Here’s another issue that has popped up: edu-Twitter elite who have gamed social media not to engage followers, but instead to pad their numbers.

Worse, some of their ideas are horribly bland, pedagogically dangerous, intellectually dishonest and have parlayed that Twitter celebrity into Spotlights and Keynotes that aren’t worth listening to. Or they have left their schools to become full time speakers or consultants (sometimes consulting based solely on their number of Twitter followers).

We need to start looking closer at the substance these elite are forking on us, and to not be afraid to unfollow. In recent weeks, I have actively cut the people I follow to 224. I didn’t create a list of people I actually follow. I actually stopped following those who didn’t contribute to my PLN anymore but a bunch of noise. And there were some big names I dropped: Kevin Honeycutt, George Couros, Alice Keeler and Erin Klein to name a few. They weren’t contributing to my growth as an educator, or I felt I outgrew them.

Don’t be afraid to cull the herd.