We’ve all seen those Twitter accounts – they’re following 24,506 people and have 24,302 followers. They’re in a mad rush to get as many followers as possible by following so many people every day and removing those that don’t follow them back. Having more followers isn’t necessarily a good thing, and the results of a new research project has the data to show it:
To reach this conclusion, the researchers examined the Twitter accounts of over 54 million active users, out of some 80 million accounts crawled by their servers. They then went on to measure various statistics about these accounts, including audience size, retweet influence and mention influence. The conclusion? Those with the largest number of followers may be “popular” Twitterers, but that’s not necessarily related to their influence. High follower counts don’t always mean someone is being retweeted or mentioned in any meaningful ways. – The Million Follower Fallacy: Audience Size Doesn’t Prove Influence on Twitter (ReadWriteWeb)
When you stop to think about it, this does make sense – especially if you consider those running up their follower numbers. In order to increase followers by following others, you’re probably just following just about anyone you come across (there are also lists out there of accounts that autofollow). You’re also following more than are following you, which is a key indicator that you’re gaming the system. The likelihood that you’re following the right people – potential customers or people interested in what you have to say gets smaller the more you game the system.
Instead, if you just let your followers grow organically, and follow back those that make sense, you’re allowing people to come to you. There’s probably some interest in what you have to say. Although you probably have a percentage of people that are following you just to game the system, if you’re not autofollowing them, they’ll probably leave at some point.
Twitter is about having meaningful conversations and connections with people (not numbers!). Whatever audience size makes sense for your and your business is what works so you can have these conversations (using tools can help with management). When you’re connecting with the right people, you have more influence because they’re interested in what you have to say. And they’re more likely to pass it on.
What do you think?
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