Why Size Doesn’t Matter (but only when it comes to Twitter followers)

Published on 02 April 2009 by Jeff Berman in Blog

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As is the case with most things, once we can measure ourselves relatively against others, the competition kicks in. However, just because something can be measured, does not mean it is the statistic we should be focusing on.

I measure my self worth by the number of Twitter followers I have

Ok….that headline is meant to be sarcastic. Unfortuntely, in the world of Twitter, this is how many of us think. As Twitter gains steam, we quickly see that the most obvious and easiest number to measure how “important” a Twitter user is can be achieved by seeing how many people want to follow him or her and read their Tweets. However, unless you are Shaquille O’Neal, Britney Spears, or Barack Obama, the target audience you are trying to reach shouldn’t include “everyone”. The beauty of the internet is that it allows for niches and connections of people with similar interests. You no longer have to blast out messages to the masses, interrupting them and hoping for the few that might care to respond. Twitter is a microcosm of the same idea. You can connect with and follow like-minded people, groups, companies, etc. However, chasing “the most followers” is fools gold.

Who cares if “@HowToMakeMillionsWithTwitter” is following me?

If I follow mass amounts of people and companies I will gain followers back. But guess what, I don’t care what they are tweeting and I assure you they aren’t checking out my latest post on the fine art of marketing your law firm. I care far more about the lawyers, marketers, and other like minded people that follow me. They care about my messages. They choose to interact with me. They pass along my best material to other like-minded people. I learn from them and vice-versa. They are interested in my messages and in my niche. I would rather have 15 interested, like-minded, engaged followers than 1000 Twitter spam accounts “following” me.

The point is I think people quickly are turning Twitter into a game of who can get the most followers the quickest. This is the wrong approach to take. Find people in your niche and who share your interests. Make your Twitter follower numbers a game of quality instead of quantity.

Photo by jpellgen