There is an interesting subculture among social media and online networking sites that warrants exploration. If you are a member of sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Ecademy, or Facebook you probably have encountered some of the characters in the subculture. Until a better descriptor evolves, I will call the group "The Collectors".
Disclaimer
Before I describe the characteristics of this subculture, I want to be clear that there are individuals who are seriously engaged with a large number of friends/followers/constituents and 'fans' because of celebrity/organization status, their contributions to 'interesting-ness' within their online communities, or their proven professional status as an expert. I do not consider the majority of these individuals collectors.
The Rationale Behind Connecting/Collecting
Collectors seem to be obsessed with acquiring the most friends/followers or network connections (depending upon the terminology within a particular online site). I know many of these individuals from several years of participation and research within online communities. Their rationale for connecting (their term) varies but tends to follow one of several patterns:
- The individual with the most connections is somehow the best person you should connect to (quantity trumps quality)
- The perception that an individual's ranking (by quantity of connections) equates to brand value within the community (quantity equals name recognition)
- Competitive team power is derived from the size of one's list of connections (my team is bigger than your team)
- Huge following numbers can translate into increased 'sucker-link' traffic to other sites and financial gain (playing the percentages)
- Social Network Gamers who could actually care less about the intended purpose for a site but simply get a thrill by figuring out how to game the highest scores/rankings/numbers.
How can you identify The Collectors?
- On sites like Twitter, collectors will have a skewed ratio of following-followers-posts (high following, low followers, even lower posts).
- Collectors are more likely to post links to blog posts like "How to Get NN,NNN Connections"
- Collectors will frequently post their numeric status within the community
- Collectors know where to find the apps that will automatically follow people and send messages to encourage connections
- Collectors on sites like Facebook.com with have extremely large lists of friends (in every city?), groups, applications, and fan pages
- Collectors are more likely to re-post links from the posts of others rather than contribute original materials
- Collectors tend to be among the first to connect with you...particularly if a site enables users to identify new members.
- Collectors tend to use more lengthy, boilerplate introductions or cut/paste personal notes
- Collectors may start with a product push rather than a handshake/conversation
So, What?
My original premise stands... the "Collector" phenomena warrants exploration. There are numerous subcultures and patterns that have evolved in the short history of social networks...this is one. You may choose to join the ranks of collectors. You may choose to ignore the piper's flute. You may choose to chuckle (as I do) at those who manage to acquire wealth (mostly in ego currency...some, for short-term financial gains) via time and energy on social networking sites. My preference would be to classify collectors as part of the background noise and spam that runs counter to the potential for productive online community building...but that is just me.
Full Disclosure
My personal collection of over 500 LinkedIn connections was part of personal research in patterns within social networking communities. I will be housekeeping that number over the next several months to improve the quality of my connectedness...I seriously doubt that any of the connections that I drop will even notice.