The Question Is Not How Many Followers; It’s What You Do With Those You Have

Social media has become a part of our lives, our businesses, our economy and more. There’s no denying or ignoring it, unless you want to stubbornly cling to the past and try to function in a world that is rapidly leaving you behind. Businesses and individuals are clamoring to set up Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn profiles and more in a frantic effort to remain relevant and ride the wave this relatively new method of communication has become.

Ingrained in almost every form of social media is the need to gain a number of friends, followers, fans and connections. For reasons intrinsic to human nature, this appeals to the competitive spirit in most of us, and as new accounts are established the race begins toward acquiring the largest audience possible. We have elevated the friend and follower counts to a certain barometer of status and influence, which in turn fuels the desire for a higher tally. It’s a vicious cycle that very few of us fail to avoid.

When I first started using Twitter and Facebook I fell prey to the same thing. I researched and proceeded to attempt all kinds of ways to gain the most friends and followers as fast as possible. I checked my counts often, and even begged others to help. It took a little bit of time (and a number of mistakes) before I began to back off of this pursuit and instead explore the mutual benefits of engaging with others. As a bit of an introvert, it was a pleasant surprise to discover a way to meet and network and interact with others without the usual awkwardness of that first meeting. I began to really enjoy the people I was ‘meeting’ virtually and the conversations we would have, and soon the priority of numbers fell by the wayside.

Interestingly enough, even though I stopped aggressively trying to grow my follower count and focused on building relationships online, the number kept growing.

And that is the point of this writing.

Sure, I don’t have hundreds of thousands of people I can say I influence. I do not have the numbers that would qualify me as a celebrity or a social media superstar. I do, however, have an enlarged, ever-growing circle of friends, colleagues and peers, who I admire, enjoy, respect and appreciate their presence in my life.

There is so much talk these days of influence and clout and power in the hands of those who have pursued the growth of their audience. I don’t begrudge those who have it, and I cheer on those who manage to not only possess the large numbers, but actually engage in and strengthen those relationships.

My question is for those who are making their way down that well-beaten path toward the goal of increasing their numbers as quickly as possible:

When you get all of those followers, what will you do with them?

Will you beg them to sign up for your email newsletter so you can eventually sell their email address as part of a list to the highest bidder? Will you bombard them with special offers for your latest e-book that will teach them how to grow their social media following to thousands in a matter of days? Will you repeatedly fill their Twitter and Facebook streams with a barrage of self-promoting gibberish and advertising?

Or will you ask about and listen to what they are going through and are concerned about in their own lives? Will you offer assistance when someone expresses a need? Will you introduce like-minded people to each other so they too can enjoy the amazing myriad of personalities, talents, skills and hearts that inhabit the world? Will you share and engage and interact and promote a selfless, relationship-building presence without any ulterior motive?

Whether we have thousands of online friends and followers, or just a few, the real question is what we do with them. Not to them. Not at them. With them.

Ultimately those numbers represent people, and people deserve respect, compassion, caring, kindness, and love.

What do you give your friends and followers?