On Twitter, I like reading posts a lot more than I like making them. It's hard to get conversations started on Twitter if you initiate them unless you've already got a lot of pull. This is because people are highly driven to gather their own followers. When we're on Twitter, we post hoping that someone will respond or even better, retweet. We're not really looking to engage. When you read, you're the one who is replying or engaging.
This led me to yet another thought. If you are focused primarily on attracting followers or friends on Social Media networks, and you're not really conversing with anyone, are you really engaging in Social Media? Methinks not.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy sharing my ideas. Boy do I. Anyone who has about 17 blogs going in various states of completeness clearly has too much to say! And when you post something that sparks a conversation, it's extremely rewarding. However, I encounter more people than I would have guessed who just post post post. People respond. People ask questions. People try to lure this person out of their "I post therefore I am" mentality. But it just doesn't work. What is the point of this?
I'm curious to know how you (yes YOU) approach Social Media from a business and/or a personal perspective. What do you look at first? If I have limited time, I look at the replies section to make sure I can respond to anyone that may be talking to me. Other people might check their number of followers, while others might go straight to the retweet section. Where do you go first on Facebook? Homepage to see updates or friend requests page to add followers? Why do you go where you go?
Let's talk. Your turn :)
Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/ilco
5 comments:
Dead on with this post. I find both the blogging and Twitter world to be very cliquish. But I always work best on the fringe anyway ;)
Thanks, Fadra, and thanks for stopping by! :)
Marjorie...great post. I can honestly say that most of the people on my Facebook friends list...I know. And I chat and interact with a good number (I really do try!)
Twitter on the other hand is a completely different animal. I'm not quite sure how I want to use it yet. I don't check number of followers often. It's not a huge concern right now. I do respond to tweets of interest and am often surprised by the thank you's and short tweets of appreciation by some.
Again, still feeling my way around Twitter. I think right now I'm gleaning information and post things that I think (hope) would be of interest to others.
I'll continue with this process and see where it leads.
I have encountered some great people *coughMarjorie* and am thankful for good Twitter connections.
heehe, you're so funny & sweet :)
On Twitter, I always talk to the people who talking with me first. Then, I run searches on various phrases and keywords I want to see what people are talking about and try to jump in their conversations. This helps me connect with my fans and followers, as well as lets me find possible new ones and interesting posts.
I give up on Facebook. I check it here and there, but I'm not nearly as interested as I used to be.
Otherwise, I like to see what my friends are posting on Youtube. Much more interesting to me.
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