Ah, Social Media. It’s great, isn’t it? I’m a lover of it for sure.
We use social media for business and personal networking, community building, looking for a job, looking for a job candidate, connecting with industry experts and learning, and can even help others in the process (Imagine that, it’s not all about US).
One of the first platform’s I really hit hard and heavy was Twitter. In the beginning I was terrified and wondering what on earth I would share in 140 characters or less. I didn’t know what a #hashtag was. I didn’t know how to find and connect with other people (other than my friends and family who were adventurous enough to be on there) much less, engage in a conversation.
It takes time. It takes practice. And with everything else there is a learning curve. But it can be perfected and become very instrumental in community building that aids in finding that next gig, next big client, or helping you to get your wares out there to folks you’ve never been able to reach, otherwise. In case you still don’t get it, check out the book “Twitter Marketing for Dummies” by my pal Kyle Lacy.
Below is a comical chart showing the types of Twitter users out there. Though it fails to mention “The Lurkers” < those who watch what’s being said and haven’t yet participated in a Twitter Chat or hardly engaged, it is still pretty accurate (in a funny way). Take a look >
I see these types every day. Some send a connection request and I plow through them. I HAVE THE POWER to choose whether or not I would like to connect and carefully consider doing so.
More times than I can count I have someone follow me on Twitter and when I’m going through my decision to follow back I click “Follow” and realize their account is locked or they’re using a secured program that validates. This may sound like it’s helping you but it’s actually hurting you.
You see, If someone is taking the time to purge those they choose not to follow and choose you instead and find your account is on lock-down, they’re more than likely going to say “Ah, forget it. I’m not playing that game!” I do this. It will happen.
If you’re a teenager that’s looking just to talk with your friends on the Twitters in a private manner having your account on lock-down makes sense. We get it, you’re cursing it up with your pals and you don’t want your parents spying on you. But if you’re looking to use Twitter for business, networking or community building to build your brand it would be in your best interest to keep your account open and make it easy for folks to connect.
And really, there’s no valid reason for using a validation service. You’re not that special.