Tweet
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I have a new policy regarding people I follow on Twitter.
If someone put out a tweet (a message) telling everyone how many followers s/he has or how many more s/he needs to reach a certain milestone, I will stop following.
Why?
Because it tells me that the person is focused on the wrong thing.
S/he is focused on quantity and some arbitrary numbers.
You never see Seth Godin saying “Hey, I have 200k people (or whatever the number is) reading my blog.”
Social media is, as Johnny Bunko might say, “not about you.”
Yet, when I hear “hey look how many followers I have,” (or blog readers, or people on my newsletter), it tells me that the person thinks that it is about him.
And so, I must move on.
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Comments
Susan S said on 2.01.2009 at 1:26 PM
AMEN! Why do I care how many followers anyone has? If I really want to know, it's easy enough to find out. Ditto for all those, "can I get to X number of followers" people. Tweet good stuff and people will come. That's that!
Oren Adler said on 2.01.2009 at 3:29 PM
is it acceptable to ditto a ditto? if yes, then i ditto Susan S. If it is not OK, then i have a unique thought identical to hers.
Ian Brodie said on 2.04.2009 at 8:30 PM
Never being one to miss an opportunity to be a smartarse.......I noticed your personal blogspot blog proclaims the number of readers you have via feeburner. Should I unsubscribe from it?
OK, OK, I haven't subscribed yet. But you see my point. It's easy to get excited about followers/subscribers - or at least to forget that it's not what we should be focusing on. personally I'd forgive a transgression or two - the odd tweet. Lot's of 'em and obviously I'd unfollow too.
Ian
Jeremy said on 2.04.2009 at 8:45 PM
Ian-love you for the accountability! You are totally right.
I don't have much of an excuse except that I view the personal and professional blog differently (even though I am very open about sharing them).
Also, it's a difference between the in your face tweet of a "I have this many followers" vs. a bit more passive "so many subscribers."
But, I have to say, I am impressed w/your thoroughness!
Jodith said on 2.13.2009 at 10:28 AM
I have to admit to tweeting "OMG, I have almost 200 followers", simply because I was so excited. It just blew my mind that so many people would follow me. I'm not as excited anymore, although it still blows my mind. It's a nice little boost to the ego, you know?