When you first sign up for Twitter you are presented with lots of options to set. The easiest thing to do is to leave most of the settings as the default values. Apart from anything else, this is quicker as it saves you thinking about what they mean. Some of the options relate to which notification emails Twitter will send you. By default it sends a lot. When you start this gives a feeling of reassurance that other people are out there and looking at what you say.
As the weeks go on and you start gaining followers and interacting, the number of emails gradually creeps up so that before long you can feel inundated. It can still be reassuring to look at all the interactions, but there is the problem that you may miss something important. Even worse, you might delete something important in the midst of the retweets.
Using email Rules
If you are using an email client that allows you to set rules, you can divert your twitter emails to a separate folder to peruse at your leisure, leaving your inbox clear for more important missives. After much experimenting, I have found that the easiest way to identify Twitter emails is that they come from “notify@twitter.com”. Divert these to a Twitter folder and you can peruse (or delete) them at leisure.
Changing your Settings
If you find yourself not looking at your twitter emails before deleting, it is time to go back into Twitter and change the settings. Log into Twitter and
- Click on your logo on the menu bar.
- Click Settings on the dropdown menu.
- Click Email notifications on the left hand menu.
Once you are on the page, you can choose which emails you wish to receive. Uncheck the boxes of those you don’t and then click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
It may take a couple of tweaks to reach the balance that suits you, but it is worth it in the long run.
