Twithority, twinfluence: influence is about more than follower count
The recent rash of metric based applications that use follower count to determine “influence” are pushing the social media landscape in a wholly unwelcome direction. Do we really want to continue down this path and create a problem of Nigerian Spam Mail proportions as the atmosphere becomes more rife with get-rich-quick schemes and smarmy snake oil salesmen? I hope not, since the trust factor of social media has always been its biggest asset.
Entering the fray this week is influence-based Twitter search engine Twithority. Twitter already has a search feature that is quite advanced since they bought and integrated Summize earlier this year (Search.Twitter). Twitter’s search engine actually finds the result you are seeking based on precise criteria, as opposed to Twithority’s delivery of results skewed toward people with more followers (influence) or who posted most recently.
Twithority is only the next in a long line of faulty metrics-based applications that encourage spammy behavior on Twitter and other social networks. It follows in the footsteps of other spam inducing services like the much hated Magpie. It isn’t that the services themselves are spam, really, they just encourage spam behavior and pushy marketing attitudes. Social marketing works best because WOM (word of mouth) is a trusted way to share information about products, companies and people. Without earned trust, the people the marketers are trying to reach with these applications will start to turn away in droves. Think of all of the plug ins and add ons to prevent having to look at spam-filled online ads on Web sites now, a result of a backlash against the onslaught. How is that spreading your message?
I know that relying on organic word of mouth and natural viral marketing takes a bit longer, and that is hard for some people in this mad dash for metrics, measurement, comfortable labels and pigeon-holing. My recommendation to everyone who wants to use social media to make a sale or drive traffic: slow down! Engage! That’s the whole point – to be social, to talk with, not at. Your product, service or brand will have so much more longevity if you do it right the first time, instead of just doing it fast and throwing stuff against a wall until something sticks. That kind of “throw it out there randomly” marketing always falls off after a while, but a real connection will outlast price changes, hardware shifts, location changes, service issues, and more.
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