If we're honest with ourselves, I think we'll all admit that we've worried at some point about declining Twitter followers. If you're just using Twitter to keep in touch with friends then maybe not, but if you're looking to keep an extended community updated it can become a real concern.

A number of thoughts can go through your head when this happens. You might wonder why people are leaving, or whether you're posting boring messages. You might worry that you're not updating enough. You may even be concerned that you're pushing a certain message to hard. All kinds of worries will surface. Although you should always be looking to improve your posting style and content, I want to give you another more pleasant perspective for this phenomenon.

Think of it as healthy churn. Followers leaving may be people that have no interest in what you have to say, in which case there's no point in fooling yourself that they're actually following you in the first place. Rather they leave you now than have a follower that's never going to read your updates. Secondly, they may have had no intention of following you permanently in the first place. They may have only temporarily followed you and may only be interested in growing their own follower count. They may also be new to Twitter and may be suffering from information overwhelm. Perhaps they are now reducing their friends because of this. The bottom line is there are loads of reasons why followers decline. Take declining numbers in context. If they happen after you post a series of offensive messages, well then you have a problem. If you see them come and go after self-promotion activities, then don't lose too much sleep about.

Just keep posting what you're passionate about, and naturally over time let your followers churn into a community that's interested in what you have to say.