Social Media and Me
I live by some exceedingly simple rules on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Here’s a selection of them…
I follow a highly specialised, highly vetted band of people, most of them within the marketing, branding, advertising, media and communications industries. In fact, if you check out the people I’m following, you’ll see that they’re seven different kinds of awesome. I have a limited attention span and highly limited (read valuable) time, so only the people who I think are worth following get followed.
The people who won’t get followed are:
Chatters – I don’t want to know what you had for breakfast nor do I care about the latest ‘celebrity’ scandal (they’re only celebrities because people keep talking about them)
Those without a bio – it’s only 160 characters, so it’s not that hard. Even a bad one is better than no bio at all
Broadcasters – if all you want to do is sell your book, hawk your after dinner speaking availability, tell the world how wonderful you are or shout about your intellect, you don’t stand a chance. If, in a moment of weakness, I followed you and you start broadcasting, you’ll get unfollowed faster than a greased weasel down an ice slide in winter. If you aren’t interested in interaction and just want to make your voice heard, you fall into this category
Non-awesome people – yes, I know, I know. Awesomeness is subjective. But if I don’t think you and your content is awesome, I won’t follow you. Period. You might be the best, most awesome, crocheter in the world. I don’t care, at least not on Twitter (sorry).
In other words, I don’t autofollow, I don’t follow indiscriminately and even if you’re in the marcomm industry running one of the biggest agencies in the world, you’re not guaranteed to get a follow from me. And I’m not afraid of the Unfollow button either.
Those people who get where I’m coming from will get it. Those who don’t will think that I’m a pompous ass. I can live with that.
I have to admit that I don’t use LinkedIn as much as I would like. In fact, I’ve just dumped most of the groups I belonged to because they became full of self-promoters, chatters or RSS feeds from blogs/news sites.
But I do have a small network of people that I’m connected to. And again, some simple rules govern who gets the nod.
If I’ve worked with you and got on with you, you can be pretty sure that I’ll either accept your connection request or will make one in your direction.
If I’ve had decent discussions with you on Twitter, in a Group, via Facebook or (goodness me) in the real world, then I’m more inclined to make/accept the connection requests.
If you come recommended by a trusted connection, that’s a good sign.
It’s a small, focussed group at the moment. Just the way I like it.
Facebook
Have we been out for a beer? Have we had detailed interaction on Twitter, via blogs, through LinkedIn, email? Have we worked together and got on brilliantly? Are you awesome in the extreme?
More than a 50% no rate here means that there isn’t a rat’s chance that we’ll be friends. Sorry. That’s just how it is.
