photo credit: What is in us
I can count on both hands the number of relationships I have that are truly rewarding. I know between 7 and 10 people that I communicate with daily and I respect their opinion. The rest of my relationships are a mix of acquaintances, schoolmates, co-workers, colleagues and friends of business partners. So honestly, less than 10 people, and their friends, tend to help me shape my opinions and influence me. I’ll bet you could say the same, unless of course you are able to touch base with everyone you know on a daily basis. Even with Twitter, I doubt I could actually influence or touch a small percentage of the 2,000+ people there I follow.
Ike Piggott made it clear that he would only follow a small number of people; presumably to allow him to build relationships. Even as he has expanded his base, he continues to take a hyperlocal approach and is building relationships he can sustain. Geoff Livingston looked at what a large number of followers really results in and he concludes that influence wanes without relationships. Meaning, that all the hype about gaming Twitter – following everyone and their brother – really doesn’t result in any measurable influence. In fact, social media relationships fail without a relationship connection. A large number of followers is only meaningful if those followers represent people you have come to know and respect.
A few of us must be thinking this way because it is nearly becoming a meme. Take this post by Sheryl Brueker: Social Media Guru’s Are Spewers Just Like Traditional Broadcast Media. In it, Sheryl equates failure to engage with your community with an out-of-control skier plummeting downhill; you can only hold on and hope that you land at the bottom without breaking a leg. Rack up too many followers and you are no longer a social media communicator – engaging in give and take. You have become a broadcaster.
So the balance is to work on building those relationships, avoid the numbers game and work on engagement on all levels. If you feel like you have become a snowball, then it is time to re-balance and reconnect.
