The Danger Of Ego Services on Twitter

This weekend I received a direct message from someone on Twitter asking why I’d unfollowed him. He was a little upset that I’d decided to stop listening.

How did he find out I’d unfollowed?

Qwitter.

Image representing Qwitter as depicted in Crun...Qwitter is a service that lets you know every time someone unfollows you and tells you the last message you posted before they unfollowed. Some have suggested it could be useful to help people learn what creates negative reactions in their followers.

I tried Qwitter briefly when it first came out, and decided it wasn’t for me. It seems like a bit of an ego massager – simply for people to find out who has unfollowed them.

The problem in this instance? I hadn’t unfollowed. I hadn’t even considered it.

On checking with my fellow Twitter users, it seems this has been happening to other people too. It may be that Qwitter is quitting on us.

A word of warning to Qwitter users: Be careful what you believe.

Dave Fleet
Managing Director and Head of Global Digital Crisis at Edelman. Husband and dad of two. Cycling nut; bookworm; videogamer; Britnadian. Opinions are mine, not my employer's.