A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about feeling inadequate.
Something in that post tweaked the interest of a well known blogger/twitterer and he decided to tweet a link to it.
My visitor numbers immediately sky-rocketed. By the end of the day I had totalled five times my average number of daily visitors. I think the server was glad to have a rest the next day!
As I watched the visitors come streaming in, it occurred to me what great power and influence this gentleman had and what a great responsibility it was to wield such power.
If I start talking at home about some new idea I’ve come across, the only people who will hear me are my wife and kids – and, to be honest, most of the time they zone me out. My voice is not heard widely so I have very limited influence.
Online, my blog posts are read by somewhere around a hundred people a day. That may not be many in the grand scheme of things but it’s a huge number compared to the four people in my family. I have a lot more influence, or at least a lot more reach, online.
Now, you and I are intelligent people. We hear and read things every day and we process them against our previous knowledge and our beliefs. We reject those things that are contrary to our beliefs and at times investigate further the things that are contrary to what we have previously learned… but not everyone is as bright and clear-thinking us!
Many people are heavily influenced by how much they trust the person who is sharing new information with them. If they trust that person and that person has demonstrated an ability to be right and share things that are wise and true, they will very often take on faith almost anything that person says or teaches.
The problem with that is nobody is right all the time, yet many (if not most) of us will almost blindly follow and accept anything that someone we trust shares.
My influence is fairly small but some of the people I follow on twitter yeild a great deal of influence. For example:
- Michael Hyatt. Michael is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. I and 40,000 other people read his tweets on a regular basis and many of us follow links to websites that he recommends.
- Alyssa Milano. Ms. Milano is an actress and a very active tweeter. She has over 177,000 people following her tweets and she sends out dozens of links every day – which she knows many of her followers will click on.
That’s a lot of people, a lot of power. Thankfully, it seems both of them realize that with such great power comes great responsibility.
Whether your influence spreads to ten people or tens of thousands, you have a responsibility to be very careful what you share with and suggest to them.
Social Media gives you power you probably wouldn’t otherwise have – use it wisely.
My quick tips for sharing links or ideas online are:
- Don’t share anything that you are not absolutely certain you agree with, unless you make it quite clear what your position is.
- Remember that, generally, you have a greater influence online than you do in the real world. What you write is read by many and floats around the internet forever. Think before you write/share.
- If you are retweeting a link on twitter, follow the link first and check that you actually agree with what it says. Don’t blindly retweet!
Peter-
Nice to read your post. I got here this morning because of @michaelhyatt (of course).
Not sure I agree with you on this one. While I understand we should be careful about what we post, tweet, etc. I don’t know that we always need to take the safest course and only post things we are absolutely sure of. I think that part of Web 2.0 (or social media) is the ability to put ideas, thoughts, and assertions that you are working through or really aren’t sure of and let other people help you gain some insight. That can be messy and people may misunderstand you but it enables more engagement with your audience and it reveals you as a real person. If all I ever read from someone is polished and refined I tend to give them less credibility than the person who shares a little more risky stuff.
I think the value is in the conversation not in the “rightness”.
I DO agree that you need to be mindful that what you way may be out there forever so at least remember that.
Thanks for the post in any event and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Peace,
Greg
Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to share your point of view, Greg.
I think I agree with you that web 2.0 promotes the ability to discuss new ideas, however, I feel that if we are sharing something to discuss it and hopefully work through it together then should make that quite clear.
There needs to be a distinction between ‘read this!’ and ‘what do you think of this?’
gosh, I never think before I tweet, you’re asking for too much lol
Congrats on the success of your post. As a political blogger I take this responsibility thing serious. But, moreso to provide good information and call out the misinformation that others might spread and have fun with at the same time.
It’s very amazing how one can wield so much influence on the net to the point where ever celebrities (or other influential people) are promoting your posts. Now alls you have to do is create a post good enough for one of these people to invite you to their swanky palace….and I’ll tag along lol
Ooo, swanky place posts are good…. What do you think I need to write about to get a swanky-place invite?
Well said!
I have a rule that I never re-tweet any link (even my friends blog posts) without reading them first. One time in the past few months I didn’t follow this rule and it was the one post I wish I’d read first (that’ll teach me-lol).
Thanks for the reminder to be mindful, Peter.
I get so lazy some days. I open the link but RT at the same time because I know if I take five minutes to read the post, there will be so many new tweets in my tweetdeck that I’ll never find the tweet again!
Thank you for finally recognizing my intelligence. 🙂 I do the same as Bridget (98% of the time). I think you have to use some discretion. Sometimes you may want to find out what others think without telling them what you think first (because it may influence them). I think the key is in being responsible… Good things to think about for sure.
Responsible… isn’t that a bad word around here? You mean we have to take responsibility for our own actions? Surely Not!
So NOW you tell me I have to think before I share? Perhaps that was my problem. Don’t forget typos (that some people blow out of proportion – I won’t say who but his name rhymes with Stick).
This was a great post, Peter. Indeed, we have great responsibility and must remain accountable.
Thanks, Candy.
Rhymes with ‘Stick’… um, is that Helen?
I like Spiderman, I will RT anything he says.
Of course. Goes without saying!
So true and so easy to ignore with the fast pace of social media. Thank you for reminding us.
Thanks, Dusty