Media and they try to get followers by tweeting cool related facts or news. But when they start filling up your timeline with ads and sales pitches then it’s probably best to mute them. You can always head back to their page to scroll through to find the re-tweet worthy tweets. Here are some tips for bloggers on how they can navigate through twitter.
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Avoid Live-Tweeters
These tweeters love to tweet about anything live. Truth be told I’m guilty of this as well. But I do consider my followers when live tweeting and spread my tweets out to at least 5-15 min intervals. You can catch a live tweeter before they get crazy and mute them by spotting the hashtag their using. Also great way to avoid a tv/movie spoiler.
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Love you, but your tweets suck
It’s simple. Your good friend, co-worker or relative whom you love really sucks at tweeting. They use hashtags that no one uses (full sentence tags), broken web links and tweet about what they ate 4 times a day. So don’t un-follow them which these days translates to “I’m not your friend anymore” or “it’s over”, just mute them and remember to visit their page once in a blue moon. Maybe even reply to a tweet or favourite something.
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Contest/Giveaway lovers
There is a known type of twitter user who hunts down for contests and giveaways and tweets them all. Trying to win anything and maybe everything hehe. Which is totally fine! But some people might find it annoying and some informative. I have a few friends who do this to different degrees. I don’t mind at all. For me it’s informative and I try re-tweeting some of those giveaways as well. If you find it getting out of hand, this is a time to use the mute button.
So, have you used the mute button on Twitter? Why did you use it?