Hey Ashton, Reach is not the Same Thing as Influence

You might have heard about Ashton Kutcher's race to 1,000,000 followers on Twitter. Today he even appeared on Oprah to discuss his use of the popular microblogging tool. Check it out below:



Oprah asked "Why did you want a million people following everything you're doing?"

Kutcher responded "In some ways this is a kind of commentary on the state of media. I believe we're at a place now with social media where one person's voice can be as powerful as an entire news network."

Uh, Really? So having 1 million passive "followers" on Twitter makes the star of "Dude Where's My Car?" as "powerful" as CNN? Okay, I don't want to be too hard on Ashton. He seems like a cool guy. I definitely agree with him that Twitter can be a powerful tool for communicating. But you've still got to communicate something of value to be considered influential.

Don't Get Caught Up in a Race to Get More Followers

Kutcher went on to say social media can make "one person's voice as powerful as an entire news network. That's the power of the social web. You through your own stream can actually have a voice as loud as an entire media network." (those are my italics, of course)

Notice that he used the word "loud."


Loud is not the same thing as influential.

America's Next Top Model has higher ratings (meaning more viewers) than Meet the Press. Does that mean Tyra is more influential than Russert, Brokaw or Gregory? Of course not (though she is definitely louder.)

Reach is Not the Same Thing as Influence

Before I follow someone on Twitter, I like to see who they are following and who follows them. I also look at the kinds of tweets they send. Too many "Good morning twitterverse" tweets and I won't follow them. I have enough noise to try to filter during my workday.

The Real Power of the Social Web

Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington have highly engaged followers. Kutcher isn't tyring to have a conversation with all 1,100,000 followers. He is only following 80 people. He is building an audience. Scoble actually follows more people than follows him. He's listening. He's conversing with others. He's not just broadcasting his life. It's a two-way conversation. That's the real power of the social web.

Gaming Twitter

It is definitely possible to "game" twitter. I have seen plenty of people on Twitter who have gained thousands of followers in a couple weeks but apparently don't have much to actually say themselves. They use techniques such as following thousands of people and then unfollowing those who don't follow them back within 24 hours. Or they use tools to autofollow people.

Be Wary of Anyone Who Thinks That Twitter is a Good Sales Channel

Many of the Twitter "gamers" portray themselves as "social media experts" or SEO gurus. Usually they have something to sell. Some of them might even have more followers than some of the original social media thought leaders. They have a lot of reach. But they don't have the same amount of influence.

Twitter is a great way to share ideas and network with people. But those who try to sell too aggressively are rarely received well in the world of social media.

Ashton Kutcher was Right

Kutcher was right about this: social media definitely gives anyone who wants a voice a platform to be heard. But to be truly influential you have to say something of value.