A heirarchy exists in so many realms of our lives, so much so on the obscure cyber world of Social Media like Twitter.  The number of followers is the most basic metric one is ranked by on Twitter, followed in close second to the ratio of follow to followers. This is basic heirarchy of Twitter and is how we are profiled in seconds.

 Simply: On the surface of the social sphere of influence one has on Twitter is the number of followers you have on your profile.  Any doubt on this cast it in garbage can, one is most often profiled by not whom they are or shared interests, it’s still important-yes (not all that though), the engagement of even contemplating that one should consider following someone is simply by looking at the most basic metric; the number of followers they have.  Though the aforementioned ratio is important and plays a critical role.

Let’s play a little, and go over some scenarios, shall we:

1. Follow 10 and Followers 10 (ratio 1:1) – Big time newbie. Check them out later, if at all. Or follow them if you have any compassion and make them feel welcome.

2. Follow 10-100 and Followers 1,000-5,000 (ratio 0.01:1) – Top heavy, God they are pretty much a snob!  They are liked, yeah, and super popular.  They pretty much only care about the core few and will never follow you-ever! Don’t dream about it, you may even know them as an acquaintance.  I have a disdain for following these tweeps, yet I do on occasion, since sometimes they need to be followed…you gotta or hell you don’t how social media works bubba.

3. Follow 10 and Followers 10,000+ (ratio  0.001:1) – Probably a celebrity or well known person, and could be verified (OMG!).  They simply can’t follow back. Follow them and hope for a retweet by them, it will get you recognized in a big way! Cause that’s why we’re here!

4. Follow 100 and Followers 10 (ration 10:1) – Unpopular, lack appeal in some way. Probably not a good choice if anyone profiles who you follow to determine if they should follow.  These are often non-tweeters.

5. Follow 1,000 Followers 500 (ratio 2:1) – Upside down metric, they need to purge as I call it. The ratio is 2:1, a standard ratio should be 1:1 or around 1.5:1.  They are an average tweep with those numbers, they have appeal to a few (500 followers is nice) yet generally at this ratio, the appeal to follow this person is questioned, subconsciously.  If you are like this, either you are a researcher and need information, think you’ll get followers by just following, oblivious of this shameful game, or fucking don’t care (if that’s you, I’m envious).  If you want followers, time to purge, clean house. You’re not being followed back by them, so fuck them and they are weighing you down from being followed by those who really should.

So on occasion, I go through my own metrics, I won’t go above 2:1.

Yet I like a healthy stream of good tweets, however, and also, I see persons in the Scene I like all the time so I’ll follow regardless of the ideal ratio of 1:1….My ratio is a little upside down as a result.  Like my ratio is close to 1.2:1, I follow more by 20% than followed.  A healthy metric.

More on all this social silliness for another blog.