The Technology Doesn't Use You
Why I changed from @leahjones to @chicagoleah
A couple years ago, the economy tanked and my friends started losing their jobs. Instead of sympathy for them, I felt envy. I told them "The world is your oyster, the sky is the limit, now you can do anything!"
When you are envious of people losing their jobs in a terrible recession, it is time to think about what you are doing with your own life. So I did and that was part of how I found the courage to resign from my full-time gig and start Natiiv Arts & Media.
Lately, I've felt another envy creeping into my life. Envy of people that are using tools like Twitter and Facebook for purely personal reasons. People with a circle of 40 to 200 followers. People like my sister and my mom. I was also envious of Spike Jones who deleted his account and started fresh.*
-- this quote was brought to you by quoteurl
*apparently Spike's reset wasn't 100% intentional, but I thought it was and was still inspired to make the leap.
That's silly, right, envy that someone else did exactly what I could do. What was stopping me? Plenty, until this morning when I jumped and deleted my account.
My original twitter account, @leahjones, had 7,500 followers and was on 415 lists. I'd been using it for over three years, so I had street cred with it. I had a hundred or so photos on the associated TwitPic and used it as a log-in for commenting on blogs.
Walking through the list of 1500 people that I followed was like excavating my life online. It started with former Edelman colleagues, then a walk through Toronto when I went to Mesh in 2008, a stop in Michigan when I spoke at the CMPRSA, lots of Israelis from summer 2008 and 2009, Chicago people in groups by events when we met in person and newer clients.
I liked that about the people I followed, knowing why I followed each person and when I followed them. Remembering the event that put those five people together in a follow bunch.
Followers were a different story. In the summer of 2008 (I think) when Twitter was still fairly new, I was added to the recommendation engine Mr. Tweet and my followers skyrocketed from 1200 to 3000 in two months. I'd like to say, "I don't pay attention to follower numbers," but I do. Because of that Mr. Tweet, I found my name placed on Top Chicago Twitter lists and other sites that gathered more followers.
Some of my reasons...
You use the technology, it doesn't use you.
Phil Gomes was my first supervisor when I moved into digital at Edelman and he always said, "You use the technology, it doesn't use you." I say it to my clients all the time, but do I believe it for myself? The answer has been no. I've set few boundaries for my own use of technology and I wanted to fix it. This was a place to start.
I began to believe my hype
Him: How many followers do you have? Me: 7,500 Him: Wow! That's a lot! How do you leverage it?
Was I special because I had 7,500 followers? No. I just got here first. I'm not good at my job because I have followers. I'm good at teaching social media, because I've lived it as a normal user. I'm good in the field, because I've worked with all sorts of clients to educate, brainstorm and create and execute strategy.
Yes, I want to be famous, but not for this.
Sunday night I was the event chair and MC for an event with Jeff Garlin, Fred Armisen and Jeff Tweedy. I used to do stand-up comedy and I've never found something to replace the feeling from a room of people laughing at your jokes. As the MC/event chair, nobody expected me to be funny or even comfortable on stage, but I was both.
That feeling is where I get the adrenaline rush. Not from getting a particularly pithy tweet retweeted. That is the feeling that I want to have on a more regular basis. Being a public speaker, comedian, presenter - I love that rush.
Quality vs Quantity
I've told my clients over the past few years that it isn't about gathering the largest following, but finding the right people and creating great content. Easy to say when you're walking around with a 7500 people following you.
I needed to experience building an account from the ground up again. I need to know what it feels like not to have all those easy connections and click-throughs.
Now, I'm not saying I wasn't following quality people or that quality people weren't following me. I'm saying that I needed to start from scratch to understand what my clients are going through when they start from scratch.
My client's brand is more important than my brand
My clients hire me for my ability to teach, my ability to brainstorm, my ability to project manage and my ability to research. They know that my Rolodex is deep and I can make introductions, but they also need to know that I think their brand is more important than my own.
By killing off "At Leah Jones," I'm putting my clients back in the front seat.
My reputation is not equal to my Twitter following
My reputation is built on being a good person, a good public speaker, a good professional, and a good friend. I've learned that I can organize a rocking event and make my volunteers feel at ease. I know that I recommend an angle to take with building a fan base that works.
I am not the number that follows my twitter name. I am not the number of subscribers to my blog. I am not the number of hits I get or the number of clips in my press folder.
What I lose
I lose my Q/A base. I used to be able to throw out a question about anything and get an answer within seconds. I'll probably have to use Google a bit more now.
I lose the non-stop action that was my twitter stream. I'm only following 70 people right now, down from 1500. That means I'll have to go back to reading books if I want constant text amusement.
I lose my easily quantifiable "influence" score. Potential sponsors will now look at my Twitter account and say "She's only been tweeting for a month, I'm not going to sponsor her." But I think I'll get over that.
There you have it
I quit my Twitter account. I started a new one. It is an experiment and I'm already enjoying the results.
Talia Klein wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
This is a great post, Leah. I'm happy I am on the refollow list (like I already tweeted). Lots of love, hon.
Igor wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
It certainly took some guts, but if the quality of your followers wasn't an issue why haven't you considered starting another account instead?
Bobby Rettew wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
This is awesome and point well taken. A few months ago I had a similar epiphany...left a partnership and went out on my own. I am also wondering....does it mean jack crap that I have over 2K followers? No...I too want to be a part of a group doing cool work, collaborating, and not creating noise. I like people that have the guts to chat it up like this...and only met Spike once, and I truly respect the guy! Thanks for this note! it made me think!
Adam King wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
I can really see how this puts it all into perspective. It's easy to associate too much with "Twitter achievements" when in reality, Twitter is simply a space, a tool, a piece of wood to sculpt and shape into something useful for you and everyone involved.
Now you have me thinking about doing the same thing. Great post.
Kevin Dugan wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
Your client's brand is more important than your brand is an excellent point. And it's true. But the clients do not always feel that way. They want someone with the hard-earned street cred that you still have. But right or wrong some will have incorrect perceptions.
You can make an argument that, if the client does not understand the concept, it's a telling sign you might not want to work with them. So you still win.
The recession put me into transition a little over a year ago. Social media helped me land in six weeks. A year into my new gig and I'm much happier. Did my personal core help me land that quickly or was it my q/a base? It was my personal core. But I don't necessarily use Twitter as my main point of contact with my personal core.
The way I use Twitter, I may get benefits out of the account delete/noise purge. But I would not necessarily realize the same benefits. Not sure if I will take the plunge or not. Am I lemming either way? lol
Thanks for walking through your decision.
Benji Lovitt wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
Good for you, Leah. You are brave and bold! I'm going to follow your new account asap!
Fun Joel wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
As with Talia, I am glad to be on the new and improved list! :-)
Interestingly (or not) I have recently done sort of the opposite. Was always very selective with who I followed, because of how i use Twitter. But kept finding more people that I felt were worthy of a follow, even though the majority of their tweets might not have really spoken to me. Many were even friends of mine, etc. So I decided to increase the number of people I follow, and then created a separate list in my Tweetdeck for "People I Really Follow." Now I pay attention to that feed, and will occasionally glance at the "Everyone" feed periodically, when I have more time or something catches my eye.
Still needs some tweaking, but I'm liking it so far!
Edgar wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
I for one thank you, Leah... another metric that goes unnoticed when someone does this is us followers.. the real special ones get remembered and refollowed right after the account is removed.
It is understandable that you can't really be expected to remember the 1500 you followed, or at least the smaller number you really follow.
It shows that I have a real friend.
I needed that right now.
Thank you.
Edgar.
Etiquette Bitch wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
I have ~ 200 something followers on twitter, but I've never measured my success by how many social media "friends" or "followers" I have. I have little desire to go out there and force the world to love/listen to me. I put my product out, I share it as much as I can, and when I get an email or comment, I feel good.
mack collier wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
I missed some of the story, but I was under the impression that Spike didn't delete his account by choice, but rather Twitter did by accident. Then he went with @AskSpike, then got @SpikeJones back, as this tweet he left suggests:
Leah Jones wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
Let me work backwards and comment on a few things. (Also thanks for the interest, mainly I wrote this so my clients would know where I went and my friends would know that I didn't die).
@Mack - I fixed the post. I thought it resetting his account was 100% intentional on Spike's part, which shows where my head was at with regards to looking for a way to start over. I didn't discuss it with him before, I just took the inspiration and jumped.
@Edgar - I less than three you, E!
@Joel - I was selective in who I followed and it still felt like too much. I don't have the patience for list making, but cheers to those who do!
@Kevin - This didn't end relationships that I've built online, it just means I have to work harder to find people. Congrats on your not-so-new gig.
Dr. Pete wrote 3 months, 1 week ago:
Great story - it's so easy to let these tools take over your life. I've had to quit cold turkey more than once. I get a lot of value out of Twitter, but there's a curve of diminishing returns, and the time I spend is usually way past where it flattens out. I've quit using a couple of sites entirely, because they've become like the old days when I would crash after work and channel surf. I didn't enjoy it. I wasn't even relaxing in any real sense. I was just postponing my life.
TreoBenny wrote 3 months, 1 week ago:
I kinda want to preface my comment with a qualification of empathy. Actually, I think that's gonna be it right there.
I have a very dim view of the 'delete and start over' ideology. In my experience, (qualify that however you like) it's sensationalistic. Like the newest trend of athletes and pop figures retiring...but not really retiring. Like quitting a game you have every intention of continuing to play, just so the participants can stroke your ego and ask you to stay. A publicity stunt, if you will. Prominent figures and average Joe's alike, it's just about attention.
I do not like being hustled for my attention. (When I say "hustled" I mean manufacturing an interesting event from the otherwise uninteresting.)
So you delete and start over, and challenge yourself to refresh those connections rather than rest on your digital laurels. The argument could be made that a more formidable challenge is to stay fresh and interesting, without the aid of events like this. In fact, that would be my argument. I haven't formed an opinion on your motives, genuine or scripted, mostly because it's not required for this comment. I'm giving my opinion of the act, not the fact you did it.
Good luck with your new endeavor. :-)
Jessica Smith wrote 3 months, 1 week ago:
Darn you and Spike for making me think long and hard about doing this too. Your post is inspiring and logical...I'm seriously considering this now.
Anna Tarkov wrote 3 months ago:
Leah, I really applaud you for this. I recently left Facebook and went through similar rationalizations when I did that.
1
Dave C. wrote 3 months, 2 weeks ago:
(Slow clap)