Network for Quality, Not Quantity
Would you trade your car in for a 16-wheeler? Probably not. Part of the reason is that you have no idea how to drive one. See, bigger isn’t always better. Then why oh why does everyone feel the need to grow their online network to steroidal proportions?
It’s not the size of your personal network, it’s how you use it.
Let’s take the ever-growing micro-blog platform Twitter. If the goal of the Web site is to ‘follow’ someone (which sounds kinda stalkerish, loserish to begin with), how on earth do you expect to keep tabs on thousands of people? Even hundreds is not realistic. But our new society forces us to pad our social lives. God forbid you have 7 friends, 11 connections or 16 people’s #s programmed into your phone.
What if someone from yesteryear Googles you and discovers you know a mere 8 people?!
The lesson has always been to choose quality over quantity, but that rule is tossed out the window when it comes to Web communications.
Is it possible to get back to a simpler, more realistic time? A start would be taking a step back to look at who your online connections are. Delete them if…
– You can’t identify who they are – Don’t know their real name, only a handle – You have no clue WHY you are connected – You have not communicated within one calendar yearI realize this will never happen; your Web ego won’t allow it. But that won’t stop Jack of All Blogs from speaking the truth. We just filtered our network and are now a company of one.
I know exactly what you mean. I think. sigh When I first discovered Twitter (late, I’m sure) I signed up thinking it was interesting. But I guess I don’t get it because when someone starts to “follow” me, and I can’t get any real info, I get creeped out and block them. So while I have a twitter account still active, I never look at it and no long have updates coming to my phone. I’m just not cool like that, I guess.
Smart Mouth Broad said this on November 14, 2008 12:57 pm