Robert Scoble's 13 Tips for Avoiding Followers

Robert Scoble, aka the Scobleizer, may be the most connected person on the planet. He's a techie / gadget guy who's all over the social media (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). He's the first person I decided to "Follow" with Google+.


Now before recommending the snippet below, I highlight that Scoble's a numbers geek. He is very clear about his passion: Searching for world-changing technology for Rackspace, the world's largest web hosting company. With this caveat in mind, please read and glean what you will. Yes, there will be a quiz at the end. 

Robert Scoble's 13 Tips for Avoiding Followers

OK, I'm going through all the 5,000 people I'm following one-by-one. I'm on "F" right now and I'm already seeing some patterns. Some of you are making a lot of mistakes. At least if you want people to follow you. So, if you don't want followers, here's what to do:

1. Don't be clear on your bio what drives you. Look at my bio. https://profiles.google.com/scobleizer I'm very clar what I want and what turns me on: "world changing technology." Yet many of you don't have bios, or, worse yet, are wishy washy about what you want.

2. You don't have good public posts that match your bio. If you say you are a photographer in your bio, don't be writing essays, post some photos! If you are a scientist, post something about science! If you say you are the world's best plumber, post something about how I should upgrade my bathroom, don't be posting only stuff about the new Android apps you found.

3A. No video. Video helps me know who you are. Especially if you are in it. OK, you might not think this is important, but it is. Google+ has video affordance. What does that mean? It LIKES video! So, if you aren't thinking about it you are messing up.

3B. No photos. Google+ likes photos better than any other service. If you haven't loaded any photos you really are missing out. Make sure you load them directly into Google+. Make them match your bio, even better!

4. Not enough posts. If you aren't posting a few times a week you won't be visible enough to get a lot of followers.

5. Too many posts! If you are posting more often than I am you'll lose followers (a good rule is more than four per day is probably too many unless you are hanging out with Barack Obama or +Trey Ratcliff and even then it's probably too many). Heck, I know I've lost followers because I've posted too often so don't try to post more often if you care about followers.

6. You post more kid or pet photos than anything else. Listen, I know your kids or pets are cuter than +Louis Gray's kids, but, really, we don't care. Post once in a while, but if every post you make is about your dog or your kids then you probably won't get many followers.

7. You can't write. Now this one is a subtle one, but some of you just can't write very clearly. Look at the top users here, they are using a few tricks. If you can't write, put everything into a list (look at what I'm doing here). Write short, punchy sentences. Pick a fun headline that will get people to read your posts. Etc etc etc. If this is your problem, ask for help, I'd love to help people write better if the rest of it is there.

8. Post a lameass image of yourself, or, worse, don't post an image at all. Lots of you could really use an upgrade on your image. Hang out with one of the photographers I'm following and beg them to make you a better photo. Mine? It was done by professional +kris krüg while an intern for pro photographer +Chase Jarvis held a $2,000 flash. There's a reason I use it everywhere. It's a cool photo, shot in Seattle.

9. Don't tell us where you work, or what you do. Yeah, I do look at your bio. I try to follow people who are real, and who really have jobs. If you don't have a job, make up what you really want to do at your future job. That will help us help you.

10. Only repost other people's stuff. Yeah, I want to follow people who repost +Chris Pirillo's videos and nothing else. Really, I do! Not. I already follow him. So, write something original! Or, better yet, post a video, a photo, or at least brag that you have a better high score in Angry Birds than I do.

11. Be a racist or, um, post some hot Victoria Secrets' models. I've already seen several jerks, that's easy, but unless you personally photographed the Victoria Secrets' models, like my friend+William Storage did (his blog is at http://blog.theeyegame.com/author/bstorage/ and he really did have them naked in his kitchen which made me jealous forever) then don't be trying to post that stuff and get followers.

12. Don't be interesting. Oh, really? You have a job working as a garbage man? You think that's not interesting? I bet your job is more interesting than most other people. I bet that even an accountant could find something interesting in their daily lives to share. It might take some work, but, heck, if you teach me a cool trick about Excel every day I'll follow you.

13. You aren't following interesting or active people. When deciding to follow someone I look at who you are following. If you are following all dead accounts I know you haven't put much care into this. So I won't follow you. You are defined by who you are following. If you follow better people your output will be better. So, follow better people!

Also, pay attention to your Klout Score. If you say that anyone who cares about Klout is a douchebag then you probably aren't worth following either (every single person who has said that has been a real bore and never has many followers). http://klout.com (they will soon be watching Google+, so don't worry if your score is low right now, they will catch up to your value here).

Any other tips? 

What did you gain from reading this advice?  Are you motivated and uplifted? Or, do you perhaps despair at the sorry state of civil society? Is Scoble an admirable person? Does the fact that he has 200,000 Twitter followers delight, bemuse, terrify, or disgust you? Fellow techies felt he was spot-on, while comments from the humanities majors decried his shallow Hal approach to relationships. 200,000 followers can't be wrong, can they?


What I got out of this: 

• Scoble never claimed to be the guru for deep relationships or powerful writing, so for those subjects I look elsewhere and everyone is happy. Criticizing Scoble for being shallow is like criticizing a rose for having thorns. Consider the nature of the beast.
• Scoble drops names and flouts connections as if social media and networking were proxies for character development and happiness. Who dies with the most toys wins? Which comes first, self-actualization, or self-esteem? Contrary to what Maslow taught, I think a person can be fully actualized and still deeply unhappy. 
• Scoble has a nerdy sense of humor. I don't know how long I would want to sit with him at a bar. I am convinced he couldn't care less about my sentiments in that regard. I am just one person out of 6.8 Billion potential followers.
• My purpose in using Social Media (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, this blog, etc.) is not to run up the numbers of followers. On the other hand, we all have limited time and lots of choices as to how to spend it. At a certain point, numbers of followers can be a good indicator of the value people place on one's contribution.   
• People like Scoble (smart, tech savvy, connected, slightly awkward, aloof) are taking over the world 50,000 Tweets at a time. Contemplative people who quietly and humbly work to better themselves and their immediate surroundings are in danger of being overlooked as irrelevant. This victory of quantity over quality is troubling, but I do not want to end up on the wrong side of the digital divide. 
• I am not about amassing followers, but I do not desire to run them off, either!  

What do you think? Place your quiz response in the comments below. (I told you there would be a quiz!)