by Kristyn Wilson, Director of Media Relations

According to Yahoo Autos! it’s recommended that car owners change the oil in their cars every 3,000 miles or every three to six months.  If the oil isn’t changed often enough, owners can end up with “accelerated wear and all engine problems that come with it.”

Your Twitter account should be treated with the same TLC.  Imagine your Twitter account is your car’s engine and who you’re following is the oil.  When you first create your Twitter account the page is fresh, new, and even has that new car smell. To rev up your page, you begin following people with similar interests, geography, and hot avatars (you know you do).  Just like a brand new car engine that can safely surpass the 3,000 mile mark without an oil change, you don’t have to worry about the maintenance of your Twitter account for a while.  But eventually, impurities will begin to clog the efficiency of your Twitter account and it’s time for an oil change.

100 Followers = 3,000 Miles
Depending on how quickly you build your Twitter network, it’s a good idea to keep this equation in mind: 100 followers = 3,000 miles.  It’s difficult to keep Twitter running at its ultimate efficiency if spam, trolls, and other unsavory Twitter peeps creep into your network.  So for every 100 followers you have, take a moment to change your oil by blocking or unfollowing accounts that are unworthy of your time.  Regular maintenance can protect your account’s efficiency for the long haul.

Yes, you want a new filter
Of all the tweets that pop up on your Twitter feed, how many do you really read? Maybe half of them at best? It’s silly to filter through tens of tweets just to read the few you really care about.  Do yourself a favor and filter who you follow.  Some Twitter relationships just don’t work out and others were meant to be temporary.  Experts recommend you change your car’s oil filter every other time you change the oil.  I recommend you filter who you follow on Twitter every other time you filter your followers (got that?).

You reached 33,333 miles! So what?
Have you ever peered at your odometer repeatedly as you approached a specific mileage? Wait for it...33,333 miles. Woo-hoo! Now what? Your Twitter account is much like your odometer. You just got your 1,000th follower. Woo-hoo! Now what? Originally many social media enthusiasts treated Twitter like a numbers game.  The more followers you had the better (remember Ashton Kutcher/CNN Twitter Challenge?)  But now more than three years into the game, any Twitter pro would tell you quantity does not equal quality. To really engage in conversation and maximize Twitter as a communications tool, it’s important to follow and/or be followed by individuals, companies and organizations that pique your interest. No one cares if you have 1,000 followers if you have nothing of importance to share.

Don’t have your little sister change the oil (unless she’s a mechanic)
You wouldn’t take your car to just anyone for an oil change. So why would you trust just anyone with the health and maintenance of your Twitter account?  If you use Twitter to share your own views with the world, by all means, get under the hood and explore. If you spring an oil leak, it’s your own mess. But if you use Twitter on behalf of a business, a charity, or an organization, that leak could have dire consequences.  It’s important to know your own strengths and weaknesses as a social media communicator, and as such, you should also know when it’s time to invest in a trained Twitter mechanic.

So get your hands dirty and keep on Tweeting.  With regular maintenance, you’ll navigate the Twitterverse just fine.

When was the last time you filtered through your Twitter followers? Why did you stop following some folks as opposed to others?