Michael Harris recently posted on his blog, “Should I unsubscribe from people who don’t follow me back?”
Felix, a member on FriendFeed, recently released a handy little FriendFeed script called FriendVenn.
The script tells you 3 important things:
- People who you subscribe to, and people who do not reciprocate.
- People who subscribe to you and who reciprocate.
- People who only subscribe to you.
000000
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In the early stages of my experience in social networking, I had very little criteria for subscriptions. You subscribed to me, and I reciprocated. Looking back, that was purely a numbers game. Nowadays I have become more selective with whom I follow on the various social networking sites. I primarily follow people with the same interests as me, whether it’s social media, applications, baseball or boxers. The underlying theme is interests and content value. What value do you bring me? What value do I bring you? Value comes in different forms. It could be the content you are sharing, content you created, or comments you have made. I will not blindly follow or follow for bragging purposes on who has the most followers. I would rather have quality then quantity when it comes to my virtual friends and networks.
The chart above reiterates that fact. There are people who do not reciprocate, and I am totally fine with that. Why? Because they bring to me consistent quality content. Will they reciprocate back? Probably not, if they have not done so by now. Quality speaks for itself and should require no reciprocation. If I lived by the 2 way reciprocation law, I would unsubscribe from them, and I still would be able see their content through FOAF’S. On Friendfeed, when I subscribe to someone, I don’t need or expect instant reciprocation,or gratification. It’s a nice feeling, but not a requirement. I subscribed to Louis Gray shortly after discovering Friendfeed in February. It was 2+ months later that Louis reciprocated back. Louis did not blindly follow me back, It took time for him to recognize quality and value, and then reciprocate. The only way to get earned reciprocation is by contribution. I try to contribute quality topic related content , via blog posts, shared content, comments, likes, bookmarks and other related media as often as I can.
This leads me to the followability factor in social networking. What criteria prompts you to subscribe or follow a member?
- Affiliations
- Quality of content
- Quality of conversations
- Similar interests
- Popularity
- Recommendations
- Networking
Are you expecting reciprocation?
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12 Responses to The followability factor
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very well put. i must admit it is tempting to get pulled into a numbers game or popularity contest but this is one of the things i love most about ff and twitter – you don't have to even know i am alive for me to learn from you.
i'll add that I recognized the quality that is mike fruchter far faster than louis gray! i kid (about the louis part ;p)
Thanks Mike, quality content Is much better than quantity. This is still very new to me, but I can see where the value is already. I started to follow just anyone then figured,Why?? they added nothing.
I look at things the same way, I don't always reciprocate mostly out of a desire to tame the firehose. And since I don't, I can hardly expect the same from folks I sub to. And hey, you're doing great! Louis hasn't subscribed to me! Of course that's the great thing about it all, he doesn't need to.
I follow people if they lead me to good content or if we share some type of connection. Usually, the latter leads to the former, though. Otherwise, what's that point?
Wow! That is one Detailed script. Where's the list for people who would love being more interactive but are way too busy combing for tech news to blog about?
No, I never expect reciprocation. If people want to follow me, I see it as an honor. I don't follow people just to be followed back.
When choosing to follow people it's usually because i see something that I like, something that interests me. If we don't have anything in common, I usually won't follow unless I know them on another level.
very well put. i must admit it is tempting to get pulled into a numbers game or popularity contest but this is one of the things i love most about ff and twitter – you don’t have to even know i am alive for me to learn from you.
i’ll add that I recognized the quality that is mike fruchter far faster than louis gray! i kid (about the louis part ;p)
Thanks Mike, quality content Is much better than quantity. This is still very new to me, but I can see where the value is already. I started to follow just anyone then figured,Why?? they added nothing.
I look at things the same way, I don’t always reciprocate mostly out of a desire to tame the firehose. And since I don’t, I can hardly expect the same from folks I sub to. And hey, you’re doing great! Louis hasn’t subscribed to me! Of course that’s the great thing about it all, he doesn’t need to.
I follow people if they lead me to good content or if we share some type of connection. Usually, the latter leads to the former, though. Otherwise, what’s that point?
Wow! That is one Detailed script. Where’s the list for people who would love being more interactive but are way too busy combing for tech news to blog about?
No, I never expect reciprocation. If people want to follow me, I see it as an honor. I don’t follow people just to be followed back.
When choosing to follow people it’s usually because i see something that I like, something that interests me. If we don’t have anything in common, I usually won’t follow unless I know them on another level.