We and many others have been pushing Twitter as a great social networking tool that also has business implications. We have joined a number of sites in talking about business tools for Twitter and marketing success stories there.
It was inevitable that spammers would come along to tout ways to quickly build the number of people following you on the micro-blogging platform. The obvious equation here is that the number of followers you have = success.
That is true, in a way. Digg founder Kevin Rose is followed by 86,000 people on Twitter – a small city’s worth. That makes my 350+ like downright puny. How many of these denizens does he deign to follow? The man follows 133 people. While this may be an extreme example it is also a telling one. Just as Digg has fallen victim to rings of people who Digg each other’s stuff without necessarily even reading or liking it, Rose is hardly more interesting than, say the Daily Show’s John Hodgman at 27,000+ followers.
What Rose and Hodgman (at merely 78 people followed) both know is that it becomes hard to actually keep up with people as the number you follow start to balloon. It would be nearly impossible and undesirable for them to follow back all of their fans.
What’s also important here is that neither of these guys are known for their Twittering – they both made their names elsewhere. So do the crowds mean anything?
Yes, in a sense they are pushing out content to the vast majority of their followers, like a blog but with even less interactivity. While this is a legitimate social media activity, it can seem a bit one-way.
That’s where the relative handful of folks that they follow back enters in. Presumably the relationship there has more give-and-take.
For anyone using a social network like Twitter the question becomes – what for? If it is truly to have a conversation rather than pushing out content, and you aren’t already famous, a lower number of followers is nothing to be ashamed of. Cultivate the people who follow you and who you follow and your growth will come in an organic fashion.
Thoughts on Twitter, or following versus followers in social media? Leave a comment or send me a message on Twitter at @nmallin.
