How to Unfollow on Twitter

When you join Twitter, you're encouraged to follow other accounts. Then, of course, you'll find you don't enjoy tweets from some users, or your timeline is too overloaded to keep up. There are a few ways to unfollow on Twitter: from a tweet, from a profile page, and from your following list. You can also unfollow everyone on Twitter if you need a fresh start. However, you need to use third-party software for mass unfollows. 

When you unfollow someone on Twitter, you'll no longer see their tweets in your timeline. Twitter won't alert them to the unfollow, but they will find out if they're using third-party software to track followers.

How to Unfollow Someone From a Tweet

You can unfollow another Twitter user right from a tweet, which also removes the offending tweet from your timeline. It's easy and fast.

1. Go to a tweet from the user you want to unfollow.

2. Click the down arrow next to it.

3. Select Unfollow @username.

4. You'll get a notification that says You unfollowed @username.

How to Unfollow Users From Their Account Page

Another way to unfollow on Twitter is from a user's account page. It's just as quick as doing so from a tweet.

1. Go to a account page for the user you want to unfollow. The URL will be twitter.com/username.

2. Hover over the Following button to the right of their profile picture.

3. The button will change to Unfollow. Click Unfollow.

4. A confirmation message appears. Click Unfollow.

How to Unfollow Users From Your Twitter Following List

Finally, you can unfollow users on Twitter from your own following list. This method is convenient if you want to unfollow multiple users, though you can only do so one at a time.

1. Go to your Twitter profile page and click <#> Following, (<#> represents the number of people you are following) located under your location and join date.

    

2. Alternatively, you can go to twitter.com/followers and click the Following tab.

3. Find the user you want to unfollow and hover over the Following button to the right of their username.

4. The button will change to Unfollow. Click Unfollow.

5. Click Unfollow on the confirmation message.

Mass Unfollowing on Twitter

If you want to mass unfollow everyone on Twitter, you need to use command line tool or a third-party service. Twitter only allows you to unfollow users one at a time. Anil Dash, blogger and entrepreneur posted instructions on his website using a tool called "t," which is based on the Ruby programming language.

Download t on Github, follow the set-up instructions, and make sure you have Ruby installed. The command to mass unfollow is:

t followings | xargs t unfollow

If that's too technical, you can also use a tool called Tokimeki Unfollow, which Dash recommends. While you can't unfollow accounts in bulk, its not as tedious as manually unfollowing on Twitter.

1. Go to the Tokimeki website and click Login with Twitter.

2. Enter your Twitter username and password, then click Sign in.

   This authorizes the app to access your account.

3. Choose your preferences: You can set the order in which you see accounts, show bios automatically, and save progress on the server. Then click Start.

4. For each account you follow, you can unfollow them, add them to a list, or keep them. You'll be able to see the account's most recent tweets to help you make a decision.

   Click Show bio to see the account's Twitter bio.

5. If you accidentally click Unfollow or change your mind, click Undo; otherwise, click Next.

Blocking vs. Muting vs. Unfollowing on Twitter

When you block someone on Twitter, it also unfollows them, and all of their tweets disappear from your timeline. The blocked user doesn't get a notification that you blocked them but will be able to tell if they visit your profile page.

When you mute someone on Twitter, that user can still see your tweets, and like, retweet, and comment on them. Muted users can also send DMs to your account. However, you won't see any of this activity until you unmute them.

When you unfollow someone on Twitter, they might get a notification from a third-party app that tracks unfollows. They can still see your tweets as long as they're following you.