There’s a guy I follow on Twitter named Carlos Whittaker. He’s an artist and pastor living in Georgia.

Today he logged a post on his blog titled “Why I Unfollowed Everyone on Twitter and Started Over.” I immediately checked to see if he had unfollowed me and sure enough, he had. Reading his rationale for whittling 14,000 followers down to just over 200 stirred something within me that made a lot of sense.

People get into Twitter for different reasons. As a powerful marketing tool, some want to promote their business. Others want to build a network to see how many people they can connect with. Still others are just social creatures who want to stay connected with current friends and make new ones.

The dream to chase new followers is enticing, to be sure, and one which I had given myself to. But reading Carlos’ post today inspired me to clean house a bit. I went from over 1000 people I was following to just over 400. Most of these are people I truly know, a few celebrities and a few people who, as Carlos put it, are “people I don’t know but wish I did.”

I expect that I will lose followers and that’s okay. I really only want people following me that are interested in what I have to say. If they’re following me just because I follow them, that isn’t particularly real. It’s just reciprocal. I know that now I’m following people whose voice I want to hear and not just sending me a link to their most recent strategy for building influence.

At the end of the day, I’m not marketing anything. I don’t have a brand to sell you. I’m not running for office. I’m just a guy who happens to be a husband, father, pastor and writer. I like people and there are a few I want to stay connected with throughout the day via Social Media. Twitter is a great way for me to do that.

I’m one of the pastors at City Church in San Antonio, TX. One of our “how we live” statements says that we downsize to maximize. That means that we are intentional about simplifying our lives.

So, if I unfollowed you, it wasn’t personal. Just trying to simplify a bit. Follow me back or not. I promise I wont’ take it personally either. If you’re still following me even if I’m not, thanks. I’ll do my best to make it worth your while.

Peace!

If you do want to follow me on Twitter, you can @thisisreylo