If you’re like me and you use Twitter you probably haven’t given much thought to your approach to the platform over the last few years.



Plagued by controversy and with zero growth, the future of Twitter was considered treacherous, to say the least.



While it has remained popular with politicians, journalists and other elites, there’s a growing sense of renaissance to the Twitter platform.



Recent changes to its algorithm, character limit and the removal of automated bots are signalling a more rosy period for the platform. Indeed Twitter is surpassing Facebook and Google as the dominant place for news.



This, in turn, is causing people like me to reconsider how I use it. In short, I need to up my game.



It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with how you use certain tools and platforms like Twitter. But if you’re doing social media the same as you were even just a year then you are probably doing it wrong. Or, rather, not doing everything right.



Below is a list of tactics that I’m currently deploying to up my Twitter game. Consider this a phase I strategy with phase II focusing more on tweet formats and other users.



Feel free to use them or add your own in the comments.







Clean your ‘following’ list



The value of Twitter is in the people you follow. The more your followers contribute to the platform the more value you will get from it.



If you’ve been using Twitter for a while you will have likely accumulated people you follow but don’t engage with. Maybe it’s because your focus has changed, perhaps it’s because they rarely tweet or they might just use Twitter purely as a distribution channel for their links.



These are accounts that add no value to your Twitter experience and will likely be pulling down your score in the Twitter algorithm.



Give your Twitter follower list a clean to discover:



* Irrelevant Twitter accounts (inc those that don’t follow you)* Who hasn’t tweeted in a while* Who is just tweeting links to their own platforms



To do 1 and 2 you can use a service like Manageflitter which will help you identify these accounts easily.



#1 Unfollow irrelevant Twitter accounts 



If they are no longer relevant unfollow them. You may have followed some accounts when you were interested in a particular subject but are no more. Your Twitter follower list should evolve as you do and sometimes that means culling certain accounts you’re no longer interested in.



If this is the case, use one of the services mentioned above to identify and unfollow them.



#2 Unfollow those who haven’t tweeted recently



Here you have to be a little ruthless. Accounts that rarely update or haven’t been updated in a while are a lag on your algorithmic scoring. The less active your followers are the less average engagement you’ll receive which impacts how the algorithm scores you.



Even if they’re family, friends or colleagues unfollow them which sounds pretty ruthless and cut-throat but the truth is if they rarely tweet then they probably don’t ca...