Taking Twitter Unfollows Too Personally
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Sep 12, 2011
Some of you know that I don’t often read blogs I won’t comment on because of their comment systems, most specifically things like Disqus. Still, every once in awhile I get intrigued by a topic, and like almost anyone else I just have to check it out to see what the hubbub is.
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It’s in this vein that I read a post by Chris Brogan titled The Great Twitter Unfollow Experiment of 2011. He talks about making the decision to stop following all the people on his list, which was around 131,000, and how people literally freaked when he first made the announcement, then did it. Some people thought he hated them; others thought he was mad at them. Many decided to tell him he they were dropping him because he was dropping them. Frankly, it was kind of pathetic.
Why he announced it to begin with is interesting. I don’t know that I’d have felt I had to announce that I was unfollowing everyone. Truth be told, if he had just done it without announcing it probably less than 2% of the people who he was following would have noticed immediately, as some people have notification systems that tell them when someone drops them, and others would have just thought Twitter was messing with them when he followed certain people back because it’s been known by some people that every once in a while there are random drops of people.
Also, did you see where I mentioned that he was following 131,000 people? Folks, I have problems following the around 970 people I’m connected with on that level, so what the heck was he supposed to be expected to do with 131,000 people? I mean, that’s pretty ridiculous when you think about it, and he probably did what I did for the first month I was on Twitter, just followed everyone, until he got smart. But by that time the dye was cast; wow, 131,000 people?
I unfollow people on Twitter all the time. I run both Twit Cleaner and Friend or Follow. One tells me who’s not following me, which is a short list at this juncture since I unfollow most people who aren’t following me because almost all of them reached out to me first. The other one tells me if people engage others and the types of tweets they send out. Y’all know me; if there’s no possibility that someone I’m connected to will ever talk to me I’m outta there.
See, I don’t take people unfollowing me personally. I expect some people to unfollow me for one reason or another. Unless someone announces it on their way out I could care less. That may sound cold and direct but I talk about so many different things, and I do have my own political bent, that I know some folks who follow me won’t stick with me if their positions are different than mine. I do the same thing after all.
I miss people more on my blogs than I ever would on Twitter. It’s why I was so frantic days ago when the comments wouldn’t work on my blog. I know people came and I also see how comments have slowed up; some folks may not have gotten the message that things had messed up here. Still, I’ll write for whomever decides to stop by and say hello, offer a comment, or watch a stupid video I might put up. And since I haven’t put up a stupid video in a long time, I’m wondering how many of you have heard of Keenan Cahill, this 16-year-old YouTube sensation with a disease called Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome who not only lip syncs to the videos of famous people, but actually gets the famous people to appear in his videos as well. Don’t believe me? Check this one out with him & 50 Cent; now that’s props!
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch Mitchell
Why I Don’t Over-Automate On Twitter
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Aug 24, 2011
“Just thought I’d mention that if you see a post from me at 2 or 3 in the morning, I actually wrote it.” – Mitch Mitchell
I tend to stay up pretty late; yeah, I’m nuts. I get my energy around 9:30 or 10PM and then I start working really well. At a certain point I finish a project and unless I’m totally exhausted it’s a great time to go back and look at Twitter to see what has gone on either during the day or for at least a few hours.
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Some people locally have commented on my late night tweets because they wake up and see a bunch of things from me. Actually, I never knew any of them paid much attention to anything I put out so that’s illuminating. However, like most people they tend to believe that everyone else is on the same time frame they’re on, and thus think that by the time I’m writing everyone else has gone to bed.
The world’s a big place, and as I’ve talked about on this blog, the majority of people that actually comment in my blogs don’t live in my area. So if I’m posting at 3 in the morning and someone’s still awake, they’re probably on the West Coast except for my friend that lives in Nebraska and works night, or they’re in Australia where it’s actually already well into their next day, or in Europe where it’s morning and they’re just getting started on their day.
One also sees a lot of other noise, if you will, when you stay up really late. There’s a ton of automation, the same messages over and over from people you know aren’t awake, messages I’ve seen many times during the day. Frankly it starts getting irritating, and one reason I actually write some of those folks early in the morning is to see if any of them respond. Of course I know that almost no one is going to respond, but I figure maybe they’ll respond in the morning when I’ve awakened.
Nope. Truth be told most people that do a lot of automation aren’t interested in what anyone else has to say for the most part. They haven’t quite learned the lesson that social media isn’t really only about “them”, but about everyone, communications, relationships, and networking.
I only do one little bit of automation. For almost every new blog post I publish I use Twitter Tools to put the notification out that I’ve written a new blog post. I do that because I tend to write a lot of posts all at once on all my blogs (remember I have 5 of my own and many that I write for others) in advance.
Often I’m actually sitting at the computer when a blog post goes out but I’m doing something else. However, I check to see if my blog posts are showing up usually within the hour if I’m not live on Twitter. Actually, every once in awhile I’m on Twitter when a post of mine shows up; that’s pretty neat.
If you see a blog post of mine in the afternoon or evening, you can be 99.8% sure that I’m posting it live. It’s either a repost of an earlier blog post or, if something’s hit me that I just have to talk about immediately, it’s brand new. Back in November I did an experiment testing 2-a-day blog posts with the second being advertisements for some of my products, and in that case those were written in advance. I haven’t done that since.
Here are my questions for you. How much automation are you doing on Twitter? How much actual engagement are you doing around the time messages are coming your way? Are you actually engaging people on Twitter at all? And how do you feel when you see messages from people that are almost all automation, since we know it when we see it?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch Mitchell
The Chase For Influence Via Klout
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jul 31, 2011
What started out as one thing kind of turned into a little research project for myself, and now I’m ready to talk about it. It’s the chase for influence, and I used Klout to measure it because I wanted to get a better handle on just how it might work and not work. Here’s the tale.
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On June 24th I put out a post called 21 Of The Top Black Social Media Influencers. I wrote that for a specific reason which I talked about on the post, so I’m not going to bring it up here.
I did some things with that post that I don’t usually do. With our friend Ileane’s help I first looked through Klout scores as my criteria for who to select. Once the post was out I made sure to try to find some, not all, of the people I’d mentioned in the post. Actually only a couple because I wanted to see if those people would find it for themselves. I went to Facebook and selected certain people and asked for their help in promoting the post. I didn’t do it on Twitter because I thought if some people didn’t see their name in the list they might not be as happy with it.
That post got a lot of response. Most of the people mentioned in the post stopped by to thank me. It got retweeted all over the place for many days. It got mentioned in a couple of radio programs; Ileane was influential in getting that done. And it even got mentioned in passing on a few other blogs.
And something strange happened. By using social media, my influence, through Klout, suddenly jumped. It actually went up 3 points in 4 or 5 days; pretty amazing since Klout only used to move once a week. So I thought I’d see what I could do to keep it going high.
I now have a smartphone and I have an app I use called Tweetcaster to keep me connected with Twitter; works great for me. Anyway, I knew that Twitter was the biggest factor in Klout rankings so I undertook a new role. I started talking to a lot of people on Twitter via their messages, and I started retweeting many links as well, almost always adding some kind of comment. I often went and left a message on the post as well, but Klout doesn’t count blogs right now.
I did that for a couple of weeks, and I found that not only did many people talk back to me at least once or twice but my Klout score jumped up a bit more. In the next two weeks it jumped 2 more points; I was on the verge of 70. When you hear that the average is around 19 (I wonder how they get that since most people in my stream seem to be coming in closer to 30) that’s pretty good.
But you know what? That can be fun but it can also be tiring. It’s definitely time consuming, and when you’re not making any money doing it and it’s pulling you away from work, you start to ease off some. That’s what I did; I still go in here and there but nothing like that two week period. And what’s happened? My Klout score has decreased two spots, and will probably fall some more.
The experiment proves one thing; Klout really loves it when you play the game. And playing the game can be tough; after all, most of us have other things to do. Since I refuse to do a lot of automation I know that to keep my score up I’d have to continue at a pace that’s unreasonable. Actually, I’ve noticed that automation hasn’t really helped Karen’s blog all that much as far as her Klout score,and she’s all over the place. This tells me that Klout can discern automation from real engagement.
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Another experiment that’s yielded some answers that I probably already knew, but just had to test. Unless you’re making money with it all, this type of influence definitely isn’t the way to go; whew! I wonder if my influence would grow if I wore funny hats…
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch Mitchell
The Fuss About Google+
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jul 21, 2011
Google+ is all the rage these days as the next big thing in social media. In their own way, they’ve tried to say they’re not a social networking site, but that’s like saying vanilla pudding isn’t pudding (okay, I might say that from time to time since I only like chocolate).
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First let’s talk about what Google+ is, because so many people have different opinions. In a way it reminds me of Facebook when I first signed on. It’s fairly clean and crisp, probably too much for me. Most people who are there now either got there via an invite or have some kind of Google account other than just Gmail. Someone tried to send me an invite when I kind of didn’t care and then she told me about it, so all I did was pull up the link to the site, which is http://plus.google.com and it let me create an account.
When you get there, you’ll find that some people have probably already added you in some fashion to what are called “circles”. There are some default circles already such as Friends, Family and Acquaintances, and you’re allowed to create other circles. The purpose is to be able to categorize people so that you can then determine who you want to follow or contact specifically if you’re not in the mood to follow everyone. You can put people in more than one circle if you want to, something I might have to think about doing.
It also handles people you don’t know differently than Facebook. You can hide or block those people, or you can create a circle to put those people in if you so choose. I created a circle I call “Unsure Folks” until I can figure out if I know them or not. I’ve yet to determine if you can de-list those folks later on if you decide you don’t want them around, but I have learned that you can remove someone from any circle by dragging their image out of the circle and popping them into the netherworld.
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Actually, saying that makes little sense until you’re actually on the site, but you can either drag people’s images to a circle and drag them back or you can hover over people’s images and this menu comes up giving you the option of putting them into a particular circle. By the way, people never know what circle you’ve put them in or whether you’ve put them in a circle to begin with.
Okay, enough of that; you can learn more from many other areas, including the little video I’ve put at the bottom. Even in the video, the guy begins by calling it “Facebook killer”. Let’s explore this and other things I’ve been hearing.
There are a lot of folks touting this thing as the social network that’s going to kill Facebook, Twitter, and possibly LinkedIn, since MySpace is pretty much dead. I’m not sure I agree, and I wish I could see what everyone else is seeing.
For instance, I still prefer Twitter because it’s so “instant”; Google+ isn’t quite there yet.
I’m not going to say I prefer Facebook but it’s a totally different animal. There are some groups on Facebook that have great interaction but many are fairly dead. People are saying group conversations on Google+ are much better but I think it depends on the group. For instance, there’s a group of Syracuse University folks who think this is the cat’s meow (I wonder where that phrase came from) but then they’re all talking amongst themselves and they already know each other so that works just fine.
For someone like me, though, well, I don’t already have a group of people that I automatically talk to. Right now the majority of people I’m connected to are you good folks that I blog with, but almost none of us have ever talked with each other directly, either on the phone or through video. This means we really don’t overly know each other personally. I’ve had a conversation or two here and there with some of you on Google+, but nothing like hundreds of ideas going on at the same time.
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Also, the site has something it calls Sparks, and I thought it might be like the Facebook groups where, if you say you happen to like something, it pops you into a group with like minded people. Instead, if you put in a topic it pulls up news stories or blog links and such, pretty much like Google would do; there’s no discussion going on about it, so what’s the point? I can just go to Google News instead.
Finally I keep hearing about the business part of it and how it can improve business relations. I’m missing that as well. On LinkedIn you can find people based on what it is they do. You can’t do that on Google+; you have to know people’s names, or someone else who might be connected to them. There’s this feature called Hangout which is their version of a chat room, and after downloading a small bit of software you can talk either through video, audio, or a combination. You can only have 10 people in a room right now. I like how smoothly it all runs; I don’t like that you can’t invite individuals. To get around that you’d have to create a new circle and add certain people to it, and then delete the circle later on once you’re done with it. However, it’s hard to complain all that much about another free service.
Will this be the death of Facebook? I don’t see it, but one never knows about people. There are no games and no groups, and I think a lot of people like those things. Will it be the death of Twitter? I don’t think so once again because I think Twitter’s value is its speed of conveying information to a ton of people all at once; it’s not going to work the same way on Google+. Will it be the death of LinkedIn? Once again I don’t see it, since LinkedIn’s value is in connecting with only business people and allowing you to search for people who are in your industry or that you might be able to do business with; Google+ offers Google search and that’s it; I don’t feel that’ll get it done.
And that’s what I have to say right now. Of course as people leap to Google at break-neck speeds right now we all might find that people are looking for something a little different than what we have now. If it allowed more of a pick and choose I might like it better than I do now. It’s early yet; let’s see what it looks like six months from now.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Mitch Mitchell
Why Some People (Like Me) Might Be Hesitant To Follow You On Twitter
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jul 10, 2011
Yes, I had to mention Twitter one more time. I could lie and say I’m mentioning it so that it’ll be the 200th time I’ve mentioned it in a post in almost 1,100 posts, though it’s actually true, but if that were the reason I was doing it then it would be a pretty shallow reason.
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Why am I talking about this again? Because the speed at which I seem to have people suddenly following me has been picking up lately. Now, I believe a lot of these people that end up following me are only doing it hoping I’ll follow them so they can drop me and think I don’t know about it. Silly rabbits; don’t they know I know about Friend or Follow, which lets me see who’s not following me that I’m following? For that matter, don’t some of the rest of them realize I also know about Twit Cleaner as well?
I like to think I’m a much better judge of the types of folks I follow on Twitter these days. I’m certainly not a snob, but I have my criteria for how I determine who I’m going to follow that suits me fairly well. Of course, everyone should have their own rules, and I’m not going to supplant those rules with my own. Still, I know that some of my rules some folks should look at and say “hey, that makes sense”, while others will say “I can’t believe he said that.”
Who me? Y’all know me better than that. Of course I’m going to say it. Hopefully, I’ll say it in a manner that doesn’t sound like I’m slapping anyone in the face, but I can’t guarantee that. After all, I’ve noticed how few people that have popups on their blogs comment here anymore; can’t be concerned with it because those folks needed to know how irritating they are to the rest of us, and many of you have said the same thing in your comments. Truth hurts sometimes, but if it’s working for you then why should you care what I have to say about it? It’s making you sales, or getting you subscribers; good for you. I just won’t be there.
Anyway, what types of people am I hesitant to follow on Twitter? Or rather, what could those folks be doing that makes me hesitant, which means most of the time I’m probably not going to follow them whether they’re following me or not? And are there reasons why I don’t follow those things across the board? Have I intrigued you a little bit?
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One final thing before I get going. Our buddy Val has named me as a recipient of an award she just came up with called the No Rules Blog Award. Some of you are on this list, so I hope you go to check it out. In particular she said she doesn’t always agree with what I have to say but I know my own mind; love that, and how much truer could it be? So, thanking Val for this award, let’s put those words to use and see how prophetic they might be today.
First thing; is that a tiny url that you have as your website or blog site in your profile? I immediately think you’re trying to trick me into going to a site to pop malware or a virus onto my computer. Let me get this straight; you have a blog or website, you want people to visit it, yet you cloak the link? Nope, ain’t happening, and if that’s the case then I’m not following you. I do that because if I follow you anyway and then you put a link out to something that might intrigue me, I’m not as sure of you and your motives, and I’d rather not even entertain the thought; sorry.
Second thing; did you mention in your profile that you’re a Christian, or Muslim, or any other religion? Do you also have a religious quote in your profile? Unless I met you elsewhere I’m probably not following you. I have nothing against people’s religions, but I do have a problem with people throwing it in my face, being an ultimate non-believer. If you feel your religion is that important then it probably means you’re going to be proselytizing, and frankly, I’m not the one you really want to deal with; trust me on that one. If it comes my way I’m going to be out to destroy your feelings; I hate being pushed that much. Therefore, I’d rather avoid the possibility as much as possible. Oh yeah, I’ve looked through many of your previous posts as well, so I’ve probably found your pattern if it’s there.
Third thing; is every other word out of your mouth a curse word? I’m not a prude; I have a couple of folks I follow who throw out some fairly bad language every once in awhile. But it’s not a consistent thing, thank goodness, because it’s unnecessary. I don’t want all that in my stream, where other people following me might see that sort of nonsense. I don’t want to start talking to you and then have a lot of that coming back my way as your response, whether we’re in agreement or not. So, if I don’t follow you, I don’t have to worry about it.
Fourth thing; that picture! At least you don’t have the egg anymore, but what the hey?!?!? If your image is freaking me out every time I see it in my stream you’ve got to go. This has more to do than dealing with pictures of bugs (I hate bugs!). I keep wondering how some people have decided to select the images that represent them. Sure, if it’s your personal account and you only want to talk to your friends then fine. But if you want to talk to the masses, or have the masses see what you have to say and really care about it, pick an adult picture. Heck, even if it’s a picture of your kids, at least it says that you might be someone worth following.
Fifth thing; I’m going in a different direction here. I didn’t want to repeat myself from some of the previous things I’ve written talking about Twitter folks that I’m hesitant to deal with or things I don’t like all that much, so instead of writing a fifth thing I’m just going to link to those posts instead. Cheap way out; heck, we’re already over 1,100 words! Here we go:
This last one I’m sharing not because it highlights any gripes I have, but because Sire loved the first video and I like keeping him happy when I can: How Do You Twitter?
Yeah, I’m done; as the velociraptor on The Critic once said: “Perhaps I’ve said too much.” Nah; said what I felt needed to be said. Still, I’m betting I could have gone further; what makes you hesitant to follow certain people on Twitter?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011-2012 Mitch Mitchell
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