As a follow up to yesterday’s incredibly successful post (over 16,000 views on Social Media Today so far) I’m going to not just tell you, but I’m going to show you why Twitter followers mean nothing when judging value.

Take a look at these two accounts. Mozelle is from New Delhi and Gusella is from Mumbai and their accounts are EXACTLY the same (minus background and picture) and why is that? Well they are worthless spam accounts and one has 4,500+ followers while the other is just under 6,000.

Seriously, take a minute and look at them, and then think about it.

When you use crapware like TwitterAdder Pro and other junk to auto follow and grab as many followers as possible the numbers mean nothing. The only time you can use them as a gauge is when they are gained organically, when it’s grown without any “assistance” then you can measure your growth trend.

Twitter follower numbers, Facebook friends or fans when gained using “legal cheats” mean nothing, and even if they are gained organically they still don’t really mean much.

Why?

Because it shouldn’t be about what your neighbor gets out of following or friending that person (or even if they follow or friend you back), it’s what YOU get out of following or friending that person.

But what about company accounts? I’m sure some of you are using it for business and your boss doesn’t understand that 10 engaged followers are better than 1,000 who couldn’t care less and they would like to see those numbers rise.

Here’s a tip for that. Shift the focus.

Show how effective your Twitter account is as doing it’s real job of engaging and sharing info. Track your links, track your mentions, RTs etc. Track the stuff that matters and build on that.

If you want to play numbers games go here. If you want to communicate, grow your network, and engage other people, then go here.

Twitter is not about follower numbers, it’s not a numbers game, it never has been so stop trying to make it one. It’s all about the value YOU get from it.

Give it a good thought and ask yourself, If a worthless spam bot can get 6,000 followers without being shut down then really, what does that say about that “metric”?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading,
Josh “Shua” Peters

image by Benimoto