Guy Kawasaki’s AllTop launched frienderati.alltop.com today. Or yesterday maybe. But it’s being talked about this morning over on Mashable and TechCrunch and of course, FriendFeed. It looks like Frienderati is listing the most followed people.
Which got me thinking: What if all of a sudden, they weren’t the most followed anymore? Here’s an experiment…
Everyone unfollow everyone on the Frienderati.
If everyone unfollows, they’re not the most popular anymore, are they? Then what does AllTop do? Rewrite the list? How many times? Is there a subjective measure of popular to be accounted for that does not take into account straight follower numbers?
So this has got me thinking about what it means to be popular on line. Not “famous” online, but really popular. Is it the size of your following? Is it some measure of loyalty of your following–click rate for every link you post, maybe?
What does popular mean these days?
7 responses so far ↓
1 markzero // Jul 14, 2008 at 8:20 am
Why would I stop following someone just because he or she has become popular? It’s a bit like people who complain that bands “sell out.” Who cares about a list, otherwise?
2 Michael Zensius // Jul 14, 2008 at 8:37 am
Aaaaaand why would I start to follow someone just because they were popular? One of the least exciting things about online social networking is how they’ve made success in socializing seem “quantifiable”. Evite was an early offender, with public RSVPs. These latest services with their friend counts are fresh horrors.
3 Louis Gray // Jul 14, 2008 at 10:43 am
I certainly didn’t ask Guy to put the list together, or to be included. Like his other experiments on AllTop, I expect it to have close to zero impact.
There is no “one right list”, and this certainly isn’t it. Being included there is no reason for somebody to follow me, and no reason to be unfollowed.
4 Eric Rice // Jul 14, 2008 at 10:48 am
Aside from that list reading like obituaries “FATHER, GEEK, HUSBAND”, there are many people on that list who are most CERTAINLY not A-listers, and as someone who is on the list, I’d like to point out that I didn’t put myself on the list, someone or something else did.
I’m way too much of a open-thinking, techcrunch-hating smart-ass to be on a list like that. /smirk
5 Michael Gaines // Jul 14, 2008 at 11:05 am
This is absurd. I’m friends with several people on that list, two of them co-host Push My Follow with me, and they’re smart people. I suggest you think twice about unfollowing people that are actually intelligent and influential.
6 Ryan Kuder // Jul 14, 2008 at 11:38 am
Just to be clear, I haven’t unfollowed anyone today. I’ve got friends on that list too. My question is more of a thought experiment for AllTop. If number of followers is the metric, what if that metric suddenly shifted dramatically? If that’s not the metric, what is it? My guess is that followers was a starting point, layered with a subjective assessment by AllTop.
But it does lead to the question, what makes someone popular? Is it a rich get richer kind of thing? If the same people are always making these lists, how do new people get “discovered”? It happens all the time. The Frienderati just got me thinking about it today.
7 Michael Gaines // Jul 14, 2008 at 11:47 am
I don’t see the difference between someone being popular on the ‘net, and in a circle of friends. Before the net, you knew people through your friends. The only difference today is that you have a larger circle of friends, and a MUCH larger pool to pick from.
I follow people in they’re friends, people I learn from, or people that I perhaps would get news from before other people. I don’t follow famous people for the sake of it. Maybe I’m unique.
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