tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post2945232010152237799..comments2024-03-06T03:58:39.540-06:00Comments on The Viral Garden: How 'social' should companies be?Mack Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02723628321171539590noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-34252103962769865902011-08-05T00:11:24.455-05:002011-08-05T00:11:24.455-05:00I have a twitter account and a lot of people try t...I have a twitter account and a lot of people try to follow me then unfollow me after I follow them. It's just wrong to have that kind of strategy in snaring followers on any social media. After that, I privatized my account and decline followers if they sound like a scheming idiot who wants a quick follow up.Carla Yocumhttp://cheapengagementrings.commongate.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-79944037112634362912011-01-28T00:10:41.299-06:002011-01-28T00:10:41.299-06:00oh I do agree to what you have written here. I hav...oh I do agree to what you have written here. I have noticed them too with the same social media. But i Think, as or me, it is important to get connected to media but to those who are relevant and with the same mindset as you, i think. social media could also be used as partner in the business but we have to be wise in utilizing them.ariz@chemistryhttp://www.mychemistrytutor.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-35222829986741092712010-09-28T08:21:00.226-05:002010-09-28T08:21:00.226-05:00Smaller companies are beginning to realise the inc...Smaller companies are beginning to realise the increasing importance of social media and internet marketing like never before, we in document scanning are really concentrating on this at the moment and will use the advice on here gladly.Document Scanning Servicehttp://www.microstat.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-34990979179243226222010-08-10T00:46:24.836-05:002010-08-10T00:46:24.836-05:00It’s a really good article for me, Must admit that...It’s a really good article for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article and share with me.Resume Writing Servicehttp://www.resume-service.biznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-71447591207144648352010-07-14T16:43:08.857-05:002010-07-14T16:43:08.857-05:00Hi Mack
I'm with Jim Fenton on this. Why do yo...Hi Mack<br />I'm with Jim Fenton on this. Why do you need reciprocity? I have loads of people following me whom I don't follow - and I follow people that don't follow me. Choosing who I follow isn't about whether someone follows me or not, it's about whether I find what they tweet interesting or useful. And that's absolutely how it should be in my opinion. Really enjoy your posts by the way...<br />Cheers<br />JeremyJeremy Headhttp://www.travelblather.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-23125421992502840112010-06-17T15:13:40.255-05:002010-06-17T15:13:40.255-05:00If you don't like how they are choosing to use...If you don't like how they are choosing to use their own account then don't follow them. How did you end up following them in the first place in a manner that left you unaware you were following them? Unless you're using some sort of automated tool then you would have known this about them off the bad. Lisa Barone wrote a great post about this exact issue not that long ago here http://outspokenmedia.com/social-media/twitter-snob/ There is absolutely no reason whatsoever, regardless of your employer or occupation, that any one should be expected to follow everyone back. Twitter is an opt in service. If you choose to follow me great. If I choose to follow you great. If we just so happen to follow each other mutually, awesome.Kristy Bolsingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16937450881874239737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-43002755170608157172010-05-18T06:30:59.262-05:002010-05-18T06:30:59.262-05:00This topic is very interesting,
Thanks for the sha...This topic is very interesting,<br />Thanks for the sharingProduct Photoshttp://www.packshot-creator.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-4616554967145450122010-05-11T12:10:31.265-05:002010-05-11T12:10:31.265-05:00Great topic of discussion and comments. Enjoyed re...Great topic of discussion and comments. Enjoyed reading this post.Levinson-Axelrodhttp://www.levinson-axelrod.com/2010/03/10/elderly-patient-beaten-to-death-at-behavioral-health-facility/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-19483572460268062482010-05-11T03:41:27.197-05:002010-05-11T03:41:27.197-05:00Perhaps the mashable model will mitigate to more u...Perhaps the mashable model will mitigate to more user defined sites(still embracing the global platform)I know this sounds counter intuitive but think of a 'friendly" data collecting site that had geo,interest options.Dr Yohohttp://www.cosmetic-surgery-losangeles.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-82154436685544181422010-05-07T11:02:24.058-05:002010-05-07T11:02:24.058-05:00Ike to me (and this point got a bit sidetracked, a...Ike to me (and this point got a bit sidetracked, admittedly the way I framed the post had something to do with this), the follower ratio/non-following wasn't the problem, it's a symptom of a potential problem.<br /><br />IF you have that PLUS low engagement on Twitter PLUS the writers never share non-Mashable content, or never comment on blogs (even their own), then you begin to see a pattern and potentially get a glimpse of how they use social media.<br /><br />Now as for your idea for following, I can see the writers being worried about following everyone and getting slammed with DM pitches. I get that. So I don't understand why Cashmore doesn't follow EVERYONE back from the Mashable account. <br /><br />This would do two things:<br /><br />1 - Boost the Mashable follower count even more. I think Mashable is Top 10 on Twitter now, following more people would mean more follows, so that could tick them up a few notches on the leaderboard.<br /><br />2 - If @mashable followed everyone, all/most of the DM pitches would come to that account. Then Pete could have someone scan the DMs looking for pitches. Win/win, it seems. The writers could also add this to their bio to address pitches to @mashable.Mack Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723628321171539590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-23020075370078125082010-05-07T09:23:58.611-05:002010-05-07T09:23:58.611-05:00Okay people, I've given this some thought, and...Okay people, I've given this some thought, and I now think the whole argument is bogus.<br /><br />If *I* were Mashable, and *I* had a team of a dozen writers, I would *not* want them all following everyone back.<br /><br />I would *not* want to have 12 people following Mack Collier.<br /><br />I would want one or two of them, just to make sure you don't miss anything.<br /><br />It's called a beat system. If you write for Mashable and you are tasked with covering corporate communication trends, then you follow the people who Tweet about corporate communications.<br /><br />If you are the Mashable writer responsible for following mobile phones, then follow the people who are in that field.<br /><br />Being NICE is DEATH, because it buries the stuff you need for your job underneath all the vanity stuff, just to be nice.<br /><br />Being nice doesn't always serve the business purpose.<br /><br />Could they use lists? Could they follow RSS feeds? You bet.<br /><br />But if they want to be selective about who Direct Messages them with product pitches and the like, then who can blame them?Ikehttp://occamsrazr.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-90208472029475434852010-05-07T03:13:57.735-05:002010-05-07T03:13:57.735-05:00I think its ironic and I think the old mantra prac...I think its ironic and I think the old mantra practice what you preach may be relevantMike Bhttp://www.crearecommunications.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-18813164800958840182010-05-07T02:43:04.092-05:002010-05-07T02:43:04.092-05:00This is a very interesting conversation and I thin...This is a very interesting conversation and I think something that almost every Twitter user asks themselves at one point or another. <br /><br />I frequently defend Lance Armstrong on this topic because people claim that he should follow more people than he actually does, and I say hogwash. <br /><br />I think how many people you follow and who you choose to follow all goes back to how you're choosing to use the tools. I try to read most of what the people I follow tweet. One of my goals over the next couple of weeks is to pare back the list of folks to make that more manageable. I've tried to use lists and read more on lists than my actual tweets, but I haven't been successful at that. <br /><br />Most people are going to follow those that provide them value. How they measure that value has probably a million different answers.Sue Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09992864428653646752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-37160133779324226682010-05-06T14:31:51.064-05:002010-05-06T14:31:51.064-05:00Why should ratio matter at all? Asymmetry is one o...Why should ratio matter at all? Asymmetry is one of Twitter's best features, making it possible to model people's attention scarcity.<br /><br />When I see anyone following thousands of people, I suspect they're doing so mainly out of reciprocity--because they obviously can't be paying attention to most of the folks they follow.<br /><br />I feel strongly enough about this that I proposed (and Jason Adams implemented) an influence measure that would reflect attention scarcity: <a href="http://tunkrank.com/" rel="nofollow">TunkRank</a>. Details about the measure here: "<a href="http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/01/13/a-twitter-analog-to-pagerank/" rel="nofollow">Twitter Analog to PageRank</a>".Daniel Tunkelanghttp://thenoisychannel.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-55223212849596557072010-05-06T14:20:54.011-05:002010-05-06T14:20:54.011-05:00Mack, I'm glad you wrote this as I have recent...Mack, I'm glad you wrote this as I have recently struggled with the question. I follow many who do not follow me back and a recent analysis led to some of the same discoveries you had. There were some "cool kids" I unfollowed but others I did not because I still really like their content. I try to follow most back but it does get tricky to keep up when the numbers are high so I kind of understand why some orgs keep their follow-backs manageable. Yet, on another level it does bother me when social media specialists follow only a small percent or are far too busy to ever answer an @ reply when someone is truly trying to engage them.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12971459039767092235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-38708723208994262402010-05-06T12:30:53.021-05:002010-05-06T12:30:53.021-05:00"Tamar this is where I disagree with you on t..."Tamar this is where I disagree with you on the 'higher standard' issue. I think if you are going to brand yourself as being 'The Social Media Guide'..."<br /><br />Mack, I've said all I really need to say, but again, I'm going to offer the same disclaimer that these are my personal opinions.<br /><br />Mashable.com as a publication is providing social media news. That's why it's called The Social Media Guide.<br /><br />I don't see any writer on Mashable not practicing what they preach. I have never seen Mashable advocate a 1:1 ratio of followers-friends. If that's the case, I understand your argument.Tamar Weinberghttp://www.techipedia.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-78016609536504823672010-05-06T12:24:45.210-05:002010-05-06T12:24:45.210-05:00It's much simpler than that for me. If I run ...It's much simpler than that for me. If I run across someone (or some company) whose tweets are interesting to me, I follow them. Otherwise I don't. When I get a 'follow' notification, I try to have a look at their tweet stream. If it looks like it will be interesting or fun to read, I follow them back.<br /><br />I am a bit put off by people or organizations that make a big deal about their follower count. I'm less likely to follow accounts of that sort unless they're really interesting.<br /><br />I don't have that many followers, but occasionally I'll run into someone who says they enjoy reading my tweets. For me, that is the highest praise.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05459244944209591455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-51200858257698083972010-05-06T11:49:51.253-05:002010-05-06T11:49:51.253-05:00Sara thanks for mentioning that. We all agree tha...Sara thanks for mentioning that. We all agree that no one at Mashable HAS to interact/engage with their readers on Twitter. But I think the real question is; Why wouldn't they WANT to?<br /><br />I mean the more they engaged with readers on Twitter, the easier it would make their job. Readers would be more likely to send them feedback on stories, or tips about breaking stories. The additional interaction would only help them do their jobs more efficiently.Mack Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723628321171539590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-65708440711781472502010-05-06T11:45:44.534-05:002010-05-06T11:45:44.534-05:00I wouldn't expect every Mashable employee to e...I wouldn't expect every Mashable employee to engage actively on twitter, but it would be a good gesture if they had one or more people designated to interact with their readers.sara_mchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03560129887602226592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-30720277302762708652010-05-06T11:19:05.439-05:002010-05-06T11:19:05.439-05:00Hey guys, great comments and I wanted to clarify a...Hey guys, great comments and I wanted to clarify a couple of things before I addressed specific points made.<br /><br />Ike, the 'smoking gun' was what caught my attention. It wasn't that one person wasn't following me, it was that NONE of the seven were. <br /><br />And as Tamar points out, simply not following a lot of people doesn't mean you aren't 'social' in Twitter. So I checked with TweetStats to see what percentage of the tweets for the writers were replies. While this isn't perfect either, it is a fairly good indicator of the importance that these people place on using Twitter as an engagement tool.<br /><br />Of these seven people, the average percentage of their tweets that are replies is 36%. That's low, and a pretty good indicator that they are using Twitter primarily as a broadcasting medium, not as an engagement platform. <br /><br />This leads to a couple of question, IMO:<br /><br />1 - Should companies in general have to be 'social' via social media? (I tend to say no)<br /><br />2 - If you say 'no' to the first question, does your opinion change if you are dealing with a company whose existance is tied to social media in some way? In this case, I think it's more important to be mindful of how you and your employees use social media, and this is the umbrella that Mashable falls under, IMO.<br /><br />Does that mean they SHOULD be social? Or should use social media in a way that I or anyone else think is 'right'? Of course not. But as I said in the original post, the way Mashable uses social media, since they are branding themselves as 'The Social Media Guide', does make a difference to me.<br /><br />Case in point, let's say one of these writers writes the post for Mashable entited 'The Mashable Guide to Networking Via Twitter'. Let's also assume that a couple of the steps they suggest you take are 'Follow back the people that follow you', and 'Engage often with those followers'. <br /><br />At this point, they are begging for someone to point out that the writer in question only follows back 10% of the people that follow them, and that only 25% of their tweets are replies. <br /><br />Tamar this is where I disagree with you on the 'higher standard' issue. I think if you are going to brand yourself as being 'The Social Media Guide', then you are implying with that, a certain level of social media expertise. And with that, comes a greater scrutiny in how you use social media. I run into the same issue, if I am writing a post about how companies can use Twitter to connect with customers, then I am opening myself up to criticism if I am not using Twitter to connect with my potential customers in the ways that I advocate that companies should.<br /><br />At the end of the day, none of these people owe me ANYTHING. Let me make that perfectly clear. But I'm sorry, when I look at the fact that this group is only following 10-33% of the people that follow them, and that only 36% of their tweets are replies, what I hear is 'We don't want to engage with you'. <br /><br />As I told Tamar, I see that as a disconnect, and disconnects bother me.Mack Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02723628321171539590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-42021265765622893512010-05-06T10:34:31.090-05:002010-05-06T10:34:31.090-05:00I think it's purely ego when people have dispr...I think it's purely ego when people have disproportionate Twitter ratios. It's really easy to ID spam when Twitter sends you the notification that someone knew is following you. Filtering who you follow is just as easy. <br /><br />I personally believe that Mashable should be held to a higher standard. I follow one regular writer and have been meaning to unfollow him for weeks now. He brings no real value to my stream. His most valuable tweets? Mashable articles, which I don't need a tweet to tell me to read.Jesse Boumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03475615017390227362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-27469423386718586072010-05-06T08:38:08.398-05:002010-05-06T08:38:08.398-05:00Priya, glad to hear.
I just want to mention somet...Priya, glad to hear.<br /><br />I just want to mention something that I said to Mack in DM last night. <br /><br />A higher standard just because you blog on social media (or for anyone) is kind of ridiculous. Mashable isn't a superpower; every one of us is human. Information overload affects every one of us.<br /><br />And the only other thing I'd say is that I don't think someone is "less" social by following people selectively. What if, on the other hand, someone decided to follow 50,000 people but did not engage at all? Are they more social simply because of the perception that they're following more? Obviously not.<br /><br />Yeah. I could ramble on and on about this. I am troubled by the logic and the nods in agreement.Tamar Weinberghttp://www.techipedia.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-22843342837113546292010-05-06T07:53:28.612-05:002010-05-06T07:53:28.612-05:00Companies should be following back every human, no...Companies should be following back every human, non spammer that follows them. The concept of being a Twitter *rock star* with millions of people following you while you only follow 10 people does NOT extend to corporations. Essentially you're continuing the tradition of non-engagement with your customers. They can buy your product, recommend it to their friends, but their lives are inconsequential. That is the feeling they send. <br /><br><br />Now, on the topic of employees not following people back- you're absolutely right. They're ivory tower twitterati who are in Social Media 1.5 believing they can only follow 100 people. It's their personal call, but I never like seeing it. Chris Brogan is famous for replying to everyone, and recognizing that "I see you too."Casey Cheshirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07965631148092325657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-20606721456726724092010-05-06T04:47:25.347-05:002010-05-06T04:47:25.347-05:00Hi Tamar,
Thank you for the clarification on that ...Hi Tamar,<br />Thank you for the clarification on that subject. I tend to agree with most of what you say - theoretically what you say about social media is true. Many a times I have had to un-follow people, not because they were uninteresting but because their tweets were clogging my space. It is about engagement - our engagement- some of the people I follow are not aware of my existance. I follow them because they add value and those who clog my space - I have another twitter account where I follow them.Priyahttp://www.corbelsoft.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24784219.post-39640384612353724842010-05-06T00:23:43.476-05:002010-05-06T00:23:43.476-05:00It certainly is less social to only follow a few p...It certainly is less social to only follow a few people back. However, that doesn't make it wrong or an invalid use of Twitter… it just makes it less social. The dynamic of watching and interacting with lists of people that you don't follow extends this slightly but still presents a different, less social, dynamic to the community. <br /><br />I actually blogged about this on Tuesday and charted some of this out in detail based on a similar analysis that Mack has done here. (http://bit.ly/apAbkW) What this divergence between followers and following does is make it difficult for the average user to engage in a meaningful way with the community they see in their timeline. It makes it less useful as a social network. Contrast this to something like the average user of Facebook. Friends and followers are the same thing there. When you push out an update it goes to the people you would expect, the people in your timeline view. Not so in Twitter, typically.<br /><br />This is by no means an attack on those who don't follow back. Twitter just isn't that great at being a "social" network. It's much better at being a feed network and a real-time information tool. It does a great job of that in some important ways. Follow the feeds you are interested in and perhaps create a feed of your own by posting updates. Experienced users may be able to tweak this into a social model, but that's not really how it's designed.Jeff Vilimekhttp://jeffvilimek.comnoreply@blogger.com