Final Tally – Midnight, December 13, 2009 – Did It Really Work?

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 172 Followers: 194 Listed: 9

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 30 – December 13, 2009 (Sun): Have Fun!

Above you see the final tally as of Midnight, Day 30. In fairness, if I used the same criteria as in all other previous days, the number would have been reported as of the following morning: 202 followers. Who estimated the closest? @mikegastin, who guessed 207. If you’re interest Mike, I hit 207 late on the 31^st day. Now, before anyone says anything, Mike was also the first person to guess – on Day 13 – so he really did do the best job.

@mikegastin wants a free trip to Aruba as a result of his grand prognostication. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything the budget for prizes, so the notoriety of the mention represents all I have to offer. Hopefully, it’s good enough. On the other hand, Mike might be pleased to know there’s a chance somebody vacationing in Aruba, drinking one of those crazy tequila-laden umbrella drinks at some bikini bar, might be in a wi-fi hotspot even as we speak reading his very name.

Maybe

Maybe not.

I’ve got a bunch of observations I’d like to share with you and I will in future posts. For now, I’d like you to take away this fact: Did I dominate Twitter as @joelcomm promised? I think you’ll agree with me when I give an unequivocal “No!” At the same time, though, as I ran this experiment I had several other Twitter accounts operating.

My first Twitter account – @AstronomyTop100 – has 371 followers. I started this account in February and stayed active through the outreach project. I didn’t do anything close to this 30-day plan and you can see where it got me. I continue to get a constant drip of followers – say, 2-3 a day – despite completing the project more than a week ago. This suggests both momentum and a narrow niche do give you an advantage in attracting followers.

My second Twitter account – @FiduciaryNews – has 210 followers. I started this account about two months before I started @ChrisCarosa (and thus before I began the 30-day experiment). I tweet news stories relevant to fiduciaries and use it to also promote stories I’ve written for FiduciaryNews.com. I also didn’t do anything as calculating as this 30-day plan for this account, either. The number of followers to this account, though, has been accelerating of late. I attribute this growth to, again, a narrow niche, but also a coordinated social media campaign. Not the same as the 30-day plan, this specific campaign integrates LinkedIn, Twitter and the web-site in an interactive fashion. As a result, the site has received a bit of a buzz within its narrow niche (which I believe is narrower than the @AstronomyTop100 niche).

Clearly, @joelcomm’s 30-day plan did produce results. How can I say that? Simple. @ChrisCarosa had none of the advantages of the other two accounts. It did not have a narrow, well-defined niche. It wasn’t part of a broader project that brought in other social media elements. You might say, unlike its three-legged counterparts, @ChrisCarosa teeters as a one-legged stool. Of course, @ChrisCarosa does have one advantage the other two Twitter accounts don’t have: I actively converse on this account. I suspect if I continue to do so, I’ll continue to accumulate followers.

Which cycles back to a thematic lament I’ve expressed throughout this experiment: What’s the point? @ChrisCarosa has a fuzzy (and hopefully) evolving objective. Currently, though, it remains solely a social thing. If it grows beyond that, such growth will come from organic means.

Thanks to all those who have followed and participated in my “30-days to dominate Twitter” experiment. This entry represents the formal conclusion to the experiment. I may add an addendum of specific “Lessons Learned” but most of those will appear in the “It’s a Nerd’s World” category, not in this subcategory.