Deleting Followers

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   vocalcoachposted 10 years ago

   I presently follow 1,975 hub members.  My followers are 1,436.  I remember hearing something about it being best to unfollow those that are not active on your hubs or that hold no further interest for you.
   
   So, I've been doing this.  My question is:  Have I been mislead or am I doing the right thing?  Will this affect my profile score?  Thanks

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      moonlakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have done this and I have thought that it did affect my profile score but only for a short time. Now when I remove people I follow, I only remove maybe 5-6 at a time.

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         This is a good suggestion and I will follow it.

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      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have heard to do the same. If they are no longer active on HP and do not read your hubs, then it is best to unfollow. However, I do have those I know who still read even if not active on HP. It should not effect your profile score. If you are following too many then HP does not really go for that. I know when I first joined HP I would follow everyone who followed me and then I realized that is not a good thing to do especially if they never commented on your hubs. I saw a hubber from California who only follows about 104 but she has over 5,000 followers.

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for helping me.

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      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The person in California has a 96 hubber score and follows very few.

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      Shyron E Shenkoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I follow people if I like their work. I always read others work.

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         Shyron E Shenkoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I followed someone and read a lot of her hubs and left a comment on every one I read. but she was to busy to reply or acknowledge my comment. Should I unfollow her?

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            dwelburnposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Probably yes. Unless you particularly like her work and would feel you were missing out if you did not read it.

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            Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I always make sure to comment back to those who read. There are some hubbers who just do not comment back for whatever reason. I do know of a wonderful poet but he suffers with s crippling disease and it is literally impossible for him to comment back. He does good to publish a poem as it is very painful for him to type.

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            Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Shyron, I know at times I have found a comment on one of my hubs that had somehow gotten overlooked due to being approved via my phone during the day, and then so many emails coming in on my computer.  I try my best to remember all who have commented and feel bad when one is overlooked.  As I understand about how much time commenting and reading takes, so I am especially careful to always comment back.  If she has not commented back maybe once or twice then I would not unfollow her, but if she seems to not really be interested in your comments then that is up to you, but she may have a reason that you are unaware of, maybe a health issue at the time or family crisis that she is unable to respond back at this time?  We never truly know what another person is going through in this life and the reasons behind why they do or do not do something.

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               Shyron E Shenkoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I agree with you Faith, but the person I refer to always comments to others hubs, with mine overlooked or so it seems. But, maybe you are right and she gets sick by the time she gets to me.
               I know I have been sick starting on the 13th and have not responded to comments this week. So...if I missed some of yours please forgive me.

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               Venkatachari Mposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Very good opinion,  Faith Reaper. You are very sensitive and reasonable thinker. It is good of you that you care about others problems in doing or not doing something. This attitude should be there in all of us. And it is a courtesy to express thanks always.

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   5. 84

      tsmogposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I do, do as you are suggesting. The way I do it is once or twice a year I go through "who I follow". That is at the account page → Following → Hubbers You Follow. Followers are for hubpages members only at this time to my knowledge. There seems not to be a method to monitor who follows my profile/portfolio to my knowledge. For those that follow there is offered an accolade with how many. That is the action of one choosing to follow my profile / portfolio. I am being recognized. I kinda' like knowing how many I follow are really recognizable.
      
      What I look for is if they have not had any activity for about two years. That would be a choice of any. Why I do this is only to monitor my account and do some sweeping. I do use discretion as some I do know and offer the courtesy they are having a dry spell. It has not any strategy to it especially with regard to a proactive business strategy other than maintaining them at a level of recognition, I may decide after a period of time I would like some freshness, and realize the water bucket is actually low.
      
      I will learn two things with time. I am following less or more 'active' hubbers and activity is an up swing or down swing with the circles I am following indicating trends. After all many times who one follows is also what you write about.
      
      It is just a personal choice. I do the same thing with the questions I have posted. I only keep the ones older than a year that maybe have ten responses at them. For me it is just housekeeping and I like Feng Shui principals

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         Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, tsmog, that is what I do, sort of a housekeeping maybe once or twice a year.

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            Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I really do not pay much attention to that number on my profile of those who are following, but of course we get an email when someone new follows us.  However, I really do not pay much attention if the number goes down.  When I first joined, as I stated, I would automatically follow those who followed me and then realized that they did not write what I would normally read.  I was just so thrilled that anyone had followed me I guess.  So, it was necessary to do a little housekeeping after a year or so.

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Good advice - thanks.

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks so much!

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         Venkatachari Mposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         All hubbers or writers can't be active always. It depends upon their time, their engagement in multiple tasks with very little time to spend on net and other abilities and capacities. So, I think, we should not go by activity. If something is interesting to you, you can follow it, irrespective of the regularity or irregularity. But one thing which matters is reciprocity in relations, may be sooner or later. If there is no reciprocity, it will hurt us.

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      Victoria Lynnposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My profile store stays consistent, and I haven't gone through my followers in a long, long time. I did go through it a year or so ago and delete some who may have left. I don't like to unfollow anyone who's still around. Besides, it didn't seem to make a difference with me. Just my two cents. :-)

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         Victoria Lynnposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Uh, that would be profile "score," not "store." LOL

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         This is good to know.  Thanks.

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      brakel2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I remember a hubber proclaiming his score dropped quite a bit when he followed too many people. It had to do with an inability to read and comment on so many. I have been careful. Some say to follow those whose writing you like. and the ones who like yours will follow you.

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Good advice.  Thanks.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Are you really, genuinely following all those people or did you just 'friend" them out of politeness?
      
      The whole idea of following on HubPages is that you get notified of their Hubs and take the time to read and comment on them.  That means by definition, you have to be choosy about whom you follow.  You can't follow them just because they follow you, for instance - otherwise you'll get overwhelmed.
      
      It sounds like you're long overdue to unfollow at least three-quarters of those people, so you're left with a small group you can genuinely follow!

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         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You're absolutely right.  I followed most of these people the first couple of weeks I joined hubpages, over 3 years ago.  I have since learned that this is a mistake.  Now, I'm 'cleaning house' and have also learned from this post to unfollow a little at a time.  Thanks

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      My score had been pretty consistently 99 or 100, and I have not unfollowed anybody in a long time. That makes me think it must not have much affect

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   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   But how do you know if someone is reading your hubs or not, unless they comment, which they might not always do?

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      Shyron E Shenkoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      At the top of your article where you go to edit, click on [stat] and then click on total if for instance it shows 70 total views and you have 50 comments then you know that 20 people read your article or at least looked at it.

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         dwelburnposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes I know but I mean how do you know if a specific person reads your hubs so you can delete them from those you are following if they are never reading them?

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            tsmogposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            You may never be able to specifically. Consider hubs are read on the internet and that is many. That offers how to share who reads and still have a lean of privacy, even though the internet is public.

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      2. 95

         vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I will do this.  Thanks for the good tip!

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      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Under your account page under statisics it will list all of your hubs. The first hub with the highest score and down. Out to the right of the hub it will tell you how many views that particular hub has but that does not mean all of those who have viewed your hub actually read it in its entirety. You cannot know for sure who is reading your hubs unless they comment.

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3. 91

   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   Usually if someone follows me I will follow them back, provided I like and am interested in their work. But if someone has 5000 followers but is only following 104 I probably would not follow them as it suggests they don't have much interest in the work of the majority of people who are following them, which seems strange to me.

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      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      There are a lot who may just be spammers too with zero hubs. If those who follow you are writing something of interest you would read then of course you want to follow those but over time people are no longer active on HP for whatever reason and leave. It could be over half or more you had followed at one time. A lot of people are very popular and many will follow but one cannot be  expected to follow back all and it is not recommended as there would be no time to read all who follow you especially in the thousands.

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   LongTimeMotherposted 10 years ago

   Hi Vocal Coach. People will follow you whether or not you follow them back because your hubs are so interesting and helpful.
   
   You cannot possibly be expected to find time to read hubs of over 1000 hubbers. I personally believe you could stop following everyone and still be popular - and not reduce your income. After all, it is search engine traffic that makes money.
   
   My daughter follows  your advice and exercises. I am sure many, many people do. You won't lose your fan base.

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5. 73

   relacheposted 10 years ago

   It's really simple.
   
   Follow people whose Hubs or forum posts you genuinely like to read.  Don't follow people if you don't like to read what they have to say.
   
   Don't expect or demand anything from or for following. 
   
   And that's it.

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      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, very simple and good point! It would be good if we could delete those who we know are spammers who are following us. Seems like in the past we could choose to allow them to follow or not but now whomever can follow. We can always flag them if we know they are spammers though.

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   dearabbysmomposted 10 years ago

   I try to let Karma rule this issue...I don't worry about who is following me and I only follow people whose work I'm interested in reading. I think it's more important to spend the time writing quality hubs and engaging in the feedback give and take with authors you admire than to worry about those you don't.

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      Faith Reaperposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, those who you are truly interested in reading, and that is only fair to that person and not because that person happened to follow you.

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      Grant's Worldposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great response dearabbysmom
      
      That's exactly what I was going to say   serious. lol

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   FatFreddysCatposted 10 years ago

   Last I checked I had around 300 followers but I myself only follow about 50....if a person writes about topics that interest me and also demonstrates a miminum of writing ability, I'll follow them. If not, I don't bother.

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      vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      And...wow - look at your score!

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         FatFreddysCatposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah (shrugs) I must be doin' something right....

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   cecileportillaposted 10 years ago

   I would be hesitant to delete anyone who is following me. I usually try to follow anyone who follows me. I also try to leave comments as often as I can. However if  I see that they have hundreds of followers and they are following just a few and do not really comment then I am a bit hesitant to follow.

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   Tolovajposted 10 years ago

   Number of followers is definitely related with hubscore, so it is not completely unimportant, but the main idea is simple: follow hubbers which are interesting to you. If you notice they are not active for months or years, some kind of house cleaning is cool, but as few others already stated, don't do too much at the same time.
   I have already noticed few people followed me only to see if I will follow them back and then unfollowed me. I suspect they believe this will help them in some way and I sincerely wish it will (although don't believe). Our main concern should be content.

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    Cheeky Girlposted 10 years ago

    It is the same with Twitter. There are now web services for them that allow you to unfollow those who don't follow you back on that social media platform. It stands to reason to manage follows and fans on HubPages as well...
    
    Great thread in the forums. Cheers!

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       DrMark1961posted 10 years agoin reply to this

       That is a real apples and oranges comparison.

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          Cheeky Girlposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Nice statement. You are welcome to prove that statement.

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    Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

    If I went through and deleted everyone that hasn't been active here, there wouldn't be hardly anyone left. I think that happens once your account gets older.
    
    I'm not sure that the number you follow has anything to do with your Hubscore, but adding too many in a short period of time really hurts it.

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    1. 95

       vocalcoachposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Yes - I learned this the hard way when I joined over 3 years ago

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    Alphadogg16posted 10 years ago

    Mine has been consistently 99-98 & I haven't unfollowed anyone either.

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