Twitter ratio should be more prominent

Joshua Fruchter on his blog “Lawyer Casting” makes a good point about Twitter and the case for selectivity in choosing followers.  If you want to create a community make sure they share your interests and have interesting things to say.  I look for a couple things: are they law or social media – related twitterers?  Do they post interesting links rather than random comments?  If yes to both of those, I follow them.  As a result I following about 200 and have 260 followers.

“Which brings me to my modest proposal: Twitter should start displaying Twitter ratios in people’s profiles. For those of us interested in using Twitter to identify bright people with smart things to say (rather than simply boosting our egos), displaying the Twitter ratio will help us separate the wheat from the chaff, and identify thought leaders worth following.

Indeed, what’s great about the Twitter ratio is that it can’t be manipulated. In contrast to the number of followers, you can’t just raise your Twitter ratio by clicking “follow” on a huge number of people. That will drive down your ratio. Rather, the only way to obtain and maintain a high Twitter ratio is to publish intelligent observations that attract followers. Only by attracting followers with great content can you boost your Twitter ratio.

Bet you’re wondering – what’s my Twitter ratio? Check out http://twitter.com/joshfruchter. I have 274 followers, and am following 130 people, for a Twitter ratio of 2.11 (take that, President Obama!).”

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Tags: lawyers, Linkedin, social media