This is a simple tip on how to "follow" someone on Twitter without actually "following" them. On Twitter I only follow a select few people. This helps to cut down on the noise and keep me relatively productive.
However, there are some Twitter accounts that I’d like to follow, but not "follow". Take for instance the Twitter account for a local newspaper in my area The Times Tribune (timestribune on Twitter). The Times Tribune’s web site sucks, since it doesn’t even have RSS feeds to subscribe to, yet they manage to syndicate their news to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr. Go figure.
Anyway, long story short. I don’t follow them on Twitter. I created an "imaginary friend" on FriendFeed ((Unfortunately, and I’m not sure why, FriendFeed does not allow me to share my imaginary friends with you. I’m hoping that in the future FriendFeed enables the sharing of one’s imaginary friends)) using their Twitter account and the RSS feed for their group on Flickr. Now I get news updates delivered to me through Twhirl.
Just incase I miss something on Twhirl (since I don’t watch it 24/7), I’ve also subscribed to the feed that FriendFeed generates for this imaginary friend.
I told you it was a simple tip.