Sometimes we need to do things differently.
Sometimes we just need a little bit of change.
Change gives us new opportunities.
Change brings us challenges.
Change teaches us to be nimble.
Change makes us stronger.
Change makes us better.
Change makes us grow.
Change can paint a new horizon.
It’s about time for a change…
We live in a world that is bound by rules. We all stop at red lights, we all throw away the milk by its expiration date and we all pay our taxes before the middle of April each year.
When we break these rules, we are likely to suffer consequences. Run the red light? You could get a ticket, or injure someone in an accident. Soak your cereal in the expired milk? You could have a sour breakfast, or wind up very ill. Didn’t pay your taxes on time? You could face harsh fines, or prison.
Outside of the “real world” exists the Internet world. Like the real world, it is ever-growing and ever-changing. However, unlike the real world, the Internet comes with few rules or instructions.
In the past, when companies wanted to initiate a marketing campaign, they would have to set aside large sums of money. They would focus their efforts, ensure that their message was consistent and carefully consider what vehicles to run their advertisement. They might have chosen billboards, television commercials and radio spots. Those types of advertisements used to (and still do) cost large sums of cash.
For the last ten years or so, companies have been expanding their reach into this space we call “social media.” The thing that makes social media unique to real world advertising is that it doesn’t come with quite as many rules. In the real world, an employee couldn’t buy a billboard ad to show how much he loved (or hated) working at his job. In the real world, advertisements are carefully thought out and planned, not just thrown together on a whim. In the real world, small businesses don’t always carry the funds necessary to go head to head against the big boys.
The Internet? Different story. Anyone can create a message and evangelize it. Anyone can profess to be an expert at something. Anyone can make a claim, and not have to worry about backing it up. There is no regulatory committee focused on checking social media marketing companies to see if their advertised claims are 100% accurate.
Without permission, you can do some pretty crazy things. You can build a commercial empire or crumble an existing one in a short mindless burst of communication that may cost nothing to broadcast, but could cost the company its future if it sends the wrong message.
With an Internet connection, you have your own printing press, television studio and radio station. You have the opportunity to create anything you want and you don’t need permission.
When you go to create your blog, or your podcast or your YouTube channel, use your imagination. Take every post or broadcast as an opportunity to hone your craft. Get better at it every week. Share what you learn with your followers and colleagues.
Creating a digital brand isn’t going to replace your income overnight. It isn’t going to be an instant replacement for your job. It might bring you fulfillment in that you are doing something that you are passionate about, but it won’t pay your mortgage within the first few weeks.
Because your idea isn’t likely to cover your living costs in the immediate future, you need to consider the impact that it might have on whatever does pay your bills. Writing a blog about food and wine when you work for a winery? Make sure that you’re not violating any policies regarding social media or product endorsements.
Going to do a podcast about workplace happiness? Make sure your boss doesn’t think you’re insinuating dissatisfaction with your current gig.
We all have the right to express ourselves, but we also have to be careful how it could impact our lives. Remember, the Internet is permanent, so be mindful of what you share.
No one needs to give you permission to play the guitar, or to paint a picture on the weekend. However, if what you decide to create online interferes with your vocation, you could find yourself wishing you had been more careful.
Keep the 80/20 creative passion rule, spend 80% of your energy doing what pays the bills and 20% doing what you love. You don’t need permission to be passionate or to become an expert, but you do need to be careful.
Like anything, if you are seeking mastery, you will never consider yourself the best. Hopefully you are always trying to get better and comparing yourself to people better than you. Although you won’t achieve mastery overnight, you should be honest about who you compare yourself to. If you only know a few chords, then you’re probably just a beginner, but if you can play classical guitar from sheet music without too much trouble, you might be advanced.
You can call yourself an expert when your peers consider you an expert. Until then, you’re just learning, but we all are, so that’s okay.
It all comes down to permission. You don’t need permission from anyone to call you an expert, but if you call yourself one and you’re not, your reputation is at stake.
The beauty of all of this is that we are free to express ourselves however we want, to attempt mastery on whatever drives us and to reap the benefits once we have become really good. The best part is that through all of this, we never need permission.
Photograph: Daria Musk performing at The Living Room in New York City, NY, 2012 by Peter McDermott
Right now I am working on a couple of projects outside of my daily work duties. Both of these are with organizations that don’t have enough revenue to compensate their teams yet. That’s totally fine with me, because I think the investment of time and expertise is paid off with experience and networking. I’m truly grateful for these opportunities.
As the world economy moves away from a traditional 9-5 office environment and into a more digital workspace without offices or break rooms, we run into a huge problem with communication. You’re unlikely to “bump into” the project manager if you live 1,300 miles away, and there is no way that you’re all going to start and stop your work day (or week) at the same time as the rest of the team.
Between e-mail, instant messaging, video teleconferencing, social media groups, forums and listservs, we are absolutely overwhelmed by the methods of communication available.
In order to create an effective team, you need to orchestrate effective communication. I think one of the best things that people on digital teams can do is to have meetings.
In the traditional workplace, we see so many blog posts and articles telling us how meetings are unproductive time killers. However, we’re not talking about the traditional workplace, and we’re not talking about packing our calendars with them.
The great advantage of working digitally is that we have the opportunity to do things at our own pace and be rewarded for our results, not just our “time spent.” However, in order to ensure that the team is on the same page, it is important to wrangle everyone together.
Quite possibly the most important step in having a meeting is scheduling it. There are plenty of tools available online, but one of the easiest to use is a shared calendar like Google Calendar. When teammates share their calendars with each other, they can see when their counterparts are available.
It’s likely that there won’t be a time suitable for every member of the team, however steps should be taken to include as many people as possible. Another strategy to successful attendance is to rotate the meeting times to suit team members on different continents or working from different time zones.
Once you have identified a great time for the meeting, make sure to inform the participants. No, I’m not talking a tweet or a text message or a hidden paragraph in an e-mail. Create an appointment.
Those of us that work in a corporate culture live by our Outlook calendars. In fact, I’ve heard plenty of colleagues in my years say things like, “if it’s not on my calendar, how am I supposed to know about it?”
Digital calendars like those from Microsoft Exchange and Gmail are great because they allow us to collaborate and keep updated on all of our digitally connected devices.
A meeting without purpose is just a waste of time.
Be sure to clearly define the goals of the meeting and ensure that you have someone taking notes. You and your team will benefit most if they walk away from the meeting with action items, goals and clear and concise expectations. Don’t use meetings to just discuss ideas or concepts, but use them as a tool to get things done.
If someone comes to a meeting with an idea, this is the opportunity to create a plan of action so when you meet the next time, you will have results to review.
Keep it concise. If the meeting is only carving 30 minutes out of its attendees calendars, don’t expect anyone to be happy if you carry one for 45 minutes to an hour. Time is precious, especially for those volunteering it to you.
Follow-up is critical. If you don’t engage the attendees and your team members, you aren’t going to get the results you were pushing for. I’ve attended so many digital meetings where afterwards, attendees instant message each other asking whether or not there were any “to do” items, or any value taken from the conversation. Be sure that whomever was taking notes does an efficient job of capturing the topics covered, the takeaways and the action items and expectations for the next meeting.
Meetings are just one small part of the way we communicate within teams. It is critical to adopt a standardized approach to how you will communicate with your team if you expect them to respond and be engaged.
If you are sharing a message on a private social media group for the team, then sending them an e-mail, but instant messaging them in between, people won’t know what medium they should be most focused on.
From the early stages of your startup, project or community, be sure to let your team know what your expectations are, how communication will be delivered, how often and what the expectation is for responses.
There are literally hundreds of tools available for communicating with teams, but it doesn’t mean that you should try to use all of them at once. Find what works best for your team. It will probably involve a combination of static communication (Google Docs), group conversation (Google Groups or Private Community) and instant/personal communication (E-mail or Instant Messaging).
Be careful, if you inundate your team with too much communication, or communication from too many methods, you might be overwhelming them. Also, if your communication covers too many topics, you might end up with a shotgun spray of results instead of a focused torpedo.
If you want to have a successful project, you need to have successful communication. Let your team help you shape the way you communicate and you will all come out winners.
At the end of 2013, I wrote a blog post looking back on my year and what social media taught me over those twelve months. One of my mutual followers (I follow this person as well) responded to the post by writing his own reflection of the year. It was in this post by+Eli Fennell that I was reminded of an important lesson:
“Any idiot can knock down a barn, but it took a carpenter to build one…”
Eli’s words serve as an important reminder to those of us that chose to participate in social media. Unlike casual conversation with friends, the remarks you make can leave a lasting impression and can also shape the way people perceive you. If you act like a troll, people will regard you as a troll. If you respond to everything to create the illusion that you’re paying attention, people will notice if your response isn’t genuine or intentional.
We spend so much of our time criticizing things. Just looking at my stream, there were probably over a half of a dozen posts calling out President Barack Obama for one thing or another. However, none of those posts included any sort of solution or suggestion for the problem at hand.
The Internet has allowed us all to become critics and cynics.
Cynicism is a dangerous thing. Back in 2010, Lockerz founder and CEO Kathy Savitt was interviewed by +The New York Times. In the interview Savitt talks about her switch from working for big companies like Amazon and American Eagle to join a startup. Savitt talks a lot about the culture in a large workplace which led her into a few questions about cynicism.
”Q. Give me an example of things that make people cynical.”
”A. A good example is when a team member has a great idea or has a big issue with a customer experience and no one responds, no one even acknowledges it, no one gets back to them. The idea festers, problems continue to mount, no one listens. How does that person not become cynical? That’s a recipe for cynicism. So you can’t just say, don’t be cynical.”
Savitt concludes the interview by citing that by taking steps to avoid cynicism in the workplace, the company was able to maintain its startup culture. Perhaps it was a single cell of cynicism that started to bring the company down, or just poor market conditions. Either way, the competition in the social sector of the Internet is huge.
The lesson here isn’t that Lockerz ultimately failed, but instead that their focus of avoiding the very thing that infects so many big organizations led to their initial success.
If you work a 9-5 for a large company, you probably know what I’m talking about. Maybe you have that spreadsheet that has hyperlinks to all of the other spreadsheets and the document that you have to fill out after you are complete with the spreadsheet. Maybe in order to get your password reset you have to phone a call center halfway around the world when your IT department is in the office just below.
In a traditional workplace, it’s easy to become cynical.
In fact, so many internal systems are designed in such a way that drives cynicism. However, when we leave our offices or workplaces and connect online, we have an opportunity to change our attitudes.
Free services like Google+, LinkedIn and the rest of the social Internet are incredibly powerful tools that can help you network, learn and move your life forward. However, if you get trapped in cynicism and focus on making snarky comments and jokes, you are unlikely to unlock the full value available.
The next time you go to knock someone down, or negatively criticize their work, their views, their opinions or otherwise, even if you don’t think they’re looking, think again, ask yourself what value are you adding? Are you just trying to gain social acceptance by making the most snarky remark? Are you trying to prove that you can be the wittiest person in a thread of comments?
So much criticism and cynicism comes about things that others are doing. Someone might make a new policy reform, open a new business or create a new process. It is the announcement and discussion of those things that can draw so much negativity. Are we wired to be that way?
Instead of pointing out a problem, come up with a solution. Create value.
The people that are successful in their ventures aren’t the people complaining about what’s wrong, but the people finding a way to make it better.
Your worth to others is quantified in their perception of you. How are you being perceived? Are you a carpenter or just another demolisher?
If you spend your life trying to conform, trying to fit in, trying to be just like everyone else, please keep doing what you’re doing. Every time you buy the same purse your girlfriends have or get the car you saw on the television ad or order the “trendy” beverage at the bar, you’re helping us stand out.
Who are we? We’re the weirdos. We’re the ones that marched in the band. We’re the ones that played with LEGO bricks on a whole new level. We were on the math team. Our science fair entries ran circles around yours. Some of us went on to college and studied weird things like philosophy, microbiology and computer engineering.
The weirdos in the world are the movers and shakers. They’re the people stepping outside of their comfort zone–in fact, sometimes their comfort knows no boundaries.
Anyone that risks stepping outside of the accepted norm is going to be considered “weird” by most. Either for coloring outside of the line, or using colors that no one had considered using before. From an early age we are given these parameters to work within, and sometimes I almost wonder if it was a test to see which of us were willing to break the mold.
I’m considered weird because what I do for a living isn’t analogous with what I do for fun and mastery. I’m almost a mundane Batman of sorts. I have the Bruce Wayne facade that goes to work every day, wears a suit, has impressive meetings and accomplishes nothing but helping support the bottom line. At work, I am a number, a barcode, just another cog in the machine. However, at night and on the weekends, when I am busy pursuing my passion and mastery of all the things I do online, I’m someone else. I’m helping businesses, speaking at conferences, discussing how things are changing in the way that technology affects our daily lives.
I’m careful not to let this alter-ego crossover in to my career and I am very cautious of which of my peers I tell. My passion for excellence and mastery aren’t only in my hobbies, but also in my vocation. However, some people at work (chiefly my leaders) might think that’s just a little weird.
The truth is, it’s the weirdos that make things happen. It’s the weirdos that are wiling to bring their experiments out of their basements and garages and into the real world. It’s the weirdos that are unlikely to let a weekend go by without doing something to better themselves or help them pursue their goals.
As +Seth Godin already said, and +Chris Brogan reminds us that it’s okay to repeat, it’s the weirdos that make the world such a more interesting place.
Photo Credit: Leonard Nimoy on Star Trek and +Larry Page speaking with Charlie Rose at +TED.
Almost six years after its launch and Klout still can’t seem to get its math right. As a tool designed to rate users’ social influence, it can’t even seem to decipher which networks makeup a user’s social media activity.
Although some people will argue that Klout is passé and serves no purpose, there are still a few believers out there that think it should influence hiring decisions. Either way you look at it, there’s definitely room in the social media space to have a platform that ranks users based on their reach and engagement.
The fundamental problem with Klout is that its numbers are flawed. No, I’m not saying they’re not perfect, I’m saying they are totally wrong.
With all of the information and metrics available, there’s no excuse as to why Klout hasn’t cleaned up its act and leveled the playing field for various social networks.
My proof is in the numbers:
I have a following of over 500,000 people on my Google+ profile and am constantly being engaged by hundreds of people. However, Klout only weighs my Google+ presence at 9%. Really?
Let’s take a look at my Instagram page. I only have 421 followers, but Klout values it double of Google+ as it relates to my social network makeup. What’s really crazy, is that I have only posted once on Instagram this month, and even then, only seven people engaged with my photo.
Twitter? With a measly 1,300 followers and hardly any interaction, I have no idea how they could justify it making up so much of my network makeup. But, after getting mentioned in several dozen tweets, it continues to climb.
Crude experiments have demonstrated that Instagram is the most heavily weighted network on the system. A simple photo with a comment from a friend increased my ‘Klout’ within a day. Why does Klout consider Instagram so important to social influence? And further more, why does it dismiss the importance of LinkedIn and Google+?
Platform Dis-Integration:
Another failure of Klout is the lack of recognition that not all users are involved in Facebook and Twitter. I know many professionals that only use LinkedIn and plenty of Google+ adopters that have let it become their sole network. Without a Facebook or Twitter account though, you’ll never be able to log in and manage your account.
If Klout wants to measure multiple platforms, it should allow users to log in with other platforms.
How to Fix It:
I think there is definitely room in the market for Klout, or a similar clone to effectively measure the influence or engagement of social media figures. I think this type of information could be insanely valuable to marketers as they try to learn who are the most important (and vocal) customers. Recruiters could also use it as a tool to find people that are the most visually knowledgeable about a specific topic or niche.
In order to make that happen though, the algorithms need to be changed. Klout needs to be more receptive to feedback from its users and more even-keeled in its evaluation of all social networks. First and foremost, it needs to compare the usage of various social networks for each user so it can give a true breakdown of where that person invests the most effort.
Tainted Reputation:
Even if Klout manages to fix its poor arithmetic, it will still face an uphill battle with social media super users that have long cast it aside. Last night I bumped into a few causal social media users in a Hangout and here’s what they had to say about the network:
Klout is probably one of the most useless things I have heard of possibly conceived. It is some sort of popularity contest that has no relevance out of itself.” DeAno Jackson
It’s just useless. It doesn’t base your scores on any platform except Facebook and they want you to connect all of your accounts with it, but it doesn’t measure them all. So, it’s useless.” Sheila DuBois
I’ve never used Klout and see no purpose in it.” Stormy Henderson
If Klout ever wants to be relevant again, it’s going to need to prove its accuracy and importance. Based on their current trajectory, I don’t think there’s much chance.
Klout, if you think my network with half a million followers counts for less than 10% of my social media presence, you need to go home. You’re drunk.
As a technology enthusiast and blogger, I invest a lot of my time in learning about new products, services and methodologies. Because I’m not a professional web designer or blogger, I have to find the most well crafted solutions and tools to help me accomplish my goals.
Recently, I was struggling with my brand identity and my blogging. I didn’t know how I wanted my posts to be perceived. I thought I needed an identity apart from myself, so I created yet another domain and started posting there. This time, instead of using WordPress, I gave Blogger a try.
I loved it, I really did. As a hardcore Google+ user, the benefits of having your ecosystem embedded into your Content Management System (CMS) are numerous. I had instant access to all of my AutoBackup photos, I could easily tag someone’s Google+ profile in a post and I could instantly share it to my page or profile once I was done with the post.
For server reliability, I had nothing to worry about. Google’s uptime is second to none and it was all 100% free.
However, free always comes with some strings attached. Because I am using Google’s platform, they have the right to change it at any time and without notice. You could have a plugin that works one day, and is a total trainwreck the next. The graphical user interface (GUI) could change at the drop of a hat, making it either easier or more difficult to complete routine tasks.
The bottom line though is that the site is over-simplified. It’s great for people that are just trying to get started in the blogging, or businesses that just want to “set it and forget it,” however it’s not the best choice for serious bloggers.
When I migrated back to WordPress I decided that I didn’t want to use a clunky “free” theme, but instead decided to invest it something with a proven track record. That’s when I decided on using the Genesis Framework and the Ambiance child theme.
The theme is a content-first design which means the focus isn’t on the website, but on the content presented within. As a blogger, nothing is more important that the easy consumption of text. I think this theme does a great job of it.
Now, I studied journalism for a few years and I know a thing or two about writing. However, I think I owe a hat tip to the careful design of the site. With a few tweaks and a small upfront investment, I was able to create something that I am proud to call mine.
Why am I telling you all of this?
I just had an experience that many bloggers only dream of. My latest post was just picked up by Mashable.
In November of 2013, I became a Google Glass Explorer. Part of this endeavor involved forking over $1,500 and tax for a technology device that was still in beta. The hardware was beyond prototype, but not in the mass production scale that would be necessary for worldwide distribution.
Just a few years ago, smart watches such as those made by Sony and Pebble were very limited in their functionality, battery life and technical specifications. When Project Glass was announced in 2012, it was seen as a revolutionary technology. It was wearable computing to the next level. Google Glass enabled people to have the information they “needed” in the corner of their eye and gave them instant access to the world wide web with just a simple voice command.
In theory, the technology is great. However, in practice, it’s a different story.
I have been a Glass Explorer for just shy of six months and I have to admit that I (like many other Glass Explorers) use the technology much less than I ever thought I would and here’s why:
Battery Life: Most of the applications for Google Glass can be a battery hog. However, with “regular” use throughout the day, I can usually squeeze a good 6-8 hours of casual use before the battery is depleted. Many of the augmented reality applications such as World Lens, require a lot of battery use because they involve the use of the camera, display, wireless data and heavy processor use. Doing something as simple as taking a video can deplete the device’s battery in just 20-30 minutes. Granted, Glass isn’t designed or intended to record long form content, but more or less “moments” which is why the device records 10 second video clips by default.
Security “Issues”: Many workplaces will not allow the use of Google Glass because of exposure to sensitive information and PII (Personally Identifiable Information). I would not be surprised to see if the PCI standards change to ban the use of wearable cameras in areas where employees are able to see credit card numbers. Sadly, most of the concerns about Glass are around it’s camera, which brings me to my next point.
Social Acceptance: Wearing a computer on your face is about as acceptable as riding a Segway around your office. The simple truth is that we aren’t there yet. The fact that we recently learned about the largest government surveillance scandal in recorded history doesn’t help either. People feel that their privacy has been invaded enough by companies reading their e-mail, governments listening to their phone calls and more surveillance cameras than we realize. Until these fears are settled, wearing around a camera on your face will remain a faux pas in many settings.
Reliability: Google Glass is not reliable. Plain and simple. Switching between Bluetooth and Wifi data is never seamless. The device is incapable of connecting to Wifi networks that require TOS agreements or have any sort of splash page login method. If you leave the device turned off and unplugged for a period of time, the battery mysteriously depletes itself. The most frustrating reliability issue is related to connectivity. You can have Google Glass successfully paired to an LTE device with great signal strength and still see the dreaded “can’t reach Google right now” message.
Moto 360 Won’t Have These Problems
The most exciting thing about the Moto 360 is that it won’t have most of the problems that I encounter on a daily basis with Google Glass. First of all, it’s on my wrist, so it’s much less conspicuous than a face-mounted computer. This definitely helps us in the social acceptance arena, and makes it a wearable that I’m comfortable wearing everywhere (except maybe not the shower). Battery life may be a problem, but not in a way that it is for Glass. I expect overnight charging for my smart watch and would love to see wireless Qi charging integration to make that process just a little bit easier.
Better App Development
I don’t think I’m alone in assuming that there will be more and better apps designed for wrist-mounted wearables. Although the Android Wear platform may look completely analogous to Glassware, it’s a much more practical form factor which means more users and more potential for success of any certain app. Also, apps can be designed to work on a number of devices, not just Motorola’s upcoming offering. Developing for a multi-device platform is a no-brainer when compared to developing for a single device on a different framework.
Sex Appeal
Men love watches. It’s really the only jewelry that most guys wear, and a lot can be inferred by the watch someone wears. For example, during the work week, I wear a Seiko stainless steel watch with a black face and very minimalist design. It shows that I am polished, responsible and punctual. On the weekends I like to wear a leather-banded “easy read” by Timex that is reminiscent of a standard GI watch from decades before.
With the ability to instantly change the face of your watch and select a stylish band, this wearable becomes less of a computer and more of an accessory.
Safety
With Moto 360, you don’t have to brag to the world that you’re wearing a computer. A fringe benefit of this design is safety, as we recently learned from the woman wearing Google Glass that was allegedly mugged inside of a San Francisco bar.
Affordability & Luxury
$1,500 was a lot of money to thrown down on a prototype. Especially something that won’t get daily wear. I don’t expect that Google Glass will dip below $800 any time soon, either. Moto 360, on the other hand, is likely to come to the market with a sub-$500 price tag. The competition in the market will surely help keep prices down as other manufacturers continue to innovate.
However, as in the world of watches, history tells us that consumers will spend thousands of dollars for a rare timepiece. If any of the major watch makers join the game, we might see an emergency of luxury smart watches which will only drive more consumers in the middle class to pick up a lower priced model.
I wanted Glass when it was announced. It was new, it was fresh and it was unexplored territory in the real world. Now that I’ve seen Moto 360, I see elements some elements of Glass that I love that will fit much better into my daily life.
*Image ©2014 Motorola Mobility LLCMy journey on Google’s Suggested User’s List for Google+
In July of 2013 I found myself added to Google’s Suggested Users List (or SUL). The list is displayed to new users as they create an account as well as existing Google account users when they first go to use the Google+ social platform. Up until the second week of March 2014, I was displayed to millions of new users as someone “Fun and Interesting.” During that time, over 400,000 additional users added me to their circles.
My addition to the SUL came without much warning. I simply noticed a large uptick in followers and later received an e-mail from a Googler informing me that I was being offered as a suggested person for new users to circle. They asked me for feedback after my first couple of weeks, but initially I didn’t notice much of a change.
Over time as I first crested 100,000 followers, I thought being on the SUL was going to be a great opportunity for me to grow an audience overnight, become well-known for what I do and hopefully introduced to opportunities that I would have never found before.
Eight months later, I can confidently tell you that not many of those things happened. Just after I eclipsed the 500,000 mark (507 actually), I got yanked from the list. Again, no warning, no communication, I just noticed that instead of gaining an extra thousand followers each day, I was losing 50-100. This “falloff” happens for a couple of reasons. Mostly, I assume it is from the removal of spam and phantom accounts that have been reported. But, unfortunately, I think it comes from a number of users that actively remove me from their circles.
While I enjoyed my time on the SUL, I think it negatively impacted the way I thought about producing content. I focused my efforts on Google+, at one point abandoning Twitter and then later deleting my Facebook account. Now, as I look back, I realize that I ignored some pretty simple advice from a number of smart people, “don’t make Google+ your only platform.”
Platform is a funny word, when we think of it as it relates to technology, we don’t always think of it as something you stand on, but if you could imagine Google+ as being your only soapbox, regardless of how many followers you have, you’re standing atop one of the weakest soapboxes in terms of frequency of engagement.
Even with over half of a million followers, I rarely see over 100 +1’s on a post. To put it simply, that’s two hundredths of two percent. or 0.02%. That’s not very much engagement.
I think the reason for the drop in engagement with growth of audience is due to some very simple math. When a social media platform like Google+ evaluates the “relevance” of your post, it looks to see how much engagement you are getting in a short period of time. I imagine if your content eclipses that threshold, it will be “pinned” so that more of your followers will see it when they next log in. The problem with large audiences is that the more people that follow you, the more engagement you need to ensure the preservation of your posts in others’ streams.
Basically, unless all of your followers live in your time zone and you have a large audience, you’re fighting an uphill battle. Now, if you stick to traditional tactics like posting the about the most trending subjects or just humorous (but not otherwise valuable) content, you can game the system and gain traction that way. However, if you are trying to share original content beyond bumper sticker philosophy, funny GIF’s or the most popular news story, you are going to be met with a serious reality check.
When I was on the SUL, I felt like I censored myself more, trying to keep content within some mysterious criteria that would keep me in Google’s good graces. I wanted to do whatever it took to keep myself on the list so I could guarantee maximum audience exposure (it’s what almost anyone would do). However, in doing so, I did myself–and my followers–a large disservice. I was no longer taking the time to carefully craft the content that I did when I was being discovered organically.
Now that the ride is over, I am focusing on redesigning my blog, building an e-mail list and trying to build a tribe that is actually invested and grateful for my message. All of that is going to take place here, so if you’d like to become a part of it, I invite you to come back often and join the conversation.
This is my platform now. I make the rules, I decide when to change the design and I respect the people that come to visit and be a part of it.
Google may give, and Google may take, but this is my website and these are my stories and I’m happy to start sharing them with you again.
