The Twitter tsunami continues to swell, with site visits growing from less than half a million in February 2008 to more than 7 million a year later. Whether Twitter is here to stay or this era’s Hula Hoop isn’t a question I (or anyone else) can answer, although after watching the Google Wave demo I’m leaning toward the latter.
I’ve only been using Twitter a short time. I use it primarily to share what I’ve found on the web that I think helps fulfill my mission here: to help nonprofits, small businesses and others figure out how to communicate more effectively. For me, Twitter’s not the numbers game so many others seem to think it is. I’m not interested in the race to accumulate as many followers as is superhumanly possible, using all the gimmicks and gadgets people much brighter than me keep developing. (If you’re into all that, here’s a pretty good list of all the Twitterphernalia available).
My Twitter philosophy tends to be pretty simple (or simpleminded, I guess, depending on your perspective). I follow people who post things that educate, entertain or intrigue me. I want to be followed by people who believe I offer the same. That probably means I won’t be challenging Oprah or Ashton anytime soon (neither of whom I follow, by the way). If all the MLM folk and Internet marketeers and get-rich-tweeting crowd stopped following me tomorrow, I think I could live with it. If I had 500 or 1,000 people following who wanted to include me in their conversations about communication, marketing, social media, the future of journalism, etc.—and who felt that I contributed something of value to that conversation—then I would be one happy camper.
In the meantime, although I follow him and find value in what he has to share, I don’t expect Gary Vaynerchuk to start following me anytime soon. But that’s OK. As long as I continue to derive value from following him, I’ll do it. Just as I’ll continue to follow others from whom I can learn something. But if what you have to teach me is how to make money while I sleep or add 10,000 Twitter followers who don’t give a rat’s ass what I have to say and vice versa, please peddle it somewhere else. Unless you’re interested in what I’m blogging about. Then follow away. Just don’t expect me to follow back.
P.S. Gary, congrats on the birth of your new daughter. Now let’s see how much crushing you get done.
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