Are you just creating social media noise?

Whether you are facebooking, tweeting, linking up or connecting in any other way online, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the numbers of friends or followers some people have.

There are lots of people focusing on getting the highest number of followers and friends - chasing the numbers and thinking that size really does matter.

And yes, people with bigger networks do tend to have more opportunities come their way because of the six degrees of separation theory.

But the people out there who are chasing and creating a big network for the sake of having a big network, IMHO, are wasting their time.

Think about it. If you receive an invitation to friend or connect you will probably accept. They become part of your list but do you make the effort to check them out? Possibly a quick glance through their profile but that's all you have time for. 

And when the messages, invitations or tweets come through, do you take any notice?

Probably not!  They just become part of the social media noise that we filter out subconsciously.

But what about the tweets and updates from people you have proactively requested to be their friends.  Do you read them, retweet them or comment on them?

Absolutely.  These aren't noise to you.  You have consciously made a decision to seek out the information that they are sharing.

So when you are deciding on how to build up your friends, followers and connections, don't get caught up with all the hype of number chasing.  Take a step back and make a decision on what value you are going to offer and why people should reach out to you.

I got this message attached to a facebook friend request today:

"Hi I've been very inspired by your business approach and heard off my friend who's on your list that you post useful links on here, and was hoping you could add me?"

Be a magnet rather than an automatic follow-back and your voice will reach out through the social media noise.

Have you got a comment to add? Spend a second or two to leave your voice.

Comments

[Nicola Bird]

Karen - I think this is such a good point, what's the point of having a million twitter followers when you can't really connect with such a disparate audience. One thing you've taught me is to find out what they want and then give it to them - how can you do that with such a mass following. I suspect a relapse to the traditional email newsletter as a way to get your message across at some point soon! Also I follow around 450 people on twitter at the moment, but don't actually read anything by most of them - there are just too many. I suspect I'll just go back to subscribing to the newsletters of 4 or 5 and cutting back on my info overload!