Check out my guest blog post at the Downtown Women's Club blog: <a href="http://www.downtownwomensclub.com/2011/07/5-ways-to-get-more-readers-to-your-blog-by-deborah-brody/" target="_blank">5 ways to get more readers to your blog.</a> Hint: it has to do with being consistent and getting the word out. Special thanks to Diane Danielson for giving me the opportunity!

On social media and blogs, we are all trying to get more readers and more followers. If we are in business or marketing, we are also trying to convert some followers/readers/likers into customers. Right?

Lately, I have been cleaning up Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Basically, I have been reducing the numbers of people that I follow or am connected to. Let me tell you why.

It's personal

On Facebook, which I consider a personal network, I have been "unfriending" anyone that I don't know very well, or only know through business encounters. I tend to share my personal views and activities and really, would rather have fewer "friends" on Facebook than thousands of people with insight into my personal life.

It's business

On LinkedIn, I have removed a few connections because I just don't know enough about them. LinkedIn is a business network, and when you connect with someone, you have access to his/her connections. I want to be more careful with this network and not give away my hard-earned connections to people who are just trying to expand their own networks with little regard for what I do.

It's common sense

I have been unfollowing lots of people on Twitter lately. Why? Because there is only so much time in the day, and there are so many tweets that I want to make sure to follow folks who are offering stuff that is relevant and/or interesting. I am on Twitter to share and to learn, but I don't need to learn about what you did at the gym or whether your cat is at the vet. On Twitter, I definitely stopped following anybody who:
<ul>
	<li>Self promotes endlessly</li>
	<li>Uses crass expressions/language ALWAYS</li>
	<li>Doesn't ever share anything valuable (as defined by me)</li>
	<li>Seems to be in a quest to get the most tweets per day ever</li>
	<li>Who never ever interacts with me or re-tweets or even acknowledges my re-tweets (unless the person in question is a journalist/politician/world leader)</li>
</ul>
So yes, we are all trying to get more followers and to do that, you need to be aware of what gets you unfollowed.

Your thoughts?

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