Twitter announced this week that they are launching a new ‘mute’ feature so that users can block incoming Tweets from an account that they follow without actually unfollowing them. While this might be a handy feature for users (there are some serious serial Tweeters out there), what does it mean for brands?
A lot has been spoken recently about the fact that brands are continually being marginalised on Facebook by an algorithm that basically forces them to pay to reach their own followers. But could this new feature from Twitter be just as harmful?
While Facebook take it upon themselves to filter out companies’ marketing messages as they see fit, Twitter’s new feature is more of a user-orientated approach. Instead of a faceless algorithm, it is the customer themselves opting out of hearing from you.
The key take-away here is that you need to actually provide value to your followers / customers via social media. They are unlikely to unfollow you if you’re saying something meaningful and not just posting meme’s and ‘inspirational’ quotes, so brands beware. All this feature really does is make it slightly easier for followers to actively ignore you.
Image courtesy of Mashable
