Why your business may be losing Twitter followers

Organisations may start noticing a drop in their Twitter follower numbers this week.

Twitter has started closing down locked accounts, advising that most users will see a reduction of just “four followers or fewer”. However, those with larger follower counts – including large organisations and businesses – are being warned that they will experience “a more significant drop”.

The reasons for the changes were laid out in a post on the social media giant’s blog on Wednesday.

Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde explains that the company locks accounts when it detects sudden changes in behaviour, such as “tweeting a large volume of unsolicited replies or mentions, tweeting misleading links, or if a large number of accounts block the account after mentioning them”.

The company then contacts the user and “unless they validate the account and reset their passwords, we keep them locked with no ability to log in”.

As of Wednesday the company has begun deleting locked accounts from which they have received no response.

This move is the latest in a series of changes that Twitter has introduced as part of its mission to promote “healthy conversation” and stop practices such as abuse and spamming on the social network.

As Formative Content’s CEO Gay Flashman explains in the video below, the changes being introduced by Twitter pose a challenge for businesses who schedule buy viagra for cheap their posts.

Companies who repeat the same post across multiple accounts now risk having their accounts suspended.

“The first piece of guidance is don’t panic – this isn’t the end of the world  – this is just another change in the rules of a social platform,” says Flashman. “But if you’re relying on Twitter for a lot of your traffic it certainly pays to think about how you’re going to plan going forward: how are you going to change your schedule and your posting regularity?”

These changes, together with the removal of locked accounts, show that Twitter is committed to promoting the quality of conversations on its platform, rather than the quantity.

Similarly, any digitally-engaged organisation should be making sure that all the content it shares on social media is of the right quality.

If you’d like us to help you get the most out of your social media strategy, get in touch. 

Email: office@formativecontent.com or call our team on +44 (0) 20 7206 2687.

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John McKenna is an account director at Formative Content. Previously an award-winning business journalist specialising in energy, finance and the built environment, he now helps global organisations develop and deliver their brand narrative through written and visual content.