m-Bossed

#mbossedpromo Winner of Never Eat Alone book

Congratulations to Jason Nickolay (@parkerozgood) for winning a copy of
Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone.

What is Twitter's magic number?

photo by: Andres Rueda

Twitter is a tool, albeit a great tool, for sharing and exchanging information 140 characters at a time. Unlike any other communication tool, the power of Twitter lies in the near limitless size of your potential audience. If your 140 character sound bite is deemed worthy others will retweet, or republish your message, to their own group of followers. For this reason, many on Twitter are obsessed with building the largest group of followers for their audience.

Your blind obsession of collecting followers could be sabotaging your chance at forming a true community of similarly interested individuals or tribe. Studies from anthropologists suggest that there is a finite limit to our social groups due to the size of our brain's neocortex. Robin Dunbar, a renowned British anthropologist, pegs the number at 150 for humans. Dunbar's number has been challenged over the years, but subsequent numbers have still remained below 300. Regardless of the true number, we are preconditioned with the ability to know individuals and how they relate to one another when group sizes are relatively small. The theory holds up in practical application. Did you know everyone in your graduating class? Do you know everyone in your workplace? Odds are strong that if you answered 'yes' to those questions, then both groups are less than 150 people.

Does the same cerebral limitation apply with interactions online? Can you have more than 150 Facebook fans/friends, Twitter followers, blog subscribers, etc? All of the social media platforms extend any one person's reach beyond what is humanly possible. After all, Ashton Kutcher would be hard press to have 4,556,998 real life friends! Little research has been done to find the tipping point between a meaningful interaction (social) to worthless banter (broadcast). Maureen Evans, an early Twitter adopter, began tweeting recipes in 2007. She quickly built a loyal following who were engaged readers that also offered their opinions. But once the community passed the tipping point, the once jovial atmosphere collapsed suggesting the social media does not scale infinitely.

Among the regulars, people knew each other and enjoyed conversing. But as her audience grew and grew, eventually cracking 13,000, the sense of community evaporated. People stopped talking to one another or even talking to her. - Clive Thompson, Wired

Currently, I follow 354 Twitter users who are in some way connected to the printing industry. Even at this relatively small size, it is a daily challenge to review each tweet. With each additional follow, I find myself skimming more and noticing less. Not surprisingly, this is why those with massive Twitter followers only search and respond to direct messages or "@" replies. At this point, haven't we just taken the "social" out of social media and turned it into another broadcast medium?

Shout back: Do you think it is better to build a niche audience for conversations or the largest following possible?

Never Eat Alone Book Giveaway. Learn how to be a connector! #mbossedpromo http://bit.ly/92v3Ls

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Get a free copy of Keith Ferrazzi's
Never Eat Alone
courtesy of m-bossed.com*

Contest ends 02/22/2010

How?

• Retweet the title of this post by using the Retweet button on the right toolbar.
• Feel free to add your own comments on creating or growing a professional network in the tweet.

* winner will be randomly selected from the #mbossedpromo hashtag from dates of 02/16/2010 through 02/22/2010

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Thank You! m-Bossed.com Passes a few Milestones

photo by: Aidan Jones

To all of those who have visited, read, and commented, Thank You! You are the reason that this print media blog has continued and was able to pass a couple of recent milestones.

If have visited but not signed up for the RSS feed or e-mail subscription (on the left), please take the time so you do not miss any of the posts.

If you have comments or suggestions on the what topics you would like to see this year, please e-mail.

@All
How are you setting your bar? Do you put more emphasis on unique page views, comments, link backs, or longevity?

Thanks Again!

Grab Your Kindle and Go

m-bossed*
is officially available from Amazon's Kindle Store.
Get it here.

* This is as a convenience to the readers that come to m-bossed who love their Kindle's, as Amazon's pricing structure will probably not make any blogger rich!

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. m-bossed only recommends products or services that will add value to our readers. Posted in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Adobe pulls the rug

...out from under the Print Service Provider Program. Unfortunately this comes just days after my post on open source software alternatives where I encouraged printers to sign up for the program. Citing a lack of demand, as reported yesterday on American Printer, Adobe has canceled the program. Now might be a good time to contact your local PIA or give some of the open source alternatives a glimpse, or be prepared to pay more.

The Adobe Partner Connection Print Service Provider Program has been discontinued. Adobe maintains relationships with many regional print industry associations, which may offer similar benefits—look for one in your area. - Adobe's website

image by: cote

Coming Soon to the Kindle Store

By the end of this week (waiting approval), those of you toting your brand new Kindle can subscribe to m-Bossed from the Kindle Store. Carry it where you go!

While you were out...

A few posts you might have missed.

1. What will you be reading with next year? - A prototype of what the future of Sports Illustrated, or for that matter any magazine, might look like heading into 2010.
   
2. Oil for the Machine - small business software. - A list of cost effective software solutions for the foundation of any small business.
   
3. Open Source Alternatives for Small Printers. - Tired of carrying the high cost of Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, take a look at some free open source alternatives. They probably won't do the heavy lifting but could cut down on a seat or two.

photo by: net_efekt