SMCQ6 It’s All About Relationship

April 23, 2009 by Deborah Crooks 

Despite Ashton, despite Oprah, and despite the countless other Twitter & social site users vying to increase their followers or otherwise inflate their friend numbers, the quality of that connection is the reason for many peoples participation in social media. At least going by views expressed by our SMCQ6 respondents. While TechCrunch pondered whether Twitter should simply remove its counts, SMC readers answered our Question of the Week #6: Is social media a popularity contest or is social media about genuine relationships? on the genuine side of the equation with a resounding wave of relationship-driven answers The common opinion? Past a certain number of followers, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to maintain a real connection — the platform shifts to broadcast mode rather than conversation.

Highlights from the discussion:

“I think the game-changing reality of social media is that genuine and authentic will be the victorious tortoise over the hare of popularity. Doing the right thing by your customers (and making it right when you don’t–even more important since nobody’s perfect) is no longer a “nice-to-have” for success–it is a defining prerequisite.” — Jay Cosnett

“Making relationships still involves an investment of time, effort, knowledge-sharing, reaching out, etc.” —Erika  Kerekes

@gloriabell: SM is about relationships & conversations – celebrity is fleeting – Relationships influence & last

debmarkham: U want to be popular to make $. You want to forge relationships to find like minds, emotional support & make $ too

iMWConnect: #SMCQ6 intent is the real driver. SocMedia w/ right intentions leads 2 genuine rels = good fruit. Popularity is fleeting = rotting fruit.
Will these sentiments affect the many contests to a million followers (or five million as Jeff Pulver blogged this week regarding the next number for which to vie) that are defining a new form of competition?
Those who mulled the other side of the equation are already thinking about it:

“I think that most of us in Social Media actually reach a point of negative returns. The more “valuable” our message, the more followers we get, in theory. Yet, the more followers we get, the less likely that we can maintain relationships with our audience. It’s inevitable that we end up going to a broadcast model.’ — Shain Mate

apups25: @socialmediaclub it’s about FAST information about anything you want, including people

Filed Under Feature, Industry Standards, Lessons Shared, Weekly Question Archive
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Comments

3 Responses to “SMCQ6 It’s All About Relationship”

  1. Who’s the most popular kid in school. « Use Your Noodle on April 26th, 2009 11:02 am

    [...] the most popular kid in school. Social Media Club got me thinking about friends and followers.   There is definitely a trend by users of Facebook [...]

  2. Gimme Five! Twitter Fundraising Efforts « Nancy Cole on April 26th, 2009 4:50 pm

    [...] think about what it is that you care about, and take action in many different forms, accordingly. Relationship building with prospects and donors will continue to prove the most lasting and financially valuable strategy [...]

  3. Vishnu on April 26th, 2009 6:58 pm

    Late last day i saw whther the celebrities are helping twitter to grow or loose..

    I think that was in web pro news.. not sure..