Have you ever wondered how many followers you really need to be successful on Twitter? Is it 1000, or do you need at least 10,000 followers to have success with Twitter. I am warning you that my views are different from most. So be ready for some controversial information.
There seems to be a rat race going on to get more and more followers. And I’ll admit that it sounds great to be able to say that you have tens of thousands of followers. That makes your real popular, right? Like giving a party and everybody wants to be there. That is what it feels like. But is this really what Twitter is about?
If you go to EzineArticles and you search for the term ‘Twitter follower’, you get all kinds of titles such as “Increase your target Twitter following”, “3 Great ways to get more Twitter followers” and “Get Twitter followers fast”. I did not find one article with a title like the one for my blog posts. It looks like I am swimming against the (Twitter) stream (no pun intended).
Let’s take a look at why I am of the opinion that followers are not necessary for success with Twitter. Last week I talked to you about the fact that Twitter is a real time search engine. If that is a true assumption, why would we even need followers? Are you a follower of Google? How many followers does Google have? Exactly, none. Does it need followers. Well, if you look at the stats, I would say, no not really. They are doing just fine without.
Is it right to compare Twitter to Google? If the biggest difference is the fact that one is real time and the other is not, I believe that the comparison is justified. And the answer becomes real simple. There is no need for followers to be successful on Twitter.
Let’s talk about my assumption that Twitter is a special type of search engine. How many people will find your tweets through search and how many will find your tweets by following the Twitter stream. Now, answer the same question again for someone who has 10 times more followers. I hope you agree that it becomes harder and harder to find anything in the Twitter stream.
If you are looking for info on Twitter, aren’t you using an application? Like 80% of Twitter users. They use Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Seesmic or any of the other apps that are available these days. And for good reason. These applications sort through the enormous amount of Tweets and present you with those tweets that you deem of importance.
Does that mean that I am against having followers. No, I won’t go that far. Having a bunch of followers that is interested in the same topics you are is a wonderful thing. Your Twitter stream is highly relevant to you and your followers and that is how it should be.
But, at the same token, I do believe that followers who have different interests from yours don’t make any sense. What benefit is there in having a random person send you random tweets that you could not care less about. Just to fill up the party? Maybe that is why I prefer a small party with good friends over a massive event with people I do not know and do not relate to.
Furthermore, you can keep a relationship going with a small number of people. If that number grows, there comes a time where that becomes impossible. Are those people going to start a conversation with you, just because you are in their Twitter stream? Are they going to cause your tweet to go viral? Or is it only if they know you (from Twitter, or anywhere else, that they pay attention to your tweets). If so, we have narrowed it back down to a few followers, rather than thousands of them.
To make a long story short, what I am saying is that the majority of people on Twitter will find your message (if they find it) regardless whether they follow you or not. I do realize that they need to follow you to start a conversation with you, and that is the best reason I can come up with why someone should be following you…
What is your opinion? Do you agree with me that having followers on Twitter is not important, or do you side with the majority of online people that you should strive to get as many followers as you possibly can, preferably in as short a time frame as possible. I gave you my point of view, now it is time to share yours in a comment.
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