Can you have too many followers?

The "Bad" - having so many social followers that conversation becomes impossible

I just read another great article by Clive Thompson in this month's Wired Magazine.  "In Praise of Obscurity" points out that socializing doesn't scale.  This seems like a "duh" observation in the real world since we all know that its impossible to chat with everyone at a large party (40-50+ people). 

But online it's a bit easier to "converse" with lots of people since they all aren't "there" at the same time.  That said, once you get more than a few hundred followers social stops being social according to Thompson. "It's no longer a bantering process of thinking and living out loud.  It becomes old-fashioned broadcasting."  And further, "when the conversation gets big enough, it shuts down.  Not only do audiences feel estranged, the participants also start self-censoring.  There's no pretense of intimacy with the audience, so there's no conversation to spoil." 

The lesson for businesses is that while it may seem cool to have many thousands of followers, it makes it impossible to realize the value of the relationship and conversation with each person.  Why use social media if you're just going to blast messages like an email newsletter.  Wouldn't you rather use social tools to have relevant and timely conversations with your best customers?  And if so, are Facebook and Twitter the right tools?  I don't think so.  Business conversations seem out of place on Facebook where I go to check in with my friends, and Twitter is really better for short frequent broadcasts than long/deep conversations.  There is clearly the need for a better tool for businesses to connect with their customers. 

Comments

[reputation management]

I don't think can anybody justify your reputation according the list of Followers. I saw too many blog and application which a Very long list of followers.
But there is nothing valuable thing found from that kinda blog.

May You clarify one thing..If i have a good social network from Twitter,Facebook and Orkut then i can easily find many friends and mates which are easily be a fan/follower of my blog.
is that mean i have a good writing skills?

[2gb compact flash]

It's true that too many marketers count their success on Twitter, for example, in terms of how many followers they have. But does that really matter if most of your followers are fellow marketers and internet marketing wannabees? No, it doesn't... unless that's the target audience for your software product or service, of course.

[Bob - Local Business Marketing]

It's kind of funny to me how people tend to "wear a large follower list" as a badge of accomplishment or achievement. Especially with the automated (and spammy) follow/follower tools that make it pretty easy to accumulate large follower lists. No doubt, of questionable scale as an interactive social channel, and a pretty noisy broadcast channel as well.

And following 50,000+ people? Sort of like asking everyone in New York city to scream at me at the same time. Feels more like a mental disorder than a useful social interaction.

Nonetheless, leveraging social media does help send people to my blog where I think I can lead a more meaningful and constructive interaction with prospects and customers.

The analogy for me is a bit like trolling with a huge net full of big gaping holes ... most of the fish escape through the holes, and a few remain behind in the net and choose to talk to me, after I pull them into the boat.

Thanks for the good post!