Shadow: Follow Updates Quietly on Twitter
by Stuart Robertson on November 12th, 2008 | Social Media
This script will allow you to quietly follow a user’s updates on Twitter without listing them on your profile or adding you to their list of followers.
The Shadow script for Twitter is an experiment in seeing how being able to quietly follow other users updates will effect people’s perception of the value of following to follower ratios.
There are a few steps to using this script.
1. Download and install the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox
2. Save the Shadow script to your desktop
3. Edit the file in a text-editor to add the names of the users you would like to follow quietly
4. Save the file without the .txt extension: shadow.user.js
5. Select File>Open and choose the shadow.user.js file on your desktop
Now, when you visit Twitter.com you will now see updates from users you aren’t publicly following.
I can think of a number of reasons for using this script. If you’re a business there might be users you find interesting or amusing that you don’t want to publicly display that you follow. If you’re Coke you may not want to follow Pepsi’s updates. 
I’m also interested in seeing what affect this new feature might have on the social media community more generally.
There are a number of services that offer to calculate your “grade”, “score” or overall “value” on Twitter based on the number of people who are following your updates and the number of people you follow in turn. The basic premise of these services is that it’s a good thing to have many more people follow your updates than the number that you follow in turn. I think that’s a strange perspective to take.
In the real world businesses spend a lot of time and money trying to make their customers feel like they are being listened to. Even though a business or celebrity can’t possibly return the interest and attention that millions of people focus on it/them, they want to maintain the perception that they’re still interested… just busy. No company would take the step of publicly displaying a short-list of their customers that are being listened to, leaving the rest to conclude that they weren’t as important. On Twitter people know right away whether connections are one-sided or reciprocal, so choosing not to co-follow someone sends a very clear message: I don’t consider your updates as important as you consider mine.
Whether you are in business, marketing, or just use Twitter to socialize, you should think about the value of a “good” score / grade / value as generated by one of these services, compared to the decreased value of building better connections with others.
For this reason I’ve decided that I’d rather co-follow other users on Twitter. If my goal is to network, share ideas, and learn from others – that’s not served by hoping to have more people follow my updates than I’m willing to listen to in return.
So while I’m happy with how I’m using the system, I’ve noticed a troubling pattern with a smaller number of users. They will initially follow your updates on Twitter, and if you decide to follow their updates in return they will unfollow you again within 24 hours. Viewing their profiles gives a simple reason for this: they’re hoping you won’t notice their unfollowing so that they can continue to build a “better” ratio.
It’s entirely possible that this is in part because Google seems to be ranking Twitter profile pages very highly. Do a search for “designmeme” and my Twitter profile is the 3rd link. I have no doubt that people will see this as reason enough to try and optimize their Twitter ratios as part of a broader SEO strategy.
With users being able to quietly follow one another, will the over-emphasis on ratios decrease? Since the script only accepts a limited number of users to silently follow (the entire search query must be under 140 characters), will it affect the users with 1,000s of followers more than those with only a few dozen? Will the Shadow script become like a sort of no-follow attribute for Twitter? Will people find other uses for this tool?
I’m excited to find out!
Ultimately this is another experiment in using the excellent Twitter API to create a new way of viewing this popular social media site. I’m sure there will be more to follow.
Stuart Robertson
Jeremy Mandle on November 12, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Great article Stuart. BTW I dig (single g dig
all that you offer up on your blog and take the time to read as much as possible. The twitter search script is w00t.
You nail the twitter scoring movement. I’ve recently quit Qwitter. Stopped grading myself on Twitter, etc. It really interferes with my use of this great platform. It’s social and playful, but certainly not a game to me. Thanks again. I’ll be retweeting this article for personal and professional purposes
Cheers.
Stuart Robertson on November 12, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Thanks Jeremy. Glad you dig (one or 2 g’s ;)) the article and the scripts.
Wisdom on November 12, 2008 at 4:41 pm
The recent exlosion of interest in Twitter grading reminds me of a similar obsession in Blogs 1.0 (‘round 1999) where bloggers were constantly posting and chattering about their stats. This was inlarge part kicked off by the sudden availability of very easy-to-implement free stat tools (like Extreme Tracking) but I (as I’m sure others) soon found myself spending more time analyzing traffic than actually doing anything useful like writing posts or engaging with the community. Eventually I removed the script from my site and was liberated. Hopefully this script can help liberate some of today’s Twitterholics.
Angie Bowen on November 12, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I can definitely see how it could be helpful to some people. I don’t think I would like it because I like replying to the people I follow a lot. I’d end up talking to a lot of people who didn’t know I was following them lol.
Stuart Robertson on November 12, 2008 at 9:31 pm
If you mouse-over the new Shadow Tweets they have the same icons for adding them to your favorites or replying to the author.
My reply to @wilw was using the icon on the shadow tweet.
http://twitter.com/designmeme/status/1002757768
Jim Spencer on November 17, 2008 at 8:44 am
Well you got me swinging. Your basic premise is dead on. Lot’s of folks wasting time comparing numbers with little relative value and even less information on how the number is generated (twitterank??)
The “problem” of un-following for a score is worth bringing forward so that folks can make better decisions.
However, is secretly following not aiding and abetting the very thing that you object too? It extends the conversation, but it is not transparent and some may consider it even less than perfectly straight forward. If I used, I certainly wouldn’t reply and risk revealing the deception.
Monitoring competitors, well ok, I can see that purpose being valued.
Another reason. Maybe you like a person’s ideas, but you certainly don’t want all of their followers to pile on and start flooding your stream. A little bit, not a lot. I have seen followers come in groups, sometimes floods.
I will keep thinking about this subject and look forward to your reply.
Web Site Design Michigan on November 28, 2008 at 3:14 am
Isn’t that a bit like cyber stalking?
Some how makes it seem all secretive and sly.
Stuart Robertson on November 28, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I don’t think it’s anything like that, as the term is commonly understood. You read all sorts of websites without stalking the person posting the content.
Keep in mind that you can visit most people’s Twitter profile whether or not you’re “following” them.