Most of the people I removed (today) were for their abuse of Foursquare, a game of sorts, that when un-customized sends a boring message whenever the enrolled phone encounters the GPS of a site that is listed. I think it's stupid and it's dangerous to tell strangers you are away from home or exactly where you are…and it’s stupid for businesses to put much time or energy into it. It’s kinda like 2 years ago, when everyone was pushing for people to follow their RSS feed—it’s a TOOL, a marketing component, not a business plan. And you wouldn’t use a hammer when you need a screw-driver.
Unfollowing or de-friending is tricky. It is what our friend Cory calls "the new cruelty" because people get offended by your unfollowing or de-friending. I feel it's uncharted territory, all of a sudden we’re inviting all sorts of strangers into our stream of consciousness. Is this a good idea? We don't know them, and yet, we're allowing them to influence us with their moods, their habits, their likes and dislikes. What if they don't have our best interests in mind? What if their addictions or their depression is contagious? Sure, they have potential to be good influences, too, but that's not what this particular blog post is about.
Sometimes the un-follow is for THEIR sake, you know you aren't good for them to be following--like, you cause them to be argumentative, or you just don't see eye to eye, but they won't unfollow you first...it's merciful to let people be free of you, I think. Also, I won’t let certain people follow me in the first place. If you don’t need to know, you don’t need to follow. As the week goes on, I am planning to do more removal of people. If I haven’t met you, you don’t live in-state, and you really actually like following me, please re-follow, and connect. I’m not really interested in having fans, so much as having friends.