Unswamp Your Twitter Feed

I love how the "What is this?" hyperlink on that page points to a page that may have moved error.

I didn't know this existed. Cool. Very thoughtful of you to post it- let me know if I can ever return the favor, though I'm a new social media user.

There is a sect of us that subscribe to folks tweets, such as: garyvee and chrisbrogan because we are interested in learning new things, seeing new sites, exploring new ideas. Most times we are able to get this information because someone has taken the time to ask them a question. Seeing a response may lead you to some neat things. I can not even tell you how many things I have picked up in the conversation of others, so I will continue to walk in the noise that is twitter and love every minute of it. Every day is an exciting one. Even if it's just picking up one new thing.

NOW - If you are finding that you are swamped with tweets and there is just too much noise to tolerate you can use an application like tweetdeck to sort out which twitter peeps you want to pay close attention to by forming a group.

...end transmission...
JPTaylor
aka - @4four1ones

I'd never find out anyone new or fun existed if I didn't see others' @ replies. It's clicking through that lets me know who is out there, and what they're up to. Also, that would mean I'd be ignoring anyone who I wasn't intimately connected with. That's no fun!

I don't mind if you @ the whole universe -- it's a small negative for such big positives.

Always a master educator; thanks Chris! Good tip. Although, I'm sure many people like to see who you are talking to so they can extend their network in that manner - you obviously carry a lot of clout.

It's a good tip Chris - I certainly never knew that function existed - but I follow @ replies from you and many others to go down new avenues and meet new people - I wouldn't want to stop.

Actually, I wish you could do this selectively, because for most people I DO want to see their replies to others -- that way I'm not missing out on the conversation! That said, I do use Tweetdeck, as JP suggested, to filter tweets into groups.

This twitter-newbie appreciates your insight Chris!

What would really be handy is if you could set that option on a per person basis.
~jon

Didn't know that - that will make a nice difference.

In fact, it's such a good tip I won't hold it against you that you advised not to write about Twitter in 2009 recently... ;-)

Have to say I occasionally get frustrated by my followers that have @replies switched on because I try to limit spamming everyone with my tweet when I'm having a conversation by using @. But many of them say they like it as they use it to find new people to follow & that way they learn interesting things.

Oh well ultimately it is up to them - not my problem if they are only following a few people and all they see on their twitter page is my tweets.

Chris

Thanks for the tip. But mostly I think thats a pretty cool picture you used.

Gary McElwain

I think one misses out on a lot by dropping any @replies -- especially the chance to find interesting new folks to follow.

If any of your @replies are uninteresting enough that I should want them only if I already follow the person that you're @'ing, then you should just DM them.

What I wish I could toggle for high-volume twitterers (for when I'm swamped), is something more like show me only your tweets that someone has favorited...

Chris,

THANK YOU for this! I was getting sick you rubbing your popularity in my face! Just kidding, of course! Actually, I gain a lot of insight from reading responses. Though, it only helps when I know what is going on in the conversation. Thanks for yet another piece of Twitvice.

Stacey

Like a lot up above, I've toggled this off and on a few times to find new followers but it can't come close to the folks I meet through search.twitter.com. I've got about 10 search feeds in my Google reader.

For those that use Tweetdeck and want to remove @ messages on the fly (without modifying your twitter settings), here's an easy trick:
1. Go to the bottom of your desired stream column and click the "filter the tweets in this column" button.
2. Select "Tweet Text" and the minus sign (remove), then type the @ symbol in the box.
Volla...only original tweets...

Dale,
This isn't exactly what you're looking for but a user's favorites is actually a feed. So Chris's favorite tweets can be found in these 3 links:
http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan/favourites
http://twitter.com/favorites/10202.rss
http://twitter.com/favorites/10202.atom

Though I do what many above me do and use the replies to others as a way of finding new and interesting people to follow, this is a good trick to know when you're trying to teach someone about Twitter, and you want them to follow some of the heavy hitters without getting overwhelmed.

I guess it very much depends on the kind of network you have. Like Cory, I feel I would miss out on a lot of serendipitous connections with people that I would not have met normally. It helps me build a cross section of disciplines and perspectives. I find the more diverse the nework of people i am following the more I learn, there is tremendous value in the public conversations on twitter. I tend to follow people with a good signal to noise ratio.

Chris, I'm sorry - you *do* swamp me. How could I deal with it? I have you [and some of the other more generous tweeters] in a custom netvibes page where I follow you by RSS.

Oh, and like some of the other guys - I check out who you're @ing if the reply sounds interesting.

Um....er. This is new? I guess for some it would be. I was hoping for something that isn't in common use.

Like most here, I didn't even know this function existed!

Now I won't feel like I'm eavesdropping on other people's twitter conversations, or feel like I'm missing out on some joke. Thanks, Chris!

Wesley
The Geek Entrepreneur

Chris--Thanks a bunch for this. I was just looking around in tweetdeck for some kind of setting that would do that!

Thanks Chris. We all love you for these things.

I'm with Meg. Clearly, I'm not you and don't have a gagillion followers, but one of the main reasons I joined (and love) Twitter is that it gives me the opportunity to talk to new, interesting people that I might never get a chance to talk to otherwise. By ignoring my @replies, you've effectively cut me out of that loop. You've created a one-way conversation. I care about what you say, but you don't care about what I say. I'm sure it's tough to keep up with all your @replies, but I'm truly disappointed Chris.

And when I say "me," I mean the rest of the Twitter universe who haven't yet learned that they should follow you (how many people do you figure that is? Ten? Twenty?). :)

Chris, I'm shocked you recommend this esp. to the new Twitter users. Best way to find new friends @ Twitter is to see who others are having @ conversations with, thus a new person who has particular passions either locally or by subject, you follow those folks and see who they're @ with. That's the absolute power of Twitter: real conversations in a human stream of information.

@BarbaraKB Sorry but I have to agree with Chris here.

Perhaps it is just we are both sensitive. But for me there is nothing worse than when someone says to you my partner saw my twitter account and said who is that @suewaters - doesn't she have a life? Or when a conference account follows you and you go across to see their conference feed to see their twitter widget full of your tweets.

I also give the same advice on my PLN yourself site as I get a lot of educators who follow me and are following only 20 people.

So Easy, So Simple.

Thanks for the tip.

Shame I didn't know about it before I filmed my "Dominating Twitter" tutorial !!

Garry

While it's better than nothing, the granularity isn't that great. Sometimes you just want to turn off the option for a small handful of the people, not everyone you follow.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't even know about it.

I agree with Meg, Joanna and others -- we enjoy following the @replies of SOME people...that's how we find out who's out there and what they're up to. Thanks for the tip, though! :>).

Follow me on twitter: @PamperingU

I wish you could set this on a per person basis. Often the @Replies are the ones that get my attention! Many times based on the reply I look at the other person's profile and see that I too want to follow!

If @ChrisBrogan has taken the time to reply; maybe it is worth my time to read?

Haven't reached that problem yet, but I appreciate the tip for the future.

Same with Meg, Joanna and others , i'm enjoying @reply also, Thanks for the tip

That's okay. I still like to see what people are talking about even if it's clutter chatter. Then when it is time to clear out my followers I can un-follow those that are not really adding value to me. Useless chatter does not help me in anyway. I can not help them either because the conversation has no substance to it.

I use the setting and always have. I'd go nuts if I saw a stream filled (over filled with @) I am chatty, most people I follow are chatty.

I too like the see the whole conversation. Easy. I go to someone's page, like @ChrisBrogan and read. If a reply looks intriguing I click and go intot he statuses and follow the whole conversation. I select which conversations I want to trace and read and meet new people this way. It also keeps my twitter stream clean. I have a low tolerance for too much noise.

Peace
Amy

@allaboutenergy

Thank you for the great tip. It makes twittering a bit easier.

Chris...you rock my friend and earn your stripes everyday!

That is a great tip many people don't know about. I actually like seeing @ messages to other folks though since it's a great way to learn about more cool people on Twitter. Instead of filtering those out of view entirely, I am heavily dependent on TweetDeck. Now, if they would only come out with TweetDeck for cell phones life would be perfect!