Last week I posted a story in which I shared the findings of a study perfomed by Northwestern University and celebrities and twitter and influence and lack thereof...
As I wrote in my original piece, I was none too surprised by the findings - I'll give away the ending, look away if you don't want to know... Celebrities hold no influence in Twitter-Land... I was more taken aback that a study actually had to be commissioned to prove something that should be painfully obvious.
Today I was perusing eMarketer and I came across an article that deals with popularity vs. influence and surprise, surprise a report done by Vocus and FutureWorks principal Brian Solis revealed that "90% of respondents answered "yes" when asked whether there's a big difference between popularity and influence."
The title of the report, appropriately titled "Influencer Grudge Match: Lady Gaga versus Bono"-surveyed 739 marketing and communications professionals who work with influencers to gauge their perceptions of what makes an influencer.
On the plus side the report showed that "84%, believed that there was a correlation between an influencer's reach and his or her ability to drive action." This is important because it shows that the majority of people value reach over popularity.
Another plus was the fact that 57% picked someone who has "a handful of fans/friends/followers that are tightly connected," versus 8% who picked someone with "millions of fans/friends/followers with little or no connection." Quality over quantity for sure... which is how it should be.
On the minus side, if you will, it appears many folks are still under the belief that quantity equals quality and are more focused on increasing the sheer number of fans/followers rather than focus on the value or lack of value they offer.
Which is quantity over quality... which is precisely how it should NOT be.
When it comes to social media, size matters... but size in the context of reach, of ability to provide and share knowledgeable information. Not in the context of sheer volume.
Do you agree?
Are you more interested in quantity over quality or the other way around?