Can you have too many friends?
I've been wondering if one can have too many Friends here?
I have over 12.8k friends within WA. I think its mainly because I tend to "follow" all the new members I can find. I do get a lot of notifications which I manage by filtering my emails and all WA email goes into a certain folder and I go check that folder out when I have time to go thourgh a lot of emails. Actually I have not deleted any of my WA emails in almost 5 years and when I go to the folder I read the "unread" ones to turn them into "read". I do this so I can search that folder to help me find a certain email sometimes.
How do you handle your friends (follows) here on WA?
What an interesting problem to have huh!
-Shirley
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It is hard to keep up with them if our friend group gets too large. However, I find that I keep adding them, too.
Having said that, I've reached the point where I simply can't answer every email, and have to pick and choose a bit. If I didn't, would never get any work done on my websites.
I don't even try to answer every email or read them all. I pick by the title/subject and decide whether I want to click on it. -Shirley
I have found it beneficial to remove the vast number of folks off my buddylist after assessing this situation.
I considered which had the best, most valuable content on their blogs (in my opinion) and took out the rest.
I considered, using the available data on here, which folks were gaming the system, including those in the top-ranking positions, and including many of the Ambassadors of the time.
I considered those whom I have ongoing conversations with on a fairly regular basis, and took out the rest.
I considered that the vast majority of folks on my buddylist having joined prior to about 4-5 years ago would be inactive, and this proves to be quite true. I didn't bother with those and they remain on my buddylist, not causing any harm.
The above were processed conjointly using a highly effective screening process that I had developed for this project to enhance my defunct email account. I was getting approximately 150 email notifications from Wealthy Affiliate every day. To date, I get about five to ten.
Using this criteria on the folks on my buddylist over about the last five years here, effectively improved my ability to find important emails that were getting lost in the wash, (including non-WA-related emails,) notifications of blogs from my best friends, as well as the top quality blogs from successful members that provide instruction in line with that of WA.
As it were, I too, in my early years here, was indiscriminately adding folks to my buddy list without considering the consequences, which surely manifested itself fairly quickly which resulted in losing control of the email account these notifications were being delivered to.
I very rarely push the Follow Me button, and only for good reason today.
Yes, you can have too many "friends." It can, and will jam your email inbox.
I did this work about two years ago. I received some criticism for not making the best use of my time as this did take about four weeks to complete, but the results are incontrovertible, even to this day.
Instead of an uncontrolled heap of rubbish I was getting every day, I have transformed the email account into a highly-effective repository for information I can surely use and learn from, as well as get the ins on what's happening with my closest friends on here.
As you can see, I have contributed to this blog post, because I considered your content valuable, in line with what is considered ideal on this Platform, and instructional. I found the notification without any effort in my email notifications and responded.
Excellent post!
Hey, Daniel.
Paul here from Southern Ontario.
Is everything all O.K.?
Nice to hear from you again.
Paul from Canada.
Great Advice! I am already feeling like I have wayyy to many people that I am following as my emails are getting quite high! I think I will take your advice! Thanks
Hey Paul :)
Yes, everything is okay with me. I am out of town at this time and all the way up in Massachusetts. I will be glad to return to Florida where I live.
I hope you are doing well!
Daniel
It is very easy to do, especially when you don't take into account the outcome. Sdawson has a great piece of advice above, and that is, most email providers allow for directories within their UI wherein users can have mails auto-sorted into the created directories, folders or tabs, all of which are employed. Gmail for example, uses the tabbed system. You can create a tab for Wealthy Affiliate and have it all go there, and then work through your buddylist to create the content that suits you the best and get rid of what you don't need. I didn't even think about this until I read the blog post!
Thanks Daniel, I solved the many email issue by automatically sending all WA emails to one folder. So I only look at that folder when I'm ready and have time to checkout posts and new training. I probably will not remove my follows because I truly do want to help new members and I do not want to miss new training announcements. I guess each of us will come up with our on way to deal with this. -Shirley
My answer to the question this blog post asks is based on my own experience and personal needs and certainly is not definitive.
I saw that in your post and actually recommended it in this thread. When I cleaned out my buddylist, I didn't realize having a separate folder was possible nor did it occur to me until I saw your post. Even then, in my case, I needed to pare it down because, even if I did use a separate directory, the content from WA that I find useful was woefully buried (and hidden.) I needed to do it. In my case, I actually enhanced much more readily available access to announcements regarding training.
In your case, I can certainly see why paring down your buddylist would counter your purposes of having it. In my case, many times, my attempts to help were found to be inferior and received rankspankings because at that time, my WA rank was in the single digits. I don't mess with the social/helpful aspect and my ranking hovers around the 600-900 range. When I feel I can contribute, I do so in discussions like this. Reduction for me was best.
I had my heyday from the beginning of 2010 to near the beginning of 2013 on here when the population was much, much smaller. WA has plenty of folks now that are much more qualified to helping other members than I am (in most cases.) I accept my lot and am grateful there are people like yourself who volunteer their time to doing the much-needed job of helping others.
What you (and many others) do is the very hallmark of what makes the Wealthy Affiliate community so outstanding that I am not qualified to do.
Hi I also welcome new members and follow people. My routine every day is to review my email and notifications before starting into my day....I go on chat while I do this. just part of the day in the life...lol. All I can say is the more the better....and you really have a lot of friends. Cheers
I follow some and follow back on others that follow me. Seems the polite thing to do.
I adjusted the email filters so I don't get so many and its manageable.
I assume that the more followers and following, the more emails are generated so don't follow liberally.
Great post.
Hi Shirley, here at WA I do not think there is a limit to the amount of friend's you may have. The more the merrier.
I am up at the 1.1K mark it is a great feeling.
Michael
When I first started I had a few conversations with a more established member who said to follow regularly but not to go mad clicking else I would be 'flagged' in some way (memory is vague on that one) Turns out that isn't the case but I have continued to be slow and steady, eight new members and three premium each day, on average. Everyone is left a message as it's polite and there is more chance they will follow back at least. Ratio is about 2:1 Following to Follow. Manageable.
Yeah, I am overwhelmed with emails now. I am building slowly and steadily. You guys are legends for coping with that level of notifications!
I like the idea of following those I have a connection with, or have enjoyed reading their posts, or who have supported me in my journey.
As hard a sit might be as far as conscience goes, you have to be selective on reading posts, unfortunately. Sort of have a mental A, B and C list. A's get read as soon as, B's if I still have time and C's stay in the inbox until everything else is done. That said, I also keep some in the inbox because I want save them for when I'm not rushing to get stuff done.
Hi, Shirley.
I have never gone to search to follow. I simply return in kind those that want to follow me.
Actually, let me correct myself. I have on a few occasions, clicked on the 'follow me' button for some individuals that have made a good contribution to a conversation or topic from initiated from elsewhere.
Very interesting topic for conversation you have chosen.
Kindest regards,
Paul.
I only follow those who I have engaged with or have enjoyed reading their posts, or have connected with me. I don't tend to follow a new person immediately. I welcome them and then if we connect of course I will then follow their progress.
I find it hard to keep up with the notifications from 472 people let alone thousands! wow I admire your friendliness : )
I did ask myself this question. Am I meant to be following everybody and anybody?
Actually I enjoy having a chance to help some of the new members. WA has taught me a lot that I can pay forward.
-Shirley
Yes I completely agree. I love connecting with all new members. I always send a welcome message, and love commenting on everyone's first post. I just don't follow everyone immediately. I'm sure in the long run, I will end up doing so, if I bump into them in the community lol
Good question! I am new here and so I have been following anyones blog posts that "speak" to me, or any newbies like me. I don't know exactly when I should stop as my emails now have increased.... a lot.
For the first year, I decided to follow the top-ranked members thinking they would probably be the more successful ones and expert ones. (which may not actually be true). I tended to make sure I followed the top 100 ranked ones. I still do but follow new members because I hope to be able to help some of them.
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I always follow those who follow me. I cannot read everyone’s posts but always seem to find one that either helps or motivates me when I have time to spend here in the community.
Yours has reminded me to go follow those who have followed me recently.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen