So I logged in to TweetDeck this morning just like I always do and a friend of mine had posted something new. I have just changed my setting so I can now see how many followers each poster has, and I have to admit I was surprised, and maybe a little jealous, at how many followers this guy had amassed. We have both been at this about the same amount of time, but he has five times more followers than me.
Then I stopped and thought about it, and realized that we have different reasons for using Twitter . For him, it's a promotional tool as well as a business intelligence tool, so a large reach is very important. For me, it's more for connecting with like-minded industry professionals and friends. I interact more, try to broadcast less, unless it's stuff that my community will enjoy or benefit from. I can't really do that well with 2,000 followers.
I know a large component of your Twitter score is reach, so it must matter to someone. I am not saying one or the other is better or worse, but I would be interested in your take. Do you need a lot of followers to be a successful Twitter user, or just the followers that work for you?
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I think it all depends on how you intend to use Twitter? I use Twitter primarily as business intelligence. I follow a few friends, but I primarily follow industry insiders, relevant companies, and a few top runners.
My own Tweets usually fall into one of two categories. The first is promotion - whether it's of my own website postings/contests or a friend's posting. The second category is news that is most easily disseminated via Twitter. For instance, two years ago I covered the Massanutten 100 via blog updates. It worked, but was difficult with bad cell signals and the formatting wasn't up to my standards. While covering some races earlier this year, I tried to use both Facebook and Twitter, but could only get Facebook to post to my personal page rather than my iRunFar page. Since then I've switched to posting in race updates/news almost entirely in Twitter.
I try not to post very many personal updates on Twitter and try not to push my own content very often. I also don't intend for my Twitter account to be an all encompassing source of trail running and ultramarathoning information.
While it would be nice to have followers for the promotional aspects, the second use I almost consider bonus content for insiders. I do plan on being better about directing folks to Twitter when I intend to provide live race updates in the future, but it will always be bonus content.
In the end, Twitter is more important to me as an information collection medium. Whenever folks sign up, I check out their Twitter account to see if I need to be following them. Finding a new must read Twitter account is the biggest benefit I see from new Twitter followers.
Anyway, I had no idea that Rowdy.com is what you do. I'd love to chat more with you about it sometime.
I'm secretly thrilled when I gain followers. It means people are recommending me, and they like me, they really like me!
When I try to explain Twitter to friends, I say it is more content-driven than friend-driven (Facebook). People follow me because they like the subjects I tweet on, or my supportive replies . . . or so I assume.
I think can be seen as a measure of how successful a twit you are, (because if you annoy everyone you'll soon have few followers) but, it all depends who's interested in what you talk about.
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