Twitter just released Twitter Lists. Steve Rubel points out that this is perhaps the new measure of influence?

In July 2008 I wrote “The Death of the A-List” which caused a slight stir. Ok, not really, I was right.

Here’s what I know. We don’t need lists to tell ourselves how influential we are. You don’t need them. I don’t need them.

You have influence or you don’t.

I was influential speaking to 30 entrepreneur ladies in a knitting shop the other night in Lakewood, Ohio. I didn’t need to be on their list to know I affected them. I could see it in their eyes.

I was influential on stage in front of 3k people introducing Chris Brogan and Gary Vaynerchuk at the past Affiliate Summit events. Do I need those people in that audience to put me on a list to tell me that I’m influential? No. Hundreds of emails and contacts later I just know I did a good job.

Haven’t we got past this yet? Twitter lists seem to want to resurrect the idea that certain people are “more” than others. Being on a list doesn’t mean anything anymore, as it shouldn’t. It’s nice to be included, but…

Influence is measured to me in terms of sales, leads and publicity for myself or my clients. Or in the way that my audience reacts to me either immediately or down the road. Perhaps it’s measured different for you, that’s fine. The point is there’s ROI in influence. Being on a list is going to help that? I’m not so sure.

Or maybe I’m missing the point entirely?

Todd says…

I think Twitter Lists will end up helping separate the men from the boys when it comes to influence. In addition to seeing a Twitter users follower count, we can now see the number of other Twitter users who have added them to lists (example to the right). I would argue that getting added to a list is a bigger deal than simply getting someone to follow you.

In today’s world, if you need to be on a list to prove your influence. You’ve already lost.

Let me tell you about my friend Lewis Howes. He’s the “Linkedin Guy”. You may have heard of him. Now, when I say friends I mean we actually hang out and I know him as a person, not just as an business associate. We’ve done shows and webinars together, and we both generally believe that the new tools that are available to all of us are changing the world, and your small business, one at a time… for the better.

I normally don’t like to blog about events that are timely because then this content is out of date down the road. But I really want you to sign up and take this free Webinar from Lewis on Sept 2, 2009. Here’s the signup link.

Lewis, and Twitter guy Sean Malarkey, will be doing this free Webinar to talk about the top secrets of Twitter and Linkedin you may not know about. Now, you’re saying, “Secrets?”. Yeah, well, “secrets” is just a good marketing word to get you to take action. What you’re going to learn is tactics, and case studies that people and businesses use to make success using these amazing free online tools.

There are over 600 people registered for the free event already, so go get in now. And let me know how it was after by leaving a comment here.

Well, here I am, with supposedly 10k Twitter followers. Yay me.

Here’s what I think. “Big deal”.

What does it really mean? If anything at all?

I Didn’t Try Either
It’s not that I even tried to get them either. The thing is, aside from doing an auto-follow that Twitter themselves turned on for me over a year ago, I don’t even try to get followers. I mean, I have no plan or do no special things to try and get them.

I simply use Twitter as I feel like it. I retweet stuff I find interesting or problem solving or fun. I post tweets about my personal stuff and my business stuff and I’m blatantly promotional sometimes for my stuff. I often have personal conversations with others too. In fact, some, if not many, would consider me a bad follow.

So why do I have 10k followers? Once again, I’m at a Twitter crossroads. Maybe you can help.

Now what? Go for 20k followers? 50k?

What’s the point? It seems to me it’s purely a narcissistic mentality to pursue bigger numbers?

Perhaps I should start a nofollow me campaign like the Burger King “unfriend” me thing on Facebook.

Yeah, that’s it. Do NOT follow me.

Or maybe I should try to be such a bad Tweeter that people will have no choice but to unfollow me.

I wonder how fast I could take my 10k down to 1k?

Yesterday as I was browsing my Twitter followers, I came across a retweet from someone I know in Cleveland who linked to a local fitness company who made a video about their training programs. So I clicked on the Twitter link, went to the blog, and watched the YouTube video.

Then I picked up the phone to call them to find out how I could join.

SALE!!! DING!!! SOCIAL MEDIA JUST SOLD SOMETHING OFFLINE!!!

So let’s review again. Twitter is where I found the link. The blog had a post that included a YouTube video, which I watched. Then I called the company and asked about joining.

See what happened here?

Three very nice social media tools worked together to drive an ROI for an offline business.

This can be done… Don’t believe you can’t do it, because you can.

Here’s the video that I watched, that is very well done in my opinion.

Well, I’m not sure how much they “get it”, but I know they use it and monitor it. Case in point…

Last week I was informed via phone that I had just passed my fifth year of hosting with Rackspace. It’s obvious I love the company and their services because why else would I pay so much for it if I didn’t? FYI, if you want to find out about getting a server at Rackspace either go here and fill out my form or contact me and I’ll give you my personal rep’s information.

So back to the point. After I got notified and personally thanked from my account manager. I went on Twitter and started whining about how I should have gotten more from them than a phone call and thank you.

About an hour later I get a call from someone at Rackspace who saw my Twitter and was apologetic and wanted to thank me even more. After that call, someone else called me and thanked me again.

Then a few days later, I received a package in the mail from the team at Rackspace. It was some boxes of microwave popcorn and some Jones Soda and a t-shirt. But a few days later I got a really nice surprise when a package arrived that was a really nice Rackspace backpack.

All from whining about how I didn’t get anything on Twitter…. :)

So, I have to give it to the social media team at Rackspace, they are listening. And then they’re taking action too. Nice work, and thanks for the stuff.

Although, it appears someone has their Twitter username and is squatting on it?

Sticking with my “the power of free” mantra, I put together a small little mini-site for anyone to use that has business-type Twitter backgrounds. It’s over at TwitterBacks.com. Head on over and download a Photoshop file and customize it to make your Twitter background personalized! Here’s mine.

Why? Well, watch the video. It’s free. If you want to use them, go ahead, if you don’t, don’t.

Being “social online” using things like Twitter and Facebook is all part of having and building a brand online, especially a personal brand. I cannot “not” be on Twitter and be active. If I wasn’t, it would be a liability to me in my line of work as a consultant in the business of online marketing.

So the downside to being so social online is that it can affect my family life. My real life away from the computer and the Internets. Can our love ones and friends sometimes feel that we are more connected to our online friends than the real people that matter most… them? Yes, it can happen, even if it’s not true.

This video talks about those issues. How do you handle these issues?

Twittermethis.com, my grand Twitter marketing experiment, is up for grabs. Who wants to take it over and give it a good home? I just don’t have time to do it. Watch the video for details.

I’m trying out a little experiment in “social media” land. This time I’m using Twitter. I’ve created a game called Twittermethis. Get it? “Riddle me this?” From Batman… You got it.

Twittermethis is easy to play. You just follow @twittermethis on Twitter, wait for a question to be asked, and then be the first to answer it. Then you win! Usually the prize is $5.

So Jim, why do this? Because it’s fun, and well, it’s a good experiment in marketing on a new medium such as Twitter. This is not intended to be a business that profits. This is intended to see how many followers it can get with no marketing budget. So far, as of right now, it has 247 followers in about a week. Not bad. Watch the video below for more thoughts, and don’t forget to follow to win!

Think you can write good trivia questions? You can win $5! Check here.

A few weeks ago I quit Twitter because the information overload was too much for me. Now today I’m reading posts talking about how Twitter is referring tons of traffic to certain people’s blogs like Jeremiah.

I completely agree. I LOVE Twitter. I quit it because I was unable to feel like I could keep up with the conversations. There was too much to take in.

So should I go back to Twitter-land?

Well, I’ve thought about it, but here’s what’s stopping me.

I don’t think it’s fair to have a one-sided conversation. For example, there are certain “big name” bloggers who have thousands of followers, but do not reciprocate, or follow, those users back.

You know who you are.

To me, that’s crap. So I should let a few thousand people follow what I have to say, and not listen to what they have to say in return? Bogus. To me, Twitter is a two-way communication tool, and you’re either going to participate both ways, or you shouldn’t participate at all in my opinion. It’s common courtesy?

Do I have a point or what? I think I do. And if you agree with me, how can you possibly find the time and effort to stay up on thousands of Tweets a day?

If you disagree with me, answer this. Is it ok to use Twitter to just dump your life out for everyone else to read and not care what anyone else is saying?

I want to go back to Twitter, and if I do, I’ll just talk to myself and not listen to anyone else? Seems… wrong?

Armano has more. And Techmeme.