Citizen Marketer 2.1

Aaron Strout

Following 10,000, Filtering and the Value of Large Numbers

By 8 Comments

As a person that appreciates symmetry and patterns in nature, I was intrigued this morning when I saw that I was following exactly 10,000 people on Twitter. Even better, I am only 8 followers away from 11,111 which in some ways, is an even more perfect number (no official reason, I just like the symmetry better). I don’t normally mention following numbers in public as it’s a turn off but I couldn’t resist if for no other reason than the fact the reason I mentioned in the first sentence.

I wasn’t really expecting any responses other than maybe a snarky “who cares” or “I just unfollowed you so now you have 9,999.” Instead, I got some thoughtful replies from folks like Adam Zand, Chris Selland, Dan Blank, Alex Howard and Hadley Stern.

The gist of the comments/questions (as you can see from the answers above) was, “how do you follow so many people?” and “do you really see value in following so many?” My immediate answer was:

  • Out of the 10,000 people I follow, only about 500 or so of that group do most of that tweeting. Of that group, I pay close attention to about 200-300 (a relatively manageable number) using Tweetdeck
  • To Chris’ point, I may not “really be following” all 10,000 of the people I have connected with on Twitter, but I believe that my willingness to follow back gives these folks a feeling of connection and makes them feel like they can DM me or @ me when they like (I try and respond to all personal @’s and DMs). In fairness, I also have an “all friends” column in Tweetdeck and at least a few times a day, keep an eye on this open stream for new folks to add to my inner circle of people to follow.
  • Adding a third item to this that I tweeted after the fact, the serendipity that I’ve enjoyed as a result of engaging with such a broad audience has led to some amazing things like new business, podcast interviews and even the opportunity to write the foreword to Janet Fouts latest book.

While I realize that my strategy doesn’t work for everyone (just like I’m finding out that my blog-reading strategy varies wildly from person to person), it seems to be working for me. I’m not sure what happens when this number grows to 15,000 or 20,000, right now, I’m going to keep adjusting my filters and enjoying the benefits of lots of social “friends” to give and receive valuable information on research, restaurants and rollodex access).

What is your Twitter follow strategy?

Changing Filters

By 4 Comments

A few weeks ago, my friend, Ron Green (CTO of Powered in his spare time) and I were in New York on business. He and I are both iPhone app guys and we were comparing notes over dinner. One of the apps he strongly recommended was Best Camera by renowned photographer, Chase Jarvis. Chase’s premise being that the “best camera” is the one that you have with you and more and more often, that happens to be the camera on one’s phone.

Why am I telling you this? Because I love Best Camera’s ability to create filters (a la Photoshop) for the pictures I take with my iPhone. In my case, I’ve always been a huge fan of black and white photography so not having this capability on the iPhone sucked. Don’t get me wrong, I like color photos too but there’s something about the way black and white photography adds an artistic flair to ordinary pictures.

Here are a few examples of before and after pictures in color and after I’ve applied Best Camera’s “Paris filter which creates a black and white effect:

The Colorado River (color)




The Colorado River (black and white)




“Not the Moon” (color)




“Not the Moon” (black and
white w/ “cool” filter applied)




Cornfield (color)




Cornfield (black and white)

Right about now you’re thinking, “okay Aaron, you’ve proven that you’re at least a mediocre photographer who can hit a button that makes your color pictures black and white. So what’s your point?!?” Fortunately, I do have one. And it’s not just about showing off a few pictures I took with my iPhone. My point is that not only does adding a filter to my photos change the way I take pictures with my phone but it has also made taking pictures less utilitarian and more enjoyable.

The reason I took time to write a blog post about this is that changing other filters in your life can have similar (if not more significant) effects. For instance, think about shifting from watching your local network’s news offering to listening to NPR’s Morning Edition. Or add 50 new songs to your iPod. Or if you’re into social media, try removing your 10 least favorite blogs/tweeters from your reader or Tweetdeck and adding 10 brand new people into the mix.
You obviously don’t want to undertake these exercises blindly but rather do some research. I usually find that asking some good questions on Twitter:
  • what new restaurant should I try?
  • what great songs should I be listening too?
  • which people are MUST follows on Twitter or Facebook?
  • who writes an amazing marketing blog?

I’ve been amazed by the quality of what I get back once I change my filters.

What filters have you changed recently? Or which will you change? I’m always looking for new ones so please let me know.

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Categories