Twitter Goal Reached – 1,000 Followers

1,000 Followers

This morning when I logged into Twitter I realized that I was only 30 followers away from 1,000.  I knew that I could easily find 30 more followers by the end of the day starting my week off with a smile.  I also knew that if I asked for help it would happen A LOT faster!  So I asked for help and within 2 hours I had 30 new friends!  WOW      

So why did I do it and what did I learn?

Let’s face it; there is something special about knowing that 1,000 individuals went out of their way one day to include you in their life.  Even if it is just to see your Twitter posts every once in awhile.

I grew my network!  Seems obvious, but I have now made connections with people who otherwise might never have connected.  Where will that lead?No clue, that is now the next challenge. How do I connect in a meaningful way? For one, I know that if I can provide meaningful insights into what I do and why, I might be able to support someone else in their endeavors.

I also lost people; fortunately not many. Maybe the idea of blatant self-promotion wasn’t their style. It was a good reminder to always think about “how” you are doing something? Are you wasting your time or that of others? You can’t make everyone happy, and shouldn’t try, but you don’t want to piss people off either!

You can get more accomplished, quicker if you ask for help! DUH But in all seriousness, this was a good lesson in reaching out. I reached a goal so much faster when I shared it with others who wanted to help me to be successful.

What other goals can I share and with whom?

I wonder how long it will take before I reach 2,000 followers and what doors will that open for me??

Comments

[Micah Wittman]

Julie, I took pause before writing this because I'm curious, not full of negativity, and I hope the former comes through in this comment. Ok, here's how I got to your blog: A FriendFeed item linked to a Mashable Poll regarding Twitter auto-DMs which had comments attached, one of which you wrote (http://answers.polldaddy.com/viewPoll.aspx?view=results&id=1242118 ):

"1/3/2009 3:07:49 PM ET ~ I want you to follow me ... because you WANT to follow me! Not just to increase your warm body count .... If you are using an automatic system, you have no clue who I really am nor what I have to say/offer."

When I read that I thought "That's on my wavelength (with 'not just to increase your warm body count' still fresh in mind), I'd like to read more, maybe keep tabs via google reader/twitter/friendfeed/etc and make a new connection."

Then the very first thing that hits my eyes on this blog is the post title "Twitter Goal Reached - 1,000 Followers".

A discord was struck. I re-read both the poll comment and the blog post and realized that actually there was no inconsistency regarding the issue of canned, bot-based social media responses. But 'the spirit of the law' seemed to be transgressed as to twitter mediated communication being about *the people* and not _the numbers_.

Your thoughts?

Anyway, my point is not bash, but to honestly dialog about an issue I think we're both interested in and which may be valuable to your readership.

By the way, I did appreciate your openness about the up- and down- sides of the push to reach your goal, and you were circumspect about your decision which gave me confidence that investing time into this comment was worth the risk that it might be productive.

Micah
twitter.com/micahwittman