Why Do We Follow?

byGwendolynPD

386 followers

Updated 8 years ago

I've been here a few weeks now, and I've been watching closely to figure out something. What really is Wealthy Affiliate? Wealthy Affiliate is several things in one. It's a social website, a training school, a toolbox, a hosting site….What is it not?

I think the thing that threw me at first was the social community aspect. I expected the hosting, the tools, the training, but I think the community format was what made me question everything. I wasn't so sure I liked that part. After all, there are so terribly many social networks out there, and there are trainers that espouse each one as the best for marketing. I've spent the past several months building my Facebook account for the sake of building out some marketing building blocks. I've begun to give Twitter more attention, as well as LinkedIn. I've joined Instagram and Pintrest, and I'm distantly observing Tumblr for a single website project for which I intend to reach out to younger people.

And I am sorely lacking in most of these media. I've accessed an ebook on using Pintrest to build a following, and I've joined training webinars and even have bought courses to learn how to use Facebook and Instagram for marketing. And I have several more on the back burner, because—frankly—I'm overwhelmed by all of the possibly wonderful information available. And what use is all of that information when you're too overwhelmed to efficiently utilize any of it?

So why would I want yet another social media avenue?

I've watched long enough to understand that the Wealthy Affiliate community is not so much a social media site, but rather it is a networking community. The intention here is to assist like-minded people as we learn at all of our different levels.

I'm not sure everyone quite gets this at first. Some practice their blogging skills without having a lot to say. That's not their fault. They are trying to get a handle on a skill that they will need in order to make their own sites successful. Some get irritated with those who seem to see this as simply another social site. Improving on this tendency is a matter of education, which is what the community is about. One of my friends, whom I deeply respect, suggested that we should all follow as many people as possible, but then we should turn off our email notifications in order to stop our inboxes from filling up mercilessly.

So, if we don't respond to everyone or don't want to read everything, why follow so many? I wasn't sure. I knew I'd try to follow everyone who first followed me, because that's courtesy, but why would I need to follow new people who don't know any more about this than I do? Or, even more pertinent, why would anyone want to follow me?

I searched this question, and I found some recurring answers that I could appreciate. Basically, we follow the seasoned folks for the wisdom and knowledge they can impart. Common sense stuff. But we follow newbies so that we can bring others into our networks so that we can be helpful to them as we learn.

However, some of the more seasoned members do not seem to spend a lot of time picking up new members. Why? Don't they want to be helpful?

Of course, they do. But they already have a lot of notices coming at them and simply do not need a lot more. And, as I understand it, real questions that are posted in the questions forum are easily seen by anyone who is a WA member. And they do answer. I know this because I've gotten answers from several well-versed seasoned members whose follow list I have not graced. If they're helpful to me, which they almost always are, I will follow them even if they do not reciprocate. They have shown me already that they have information I need.

The WA community forums are not about what we had for lunch or where we're hanging out for the evening. It's not even about our pets and grandkids, although no one minds those posts if there is relevance attached. It's good to be able to see one another as human.

I took the advice of Nathaniell to heart: “Just follow the people you find interesting, helpful, or friendly. Follow the people you want to connect with!”
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/nathaniell/blog/why-follow-people-or-have-them-follow-me

His advice was to not follow everyone, and to feel free to unfollow anyone who bogs you down for any number of reasons. It's not rude to protect your time and space. We're here to make our businesses work, and you have to set limits in order to do that.

But I do want to be helpful if ever I get to a level of ability that would make me so. And I do want to at least glance at the efforts of others. I want to be an asset.

Will I be drowning the community in blogs? No. I have one site published and am working on two more and plan to jump into the WA Bootcamp as soon as possible for a fourth. I don't have time to write blogs just for the sake of it. If I think I have something relevant to this community, I will be glad to share. My strength is in writing, and I might be useful there. I am not a content master, but grammatically I'm glad to be useful. And I need all of the technical help I can get. So, I need to be reading from you right now more than I need to be writing here.

Someone posted that we need to stop being so worried about WA community ranking and spend more time on our own businesses. I agree. That was already my mindset. Not that I don't appreciate ranking, but sometimes I read something that makes me wonder what the ranking really means. Sometimes I get more from a post from someone in four-digit ranking than someone in the lower 50. If simply posting and gathering followers creates rank (something I I'm not sure is the case now that I've observed more) it's not very useful. But rank doesn't mean anything to learning or creating a business, and I've never needed an entourage of friends.

Don't get me wrong: I like friends—particularly like-minded friends with whom I can share and converse. I like that a lot. But I have many of those, although I am always open to adding those with whom I can be mutually uplifting.

A few years ago, I went back to school online in order to complete a degree that I'd left hanging long ago. Online school is a different animal from the old college days! Forum participation is essential, and done properly it is quite a strengthening tool. But I was so annoyed and frustrated by the lack of grammatical efficiency of most college students, especially since many of those in my courses were English majors. Even a few of the teachers/monitors were not at the level they should have been. I won't go any further with my tirade over that, as it is currently irrelevant to the topic at hand. However, I did learn something valuable from that experience: If you have an open mind, you can learn from anyone. Okay, sometimes we learn by seeing what not to do. But the fact is, I often got more from the students who were struggling and trying with all their hearts than I got from those who thought too highly of themselves. Those who struggled challenged me with their questions and stumbles, because I took seriously the task of assisting them. More than once, I defended a student who was making a sincere effort but needed guidance against someone who was hell-bent on putting them in their place. And when I helped the struggling student, I helped myself.

Thank you who follow me. I appreciate all you have to offer.