Twitter can be a great source of information and ideas, but it’s definitely also the Bad Place. The great thing about the internet is if you don’t like something, you can block it. That works for reply guys, but things aren’t always that simple.
You can’t always block an annoying coworker, strange friend or persistent boomer parent. For these more delicate situations, there’s soft blocking. Here’s how you do it.
The ever-reliable Urban Dictionary defines a soft block as “a phrase often used by Twitter users to describe the blocking of another person, then immediate unblock. This is used to make the other user force-unfollow you without making it obvious that you blocked them.”
This way you can force a follower to stop following you without the harshness of a full block. The great thing about it is it’s unlikely they’ll ever even notice unless they only follow a handful of accounts and eagerly await your daily post.
How to soft block someone on Twitter
To block someone on Twitter, go to their account page and select the button with three dots in a row, next to the Follow or Following button. That drop-down gives you a whole list of fun options but the one you want really want here is Block.
So they’re none the wiser, you’ll need to unlock them immediately, which you can easily do with the Undo button that pops up. You’ve just successfully completed your first soft block.
How to soft block someone on Instagram and Facebook
If the pesky commenter is on another platform, say Instagram or Facebook, a soft block works much the same there ” a quick block and unblock. If they’re persistent and they realise you’ve given them the social media boot and proceed to re-follow you, you’ll have to weigh up whether it’s worth a more permanent block.
Or, you could just talk to them about their social media presence. Your mother, let’s say, might not realise social media etiquette means you don’t tweet your child to call you because they miss you.
Enjoy your new soft blocking reality.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/02/twitter-update-makes-it-easier-to-continue-one-of-your-awful-threads/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/ogpojszm6rmeirvqdatv.jpg” title=”Twitter Update Makes It Easier To Continue One Of Your Awful Threads” excerpt=”A new Twitter update makes it easier for users to follow up their dumb, old tweets via a “Continue thread” menu, allowing users to continue a thread without actually having to navigate to the tweet in question.”]