In a parallel universe Twitter still exists, but no one knows how many people follow them, nor how many people they follow. What does the twitter stream look like?
People search the stream for people talking about subjects that interest them. If they find someone who is regularly talking about what they want to read about, they follow them. Tech geeks find other tech geeks, artists find artists, new mothers find other new mothers. People coalesce into niche groups.
Of course people don’t just stick to one subject of interest. You may be a young mother who is into American muscle cars, or a tech geek who knits, and you still follow your friends and family. Venn diagrams of following are interlinked in a large bubble matrix, intersecting and enveloping.
Note the lack of spammy/scammy/scummy products on how to grow followers. The products around here are all about how to produce better quality tweets that will catch the eye and hold the attention. 140 character copywriting courses. In this world people value the information and the source, rather than any numerical penis enlarger.
it's easy if you try
October 8th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
What an amazing post. Really just think if there were no followers??There would be no meaning to express ideas or anything. Because what i think is that you really learn and get ideas from following others.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Thanks for the comment Jon-jon
Well what i meant was the concept of followers as a number. People would still follow you
October 16th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Very interesting thoughts. Have a twitter account with 3500 followers. More of them I have, more I realise how twitter is a spamy place. Everybody just flood with links and messages which nobody read. I think I am loosing my interes using twitter.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:24 am
I love this idea and totally understood that you mean there would be no visible way to tell how many are following you – not that no one would read what you posted.
I wonder what percentage of Twitter users interact more with those who have Tweeted that they found while searching rather than following them all?
Our time is the most valuable resource we have so I prefer to focus on real interactions and not worry too much about the spammy stuff that flows by. If I see it I unfollow or block; if I don’t it is there but doesn’t steal my time from me.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Best of GrowMap: Our Pillar Foundation Content