I recently read a blog by the fabulous Chris Brogan where he asked what would you do with more followers if you had them? This really resonated with me as for a long time I have argued that twitter shouldn't be a numbers game.
After all, when Ashton Kutcher set a record by breaking through the 'one million followers on Twitter' barrier he didn’t suddenly become richer, smarter, and more successful. It was a number, nothing more! And he’s a celebrity! Celebrities are judged on their popularity, so if a measure of popularity on twitter doesn’t deliver to Ashton how the heck is it going to make a difference with you?
It’s the same with Klout. I’m soooo bored with people going on about their Klout scores. If you don’t know what it is, Klout’s a measure that you can use to gauge your social media influence. Sounds like a really useful idea, and to a degree it is. But too many people obsess on that number. They try to second guess the Klout system to improve their score. So much so that when Klout re-thought the way it calibrates the measure, and everyone’s Klout score fell by around 20 points as a result overnight, there was an outpouring of epic proportions.
“I’m never going to use Klout again, all my hard work on twitter is wasted” was a typical comment to be heard.
I’m sorry but if the individuals concerned had a twitter plan, knew who they were trying to reach and why, paid some attention to how to SERVE their followers (yes note the word serve) rather than simply thinking about chasing a number, then their time on twitter would not have been wasted, it would have been focused on doing the right thing.
You are not a number; indeed we all hate it when someone treats us as a cog in a big machine. We are people, with needs. Your 300 followers are not numbers. They are 300 real people on the other end of that keyboard. If they choose to follow you, you should be asking yourself what kind of experience it will be for them. Will they gain from following you? Will you offer them insight and knowledge, regardless of whether it turns into any business for you?
If twitter users spent as much time thinking about how they SERVE their followers rather than how they can move up to the next impressive figure, they would really have some success with twitter.
For more advice on how to get the most out of twitter, get my free download 'Twitter me Famous' on PR & twitter Also, if you're looking for good people to follow on twitter who share interresting 'stuff' do checkout Chris Brogan
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