SteveBuelow.com

“You really don’t get social networking, do you…?!” an acquaintance said this week.

The statement came amid my acknowledgment that I was “cleaning up” my Twitter account, which began last Saturday evening upon returning to our hotel after Day One of the Ignite Chicago Music Festival.

Scanning the list of those I was following, there were scores of spammers… along with lesser numbers of those offering bit.ly and tinyurl links to places that were probably “Not Safe For Work”, and definitely “Not Safe For Families.”

Hence, the cleanup.

We spoke in Part I of Walt Disney’s desire to have a business that would be a great place for families… while hopefully being a financial success as well. Correct me if I’m wrong, but methinks ol’ Walt nailed it!

Big time.

And while my businesses have been in very different industries from his, we always wanted the same sort of environment… of safety, integrity, and character for our family, and for the fourteen thousand plus employees we’ve had over the years.

And… this has to do with social networking how?

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Well, it turns out that your mom was right… who you hang with affects you… and your brand.

Even in a virtual world.

Yup, online and off… relationships matter. First, we define our associations… and then our associations define us. And I know, with hundreds of new followers on Twitter every day… this requires a little work.

Relationships always do.

Thankfully, there is help available. Like many of you, I automate those activities that seem to make sense to me to automate… though not all of them do. For example, I don’t send out auto-response messages to everyone that follows me… I prefer (I know this is weird) to reach out to people personally.

It’s just me.

On the other hand, because Twitter imposes numerical limits on those individuals who choose to follow you, I do auto-follow back every person that follows me… and then allow their content to determine if I follow them long-term. Unfortunately, this practice of mine is what necessitates the clean-up in the first place.

Ahhh… C’est la vie.

So, in the last few days, thirty or forty people disappeared with the stroke of a mouse… and it appears that the fine folks at Twitter helped out by dropping about one hundred eighty spammers off the rolls for me on Thursday evening.

It’s all good.

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Now back to my acquaintance.

Saying that he would gladly take the two hundred followers I gave up, he added, “Don’t you see, the goal is to get as many friends or followers as possible. That’s where the MONEY is!”

Okay, so as you might expect… I asked a few questions.

FIRST, how many followers did he have… ANSWER: a third of mine,
SECOND, how many of those had he really engaged with… ANSWER: very few, and
THIRD, how much money was he talking about… ANSWER: well, none.

Hmmm…

I look forward to speaking (or tweeting, as it were) soon.

Takeaways:

Choosing friends wisely is just as important using new media today, as it was in the past.

Our associations, formal or informal, help to define who we are… and what we’ll stand for.

In any given situation, who we are… will determine what we do.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Photo Credit:

respres