Influence Project: Tips OR Tricks? Tweet

Fast Company put together the Influence Project as a way to discover and analyze online micro communities. They are holding a contest in search of the most influential person online. I’m in the top 30 and have found so many new personalities in business as a result of this promotional competition. I’m rooting that Brian Lam win just so he feels the project was worth while when it’s all said and done.
(via influenceproject) ;)

In a recent interview by Fast Company, I was asked, “how do you gauge a person’s online influence?”

My reply:

Virgil said, “Follow an expert.” If social media had a king, he would say: “Follow an expert you like on Twitter and Facebook.”

Influence is about behavior, social capitol, and a likable personality. Social perception, impression management, and persuasion are the three pillars of social capitol. It’s less about how many fans and followers you have, and more about what other people say about you and the psychology of persuasion.

Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence points out that politicians use celebrities to sway votes. The association to celebrities can be linked to the way people make assumptions that we are like our friends.

Duncan Watts revokes the influencer theory to some extent, stating that true influence will never be traceable. However, Watts misses the phatic dimension. In Roman Jakobson’s work, Phatic‚ communication is when someone says, “Sorry I can’t hear you, your breaking up. I have bad reception.” Micro-blogging and online communities host most phatic conversations. Despite Watts‚ findings, the influence debate will go on and on, and in my opinion, authenticity and personality are at the core of influence.

Social Media Influence is about a push and pull relationship with a community via social networks.
(via influenceproject)

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Vote for who you want to win and enter for a change to win. Why not? It’s all friendly competition. Whoever wins will be crowned the most influential online by Fast Company Magazine, a Conde Nast publication

(via influenceproject)