If you haven’t heard Twitter is really popular these days. So popular in fact that we now see accounts with over 1 million followers (congrats to @aplusk for winning the battle). So popular that even Oprah, goddess of soccer moms, mommy bloggers and mompreneurs, featured the service on her show and tweeted her first tweet live on the show (reminds me of The Truman Show when they show Truman’s first steps, first kiss, etc. live on TV).
The Popularity Contest That Is Now Twitter
Just like any real-life social scene there will always be the annoying boys & girls who feel it their life mission to be “popular”. In Twitter this means getting as many followers as possible. Somehow they derive satisfaction from knowing that thousands of people are aware of who their favorite character is on The Hills or how much they hate going to work on Mondays.
To these people I say “Quit following me!” Your tweets are worthless to an exponential degree. We have no common interests. I don’t want to learn how to make money in my pajamas working from home. I don’t want to join your MLM company. And I know that in 3 days you’ll unfollow me because I had the audacity to not follow you back. The nerve!
Who I Do Want To Follow
As I’ve gotten more and more followers I have become more selective in who I follow. I want relationships and engagement. If I met you in person I would want to know at least one thing about you (that isn’t common knowledge) so we could have a conversation. Common hobbies, work interests or a random funny link. Something! Also, I love following people who @ me. I appreciate the fact they went out of their way to initiate a conversation so there is a surefire way to get me to follow you (but make it good).
Don’t misunderstand, I love my 800+ followers. I try every day to tweet something interesting and valuable. I know it won’t be interesting or valuable to everyone, but I guarantee it will be interesting and valuable to someone. So if you find me interesting I would love to have you follow me. If I find you interesting I will be happy to follow you too.
About Robert
My favorite person on The Hills HAS to be Heidi! OMGoodness!
I totally agree, but I start to fixate on my numbers as they get close to certain marks…you can’t help but get excited about that first 1,000…I know it’s bad!
Engagement is far more important than numbers. Numbers for numbers sake is a hollow pursuit. When you think about it, it’s an insatiable activity because there will always be more people to add. Though I do think it’s important to have a certain critical mass of followers to attain it, you can benefit, learn and grow from the interaction you have with a faction of the 1 million followers Ashton has.
…. side notes….
I really do not watch the Hills and I am content with the fact that I will never reach 1M followers like Ashton. I also do not follow Oprah- but love her.
I also tend to agree with you about the following aspect. Ever so often I feel the need to go through who I’m following and click unfollow.
Favorite part about this…
“As I’ve gotten more and more followers I have become more selective in who I follow. I want relationships and engagement. If I met you in person I would want to know at least one thing about you (that isn’t common knowledge) so we could have a conversation.”
blog was righteous!