Oh, don’t give me that. Of course you want more fans.

It’s only human to want acceptance. It makes us feel good when people project positivity towards us, pay attention to the work we do, and reward us for our accomplishments. We don’t NEED that acceptance. But we still WANT it.

A lot of people spend time out here online trying to get noticed, and there’s nothing essentially wrong with that – but it’s all in the approach. Those that spend their time broadcasting about how great they are? They probably aren’t doing themselves any favours. But those who provide genuine value, who don’t try too hard to be popular, and who do good work? They deserve to be noticed, don’t you think?

Let’s look at celebrity for a minute. No no, I mean REAL celebrity, not Internet-famous celebrity.

Both Mel Gibson and Bono are very famous, there’s no question about that. But who has more fans? I’d say that, in light of recent events, that Bono definitely has more fans. Why? Because he IS a fan. From what I know about the man, he is about as real as it gets – humble, authentic, and really, just a regular guy – with an extraordinary life. I’ve heard stories from people I know who have had personal encounters with him – he is the kind of person who will take the time to actually sit, and talk with anyone, about whatever they care about. He raises other people up above himself. He does what he can to help the greater good. He is a fan of people, and of life.

Gibson? Not so much, eh. That guy seems to spend more time ticking off his fans than raising them up.
‘Nuff said.

Here’s Your Assignment
Ok class, a couple of weeks back, you were tasked with looking up from your mobile devices for a while and instead, having conversations with the people standing in front of you. How did you do?

It’s time to move to the next level. This week, I want you to find people who are doing cool things, and I want you to find a way to tell them how much you appreciate what they are doing. I want you to become one of their fans. And don’t just tell THEM what you appreciate, tell others too. Shout it from the rooftops if you have to – but be a genuine fan.

Now, don’t go getting all kissy-face and “great post-y” on me, that’s not the point. The point is to spend more time focusing on the amazing things that others are doing, INSTEAD of the amazing things that you’re doing. Project your admiration and pride outwards. Bono wins countless awards and has people banging down his door telling him how great he is all the time. But instead of letting it go to his head, he takes that energy and points it to other people. He uses his influence to shine a light on the good things in the world, and it comes back to him, because he ultimately wins the admiration of people who may not even love his music. See how this works?

I want you to do the same this week – focus your energy not on proving to the world how great YOU are, but on proving to the world how great other people are.

Deal?

[photo credit: spacelion on Flickr]

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I love being inspired by other people’s blog posts. Speaking of inspirational, have you met Jon Swanson? I’ve been a fan of Jon’s for well over a year. His blog, Levite Chronicles, is one of the first blogs I go to every morning. Jon blogs about life, faith, family, work, new media…really, a bit of everything. What I love about Jon is how he so thoughtfully and carefully crafts each post, in a way that leaves you with a sense of clarity and plenty to ponder.

This morning, he wrote a wonderful post called “Accumulate or Collect”. It’s required reading for my post so go read it now. I’ll wait.

Great, you’re back.

Jon describes his enjoyment of coffee (we are kindred spirits that way) and the many coffee mugs he has as a result. Despite having vast quantities of mugs adorning the shelves of his office, he considers himself an “accumulator” of mugs as opposed to a “collector”. He goes on to cleverly point out that a collector “has discernment”, whereas an accumulator has none. Collectors are meticulous about what they collect, how they categorize and label things, and how they track the value of their collections.

My brother collects coins. It’s obvious that it’s a collection because it’s all perfectly labelled, organized and tracked. He knows what he has and how much it’s worth to him. In other words, he isn’t just accumulating a random pile of coins on a shelf in his office.

Accumulators, on the other hand, may like the things they have accumulated very much, but they don’t necessarily have a rhyme or reason for it. Jon accumulates coffee mugs. I accumulate fridge magnets. I don’t really care where they come from, as long as I get them while I’m visiting a place, or they are given to me by someone who has been there. They aren’t labelled, they are just stuck on my fridge, willy nilly. They are an accumulation.

Jon’s article teaches a great lesson about how we deal with the information that comes at us. We can just accumulate all this stuff in our heads, and not really put much thought into it, or, we can start to really collect that information – meaning sort it, discern it, get rid of what doesn’t work, make use of what does.

And that brings me, naturally, to social media.

Followers, followees, friends and fans. Anyone who is in to social media has some combination of all of these. It’s the foundation of this vast online community we’re in, for without that two-way connection none of this would be effective.

Have you ever really sat down to think if your base of connections is a collection or an accumulation? If you put it in context of Jon’s definitions, then an “accumulation” of connections is just that. It’s not thought out, not categorized. It’s just a whole lot of numbers. If your goal on any of the social media tools is to just have the most friends or followers on your list, then you’re missing the point. If you are simply accumulating numbers, then you aren’t making real connections. If you are sitting around, tracking (and caring) if your numbers are growing steadily or if you are in steep decline, then you are missing the point. If you are complaining to every person that unfollows you, you are missing the point.

Collections are what it’s all about. I can pretty well categorize my social media connections. I have business connections, friendship connections, people I just joke around with, people who I am fans of, and people who I learn from. I have categories for subjects, too. There are people I talk to about music, entrepreneurship, books, tech gadgets, video, or pets. Do people fall into more than one category? To be sure! I suppose, if I wanted to get really fancy about it, I could map my connections, see how it’s all linked.

What’s important with a collection is that even though each item in the collection may have a different purpose, they must all do one thing – provide value. If I collect postage stamps, I’m not going to have a big pack of regular stamps that you put on a letter in my collection. They are noise to my collection. I am going to seek out the unique, interesting stamps though. The ones with stories. The ones with something to contribute to my collection.

My networks are the same way. If I follow or friend someone who only contributes noise to my conversations, then I don’t find value there. It’s nothing personal. I may not see the value, simply because the content of that person’s stream is not aligned with my interests. Someone else may find tremendous value in the same person.

The people I welcome into my network are the ones that are providing me with something unique, interesting, entertaining, and valuable. To me. It doesn’t mean it has to be valuable to you. It’s my collection. The beauty of collections, because they are meticulously put together the way you want them to be, is they become uniquely your own.

So, to accumulate or collect? It’s a provocative question. Look around your network. Is your collection something you’d be proud to show off? But more importantly, is your collection providing you with value?

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