12. DON’T BE A SOCIAL MEDIA SNOB
‘The true definition of a snob is one who craves for what separates men rather than for what unites them.’
– John Buchan
Don’t let yourself go Hollywood. Don’t let all the bright lights of becoming a minor weblebrity blind you to the little people who helped you rise to the top. While it’s no doubt important to be investing time in super-influencers, they represent only the core of your online presence, not the whole. You need to be bigger than that, which means you need to be looking out for the little guys too.
I’ve often taken criticism for following back so many people on Twitter (more than 80,000). Some have claimed this makes me disingenuous, saying that if I truly cared about those I follow then I would read everything they tweet, something I can’t possibly do because I follow so many. It’s true, I don’t read every tweet that every follower writes. I don’t think anybody with more than a few followers does.
I look at it differently. I’ve tried to follow back everyone that follows me in the same way that I try to shake every hand that gets extended to me at a conference. We shake hands, maybe we talk for a couple minutes, but there is no obligation that we do business just because we were decent enough to introduce ourselves. But I will be much more open to receiving an email or a private direct message on Twitter from you (which, by the way, is only possible if you follow someone, and another good reason to do so).
Mutually following each ...
