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Twitter can be a fun, informative way to interact with others around the world.
Or, Twitter can dissolve into an annoying platform of hateful posts.
Like most social media services, Twitter becomes what you make of it. If you follow interesting and engaging accounts, you may be a big fan of Twitter. If you follow Twitter accounts that are consistently complaining, then you might have a more negative impression of Twitter.
Your Twitter followers can make a big difference too. If your followers give insightful and thoughtful replies to your tweets, you’ll enjoy your followers. But if some immediately reply to your tweets with insults and barbs, you may not be a big fan of those followers.
Fortunately, there’s a new way to deal with your annoying Twitter followers — soft block.
About Twitter Soft Block
Last week Twitter announced that it was launching a new way to deal with annoying followers. Now you can soft-block followers in addition to blocking them.
This new soft block feature from Twitter allows you to remove an account from following you so your tweets will no longer appear in the timeline for that account. And the follower you soft-block won’t be notified that they’ve been removed as one of your followers.
Twitter started testing soft block in September and announced its launch in this tweet last week:
rolling out to everyone on the web today👇 https://t.co/Nqhhf2q2fo
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 11, 2021
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How to Soft Block a Twitter Account
Soft-blocking an account on Twitter is quick and easy. But for now, soft block only works on the web version of Twitter. You can’t soft-block an account on the Twitter app.
To soft-block a Twitter account, go to the Twitter website and click your profile image. On your profile page, click Followers.
On the next screen, you’ll see a list of your followers. Find the follower you want to soft-block. Click the three dots in the upper right corner of that account’s profile.
A drop-down menu will appear. Click Remove this follower to soft-block that follower.
That account will be removed from your list of followers and your tweets will no longer appear in the timeline for that account.
To learn how to block a Twitter account, check out the Twitter Help Page How to Block Accounts on Twitter.
Differences Between Blocking and Soft Blocking a Twitter Account
If you’ve previously dealt with annoying followers, you may be aware that you can block them on Twitter. So what’s the difference between blocking and soft blocking followers?
With blocking, Twitter accounts are removed from your list of followers. Blocked accounts are no longer able to see your tweets on Twitter (if they are logged into their Twitter account) and are notified that they’ve been blocked.
With soft blocking, Twitter accounts are removed from your list of followers but are not notified that they have been removed. Accounts that are soft-blocked by you won’t see your tweets in their timeline but can see your tweets elsewhere on Twitter.
Blocked Twitter accounts cannot re-follow your account.
Twitter accounts that are soft-blocked can re-follow your account (though because they aren’t notified of the soft block, they may not realize they’ve been removed from your list of followers.) If you want an account not to be able to re-follow you, then you should block them, rather than soft-block them, on Twitter.
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And some people consider blocking a badge of honor…
Availability of Soft Block on Twitter
In Twitter’s announcement last week, it said that this new feature was rolling out to all users.
As mentioned above, soft block is only available on the Twitter website, not on the Twitter app for iOS (iPhone and iPad) nor for Android. Twitter has not announced when or if soft block will be available via its app.
Your Thoughts
Have you ever had to block a follower on Twitter? Do you like the idea of being able to soft block followers? Will you be using soft block on any of your followers?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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*Twitter Bird image (edited) courtesy of Alexander Shatov via Unsplash and Creative Commons
** Twitter Blocked image (edited) courtesy of Jeremy Bazinger via Unsplash and Creative Commons
Hi Carolyn
Interesting approach from Twitter. I wonder how it will works in the real world. Not that I have really missed this feature. I don’t believe I get many of these negative tweets in my feed.
Hi Thomas, Great points. Twitter is probably trying to calm the rhetoric on its platform a bit with soft block. The classic way of blocking followers has become a source of pride for some who are blocked.
Like you, I haven’t received negative tweets, at least not any I recall, so I haven’t felt the need to block or soft-block followers. But for those who need this feature may enjoy using Twitter more with soft block.
I agree that how you use Twitter matters a lot.
I have found Twitter to be of great value; have learned a lot from the tweets of professors and business professionals sharing their thoughts on science, technology and business.
I think the soft block is a great feature and am sure will be valuable to remove annoying followers without hurting their ego !
Hi Raj, You’re right, blocking people may make them angry and they may lash out on Twitter, making the situation worse. Soft-blocking may help avoid those problems and help calm people down.
Hello Carolyn.
Kudos for the wonderful piece. I think the soft block feature is a good a good idea by Twitter. Some Twitter followers can really be nasty yet for various reasons like marketing, their following you matters and so you may need to keep them.
Given that soft blocking allows them to refollow, it gives them chance to reconnect once they start missing your value.
Plus, while some take pride in getting blocked, soft blocking will be the best for those who may take offence.
Hi Lameck, Yes, having this new soft block option may help people take better control of their Twitter experience without offending or upsetting other users. You have an excellent point, if someone truly cares about following an account, they might miss seeing that account in their Twitter feed and re-follow them. But perhaps they will get the message and behave better on Twitter to try to avoid being soft-blocked in the future.