It’s interesting to note that most of the conversations about Twitter exist off of Twitter. This is actually a pretty important note since it has everything to do with how you wield your online influence…
There’s a poll being run by Darren Rowse at ProBlogger (blogging audience) and at TwiTip (Twitter audience). The question on both sites is this:
Would you Prefer More Twitter Followers or Blog Readers?
Before you hop over and check the results on each site, what do you think those results might be?
Will results be divided with bloggers wanting more blog readers and the Twitterati wanting more followers? Why is that?
Okay, go ahead and peep the results at TwiTip and at ProBlogger.
Interestingly, the results from both websites (and both audiences) show that people want blog readers over Twitter followers… and by a huge margin, too. Surprised?
It’s not difficult to understand why people prefer blog readers. Especially when you realize that online currency is measured in influence. It’s difficult to carry influence 140 characters at a time, especially when it comes to selling a point of view or course of action.
In fact, pretty much all of the power Twitterati are not influential because of their use of Twitter but because of their influence through their blogs.
Blogs are your home base, they’re where you truly win fans and influence people. So, yes, use Twitter… but don’t let it draw your attention from what truly empowers your ability to promote your ideas, insights, and, ultimately, your business.
In the age of influence, your blog lays the smackdown on Twitter.
Ken Brand
March 23, 2009 at 2:10 pm
No question. Readers rule. I use twitter for lots of things, mostly to update my Facebook status, to promote my blog postings, to share stuff (which is also shared on FB with automatic posting), for amusement and I have some relationships that I don’t have or know about in FB and my blog.
It’s one big cocktail, I’ll keep pouring as long as someone drinks. I drink my share too.
Mike Andrew
March 23, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Building My blog readership is my main focus, I use Twitter to promote content and other links etc, I also use tools such as TweetDeck to update Facebook, but no question in my mind, readers over chatter!!
Mark Madsen
March 23, 2009 at 3:10 pm
They are two different things. It is like trying to compare business cards and a complete home buyer information package.
Blogs build perpetual equity as they season online. Twitter just keeps us top of mind for the moment. I like both, but prefer to build my business based on content vs followers.
Elaine Reese
March 23, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I agree with Mark’s assessment of business cards vs client package. Do I dare say, “Blogs Rule … Twitter drools”. :-0
Blogs engage clients and keep ’em coming back for more. They also generate business. Twitter gets names out but don’t convey knowledge or expertise the way a blog can.
Mark Eckenrode
March 23, 2009 at 7:12 pm
i think we’re all in agreement that our blogs are pretty darn important for business.
if you lay it out to look at the generation process, twitter is for converting folks into visitors while your blog should be used to convert people into subscribers. now, enter email 🙂
Brandie Young
March 27, 2009 at 1:17 am
Nice, Mark. Thanks. I keyed in on this one sentence:
“Especially when you realize that online currency is measured in influence.”
Will be interesting to see how, in time, online influence for agents will be measured in real life currency …
Karen Goodman
April 4, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I love my Twitter followers, and currently get more traffic to my blog via Twitter than any other source. But, I would still prefer more blog followers. The big reason is that I use Twitter to promote my blog posts (among other things), but that requires me to be active on Twitter. Most people that follow a lot of Twitterers won’t scan all of the posts that they missed while they were away, so that means my one or two tweets about a post will get missed by many. If they subscribed to my blog, I would feel more confident that they will see every post.
Currently I have many more Twitter followers than subscribers. My goal is to slowly get more of my Twitter friends to pull the trigger and subscribe rather than relying on catching my tweets about my posts.