Twitter is still not a popularity contest

November 3, 11:07 AMInternet Business ExaminerPhyllis Zimbler Miller

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istock

In my Examiner column “Twitter rolls out a lists function” I talked about Twitter’s new function in which we can all make our own lists. (The list I’ve made so far is @ZimblerMiller/us-troops-supporters and there is already a website for listing the lists – Listorious.com.)

After I wrote this column I was interviewed in a podcast about Twitter for Michael Surkan’s blog. Michael asked whether a person with a list with lots of followers would be a good person to follow.

My answer: Unless that list is about something that interests you, there is no reason to follow that list regardless of the number of list followers. And no reason to follow that person unless he/she tweets on an area of interest to you.

This same advice goes for following people without lists who have lots of followers. For example, someone with a large list may have used an automatic follow application that accumulated large numbers of followers who don’t really care what that person tweets about. So in this case the number of followers doesn’t necessarily mean this person’s tweets are valuable.

Or the person with large numbers of followers may be a celebrity. Or someone who is very popular in a specific subject area. But if that subject area isn’t of interest to you, why follow that person just because of his/her large number of followers?

Effective Twitter use is about quality not quantity. You want to follow people with whom you can engage or learn from or share information. You want people to follow you who are interested in engaging or learning from or sharing information with you.

If you become focused only on following people with the largest followers or the largest list followers, you may end up forfeiting using Twitter effectively for your brand or business.

Listen to my podcast with Michael Surkan about Twitter.

And if you want to learn more, check out the Miller Mosaic information package “What You Should Know About Using Twitter Effectively and Strategically”

© 2009 Miller Mosaic, LLC

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Twitter rolls out a lists function

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