Should You Follow Everyone That Follows You - The Myth of Reciprocity
Most people and brands that use social network profiles feel that a lot of friends, fans and followers should followed each other, in an almost perfect reciprocity and interactivity.
This ideal dynamic of reciprocity is not so with everyone, both in personal profiles as well as in professional and social life of brands.
Sometimes it is difficult to determine at first glance which followers deserve to be followed.
It is viewed as an opportunity to reach out to other users, provide value to each of them and see if it can be a mutually beneficial relationship through a social network.
What can make a brand? For most brands, it makes sense to follow everyone who has taken the time and trouble to "Follow", "like", etc, your brand.
The attitude here is to think of your brand as a means: if you want to be contacted, to respond and to encourage followers it makes sense to increase your audience.
There is no doubt that the more followers your brand has the greater the opportunity to spread your message.
People are not brands The challenge for people, whether celebrities or not, is to discover how to make this dynamic more effective.
It's not so simple: true reciprocity is to match the same level of value in the relationship.
If people are offended or think otherwise, they are probably not really interested in reciprocity, but in their own interests only.
Reciprocity is momentary in the digital world In social networks, if someone decides to follow your profile or your brand, but then time goes by and there is no interest in getting involved in your proposals, then when there is no communication and real reciprocity it becomes a dead follower.
Why filters? Filters exist for those who use Twitter for personal benefit and use the technology like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or Lists to filter "noise" that their followers make so that they can focus on those who really provide value.
In fact, the most important reason why people like google+ is because they can create "circles", ie, filters.
Thus, silence people who they are not really interested in or simply do not know, and amplify those who matter the most.
All this has nothing to do with reciprocity.
Most people and brands with profiles on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ interact only with a handful of people, but they still want more and more friends, fans and followers to spread their message far and wide.
So is reciprocity in social media a myth or not?
This ideal dynamic of reciprocity is not so with everyone, both in personal profiles as well as in professional and social life of brands.
Sometimes it is difficult to determine at first glance which followers deserve to be followed.
It is viewed as an opportunity to reach out to other users, provide value to each of them and see if it can be a mutually beneficial relationship through a social network.
What can make a brand? For most brands, it makes sense to follow everyone who has taken the time and trouble to "Follow", "like", etc, your brand.
The attitude here is to think of your brand as a means: if you want to be contacted, to respond and to encourage followers it makes sense to increase your audience.
There is no doubt that the more followers your brand has the greater the opportunity to spread your message.
People are not brands The challenge for people, whether celebrities or not, is to discover how to make this dynamic more effective.
It's not so simple: true reciprocity is to match the same level of value in the relationship.
If people are offended or think otherwise, they are probably not really interested in reciprocity, but in their own interests only.
Reciprocity is momentary in the digital world In social networks, if someone decides to follow your profile or your brand, but then time goes by and there is no interest in getting involved in your proposals, then when there is no communication and real reciprocity it becomes a dead follower.
Why filters? Filters exist for those who use Twitter for personal benefit and use the technology like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or Lists to filter "noise" that their followers make so that they can focus on those who really provide value.
In fact, the most important reason why people like google+ is because they can create "circles", ie, filters.
Thus, silence people who they are not really interested in or simply do not know, and amplify those who matter the most.
All this has nothing to do with reciprocity.
Most people and brands with profiles on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ interact only with a handful of people, but they still want more and more friends, fans and followers to spread their message far and wide.
So is reciprocity in social media a myth or not?