Well, it may be different for Ashton Kutcher ( best-known for playing Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That ’70s Show.) and CNN, who spent the early part of last year battling it out to become the first to get to a million followers: It was fun correct simply a contest?
However, I seriously thought popularity contests died out with the Miss World Beauty Pageant.… But it seems that that is still going strong too.
Do we really need a million sheep following us, or do we need a few good friends?
Is Social Media just a big Ego Boost, or does it have merit?
http://twitter.com/mitchjoel/statuses/13622250676
Eventually, Ashton beat CNN. The point Ashton was trying to get across was that he was amazed that one person could have more influence on a nation than an entire Media conglomerate. Sure, he may have a slightly larger household name than me… but did this battle not say, ‘Hey, with Social Media, you are on the same playing field as the big guys!’ That is why social media is such a powerful tool.
A year and a bit later, Ashton Kutcher has 4,878,141 following him (population of Norway). So is he still batting for the little guy, or does this make him a Twitter god, a Guru to Twitter land? If you had a business that needed to market via social media, would you contact him for a consultation? Is Ashton Kutcher just another Twitter celebrity? Or part of the growing snake oil slick being left by self-described social media experts that more than tripled their presence between May and December 2009
So do we need to find ourselves approaching a million followers on Twitter or a couple of thousand friends on Facebook before we can have a say in this social world? If so, you can subscribe to schemes that will increase the number of Twitter Followers or Facebook (fans./friends/likers).
But why do it? What is the purpose?
The perfect test for this question: #thedaytwitterexploded.
Millions of people had their egos crushed when they flew into a panic as they logged onto their Twitter account only to find they had 0 followers and 0 following. Yes, even people like Ashton, Obama, and Justin Bieber are all sitting at Zero.
I want to credit DJ Bri Cook, who wrote a great blog post yesterday.
“I was like the first day of High School -Nobody likes me. Suddenly, flashbacks of when they first joined Twitter came rolling in, and they thought they would have to relive the pain of gaining followers to feel important again. They struggled with emphasising their number of followers, it’s just a number, but for some reason, it means so much.”
But when they realised celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears, and Justin Bieber were also at their level with 0 followers and 0 following, it seemed that everyone very quickly became ok with the idea of an equilibrium that perhaps these numbers did not matter. Maybe the idea of just conversation and friendship was the most important thing.
We often say it’s not about quantity. It’s about quality, and when it comes to Social media, it that not the perfect analogy.
In Kelowna, here we are lucky with the way that Twitter has developed; you will find most are business people that have formed a growing network of interactivity that is mutually beneficial. Groups such as 2nd Thursday for the Design and Marketing Community or Twitter business day have been created around these social networks to help and aid the local community. Not millions of people, but a growing few make signing up for a Twitter or Facebook account a worthwhile exercise.
If you want to look at official numbers: It gives you a much better perspective and hopefully something better to focus on than just increasing your numbers for the hell of it. (supplied to me via @catester)
97% of Twitter users have less than 100 followers; 81% follow less than 100
Please don’t make it a popularity contest. Remember #thedaytwitterexploded.
If you are a business and you are trying to utilise Social for marketing, concentrate on your demographic and area of expertise. Not on someone telling you that 5000 more people you don’t know will make a difference.
If you are using social for being social, then have fun and know it’s unnecessary to Re-tweet out every top ten list if you have no interest in the content.