The Pros and Cons of Following at WA
Following, It's Central To Social Media.
We follow people on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and many more social media sites, including here at WA.
Yes, our great training website has a social side too.
People new to Wealthy Affiliate are excited to establish a network of followers as part of the experience.
They want to get to know people, feel that they belong, and learn from the experience base built up over the years by all the people here.
I was the same way.
Pros Of Following People
The more people you follow, the more good information you get, and the more people that can access your posts. Your followers receive email notification when you write here at WA.
The sense of community here is amazing, and it feels good to be a part of it. You can write a post, ask a question, and several people will answer it. You can learn about and interact with wonderful people with varied background and experiences, from several countries.
You can read inspiring posts that will help keep you motivated.
You can have caring, interested people guide you through the rough spots.
Your posts will have more comments and likes and they will sometimes be featured in the Top 10.
Cons Of Following People
The more people you follow, the more good information you get, and the more people that can access your posts. Your followers receive email notifications when you write here at WA.
Did you notice that the first sentence for "con" is exactly the same as the first sentence for "pro"?
(Before I go any further, let me say that you can block email notifications if you want, unless that has changed.)
But if you don't, the more followers you have the more emails you will wake up to every morning.
This can become the "shiny object" that ends up taking up all your time.
The more followers you get, sometime you will arrive at the point where you can't answer all the emails waiting in your inbox. You can't even read them all. If you try, you won't have any time left to devote to your website, to train, or do research.
Here's What I Do
I have 1.3K followers right now. My email account rarely gets below a 3-figure number.
Now I scan the list, and start deleting. I look at who the poster is, and the title, and make a quick decision whether to open or delete. Since I use gmail, I go down the page checking the box of all the ones I plan to delete.
After they are deleted, I start to open and look at the ones I have kept. A cursory glance lets me know whether to read in more detail or delete and move on.
Some emails that I read deserve a comment. Some deserve a quick "like" and then I move on.
I'm not being rude, I'm just trying to manage my time.
Do some great posts get deleted? I'm sure some do. But, I have to manage my time so I can work on my websites.
The way I do it is the best way I have found so far.
Have you thought of a better way to manage emails? Other than block them, I mean, because I don't want to do that.
Let me know your thoughts and ideas. Maybe there's a better way.
I'm Grant
Recent Comments
55
I don't see what the purpose is to even look at the emails. I disabled those notifications very soon after joining. I try to eliminate email as much as possible from all sources.
I check the New Questions and New Blogs when I log in here. I also check the Top Blogs section. I figure that is enough. If I miss something... no worries because within a day there will be many more.
Maybe I am missing the point though since you are talking about answering people. And I don't understand that as far as WA goes. Unless you mean you also get an email for every comment made on one of your blogs here.
I get an email notification for every comment, and for every post that one of my followers writes, even for every "like" I get. It adds up. You might be right in the way you do it, Maybe I'll try it out.
Grant
Grant,
A very thoughtful post. I love the networking component and the long-term benefits, but the "email" part can be challenging.
In the last year, I'm much more mindful when it comes to spending time on email and social. If I start my day or spend most of my day with that stuff, I'll get little meaningful things done. It's not worth it. So I've managed my days being more productive because there are other things that need to get taken care of- your business, family, etc.
Though I'm active in WA, I don't comment on every single post or question, but I do my best and keep it to a minimum. Sometimes, we can't do everything in one day (otherwise you get burned out, and you don't want that).
Thanks for sharing- great food for thought!
All the best,
-Eric
'Hi, Eric. Great comment. You're right about email and social robbing us of the time we need to do the more important things. I try to minimize my comments too.
See more comments
Good afternoon Grant,
In 2017 I formed my thoughts on the following aspect here at WA and wrote a post about it. To Follow or not to Follow, that is the Question I still think the same and agree with you. It is nice but time-consuming.
Have a happy Valentine.
Greetings from the south of Spain,
Taetske
HI, Taetske. Nice to hear from you again. I brought up your post and read it. I have to admit that you were more involved with your followers than I have been. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it is different. Have a great week!
Grant