Twitter’s new unfollow feature : helpful or hurtful?
Twitter has started to test a new feature where users will be given suggestions of accounts to unfollow, in addition to the suggestions of who to follow. According to the article by Lieu, the feature will suggest accounts that the user does not often interact with in order to keep their timeline relevant. In theory this sounds like it could be a good way to make sure you’re keeping up with who you want to by filtering out the people you’re not interested in following anymore. On the other hand, this could cause a major issue for companies.
Many times users will follow their favorite companies in order to keep up with what is going on with the company. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they interact with the posts made by the company, but that also doesn’t mean that the user doesn’t read them or care. With the new unfollow feature, many companies could often be put on the chopping block and presented to their followers as a viable option to unfollow.
This could leave the user wondering why the business was an option. It could also even cause them to unfollow the business, simply because it was convenient and suggested. Often times, people can be persuaded by just a simple suggestion. If too many people were to unfollow a company or organization because of this new feature, it could be very bad for their business.
With all this in mind, if this feature is put fully into affect, it will call for a change in the way some companies use Twitter. Companies will need to begin to make their posts more engaging in order to get more interaction from their followers. For companies this could mean that they will need to either adapt or risk being unfollowed.