Seth Godin wrote an interesting blog on ‘clout’.
He suggests that there is this untapped measurement in those who are blogging, who have the most Twitter followers, how many friends you have on Facebook, and that measurement could amount to ‘clout’. “Which of your readers is the one capable of making an idea break through the noise and spread? Bloggers don’t have impact because they have a lot of readers, they have a lot of impact because of who their readers are…”
Knowing who has the most clout, you could focus your attention on those individuals versus the masses. This sounds all too like a ‘cast’ system for the world wide web. Where only the few attain elite status as a blogger, Twitter and the rest are deemed mere plebs; their musings merely creating noise throughout the bloggesphere.
However, I think it is already happening, even without the ‘Google-style’ data metrics. We all know what blogs are pertinent, where we want our brand to appear, who to follow and try leverage their following. Seth’s Blog being one of them, Beth Kanter…of course, Huffington Post, BlogHer.
I get people adding me on Twitter and sometimes I think, ‘Geez, what on earth do we have in common?’ Why would I follow that person? I then immediately look at how many people are following them and I have to admit, I ‘judge’ that person based on their following, is it relevant to follow them back.
Seth brings up the question, quantity over quality? And if you have quantity, how can you possible develop any relationships with those who are following you, or vice versa…how do you create a relationship with someone who has THAT many followers?
Online friend count, or followers…are just that ‘online’, and I still believe (despite the rumors I may be wrong), that in order to be successful; be it personally, professionally…as a nonprofit or as a corp, you need to expand those online relationships to offline. That it isn’t enough to have 10,000 followers on Twitter…but it is enough to have 500 and develop those relationships offline into viable, quality relationships.
If we start using metrics as Seth suggests, this would allow us to vet the ‘important’ people…the people who have the most power online to spread the message, to promote your brand, to achieve the most donations.
It scares me because we are already doing this…and it really looks like an online cast system. And to quote Marianne, from Marianne’s Motifs “some of the “cloutyest” people on the net are just polar bears pooing in the water.”
Don’t ask…she said it!
