How do you feel about Fast Company’s The Influence Project?
“It’s a wild, unwieldy, imperfect, and hopefully fun way to take a look at the wild, unwieldy, imperfect and certainly fun world of social media.” Mark Borden of Fast Company writes in his post today called Popularity, Ego and Influence – What is the Influence Project?
When Fast Company sent me an email invitation to join in, I must admit I jumped right on board, wrote this and thought maybe there was something that was valuable somewhere, And, yes, I was curious about how far and fast influence could spread.
Just into a day or two into this campaign and the reviews are mixed. Take this one about how the Fast Company Influence Project turns off online influencers.
Right now, the value lies in a lesson for the “how not to” case study section. And, as it turns out that, according to this project, I am not very influential at all – at least in terms of getting people to click on a link about the influence project.
If this is all there is – a call to get others to click on and visit a URL – then there really isn’t that much worth reporting. After all, anyone can track URL shortener stats, retweets and likes or comments every day. Collectively, there may be some project stats that we can all use – or not.
When I first found out about this project, I thought there must be some kind of tracking code or program to follow a select group to see how what they shared what was important. Kind of like following seeds in the wind, seeing where they settle and watching how they bloomed and reseeded. Where does information go? Does it matter who sends it out? Is there a way to map influence for global good?
But, that’s not the case – yet. From what I can see, it is what it is: a click-through counter that measures out results as icons in motion with images of a person’s influencers stacked in revolving tiers.
Even with all of the negative initial reactions, I have to thank Fast Company for bringing the subject of influence front and center. And, I’ll follow the accompanying blog that covers influencers and their stories as part of a Fast Company feature story for the November 2010 issue.
How do you think The Influence Project will affect your relationship with Fast Company?
Image credit disclosure: thanks to Shutterstock for providing images.
English
6 thoughts on “Posting Under the Influence”
Part of me is embarrassed to say that until today, I had no idea who or what Fast Company was. I’m embarrassed because the internet addict geek in me thinks that I should know. (with the amount of time I spend reading online)
But I’m one of those focused online nerds. I read about what’s going on in the world of Human Resources because it’s my profession. Not marketing or new media…
As an entrepreneur, I’d like to think I know a little bit about marketing and new media…
So with that said, I think what Fast Company is doing is absolutely brilliant! There has been a lot of talk on how their approach is inaccurate regarding defining true influencers. But from what I know of corporate marketing, the click is it.
Engagement is what works, but the click is what sells. Not only did Fast Company put themselves in a position to increase their own brand awareness to unknown audiences, (such as myself) but they have also started to conduct a study where the results will bring them a lot more “klout”. I say brilliant.
Part of me is embarrassed to say that until today, I had no idea who or what Fast Company was. I’m embarrassed because the internet addict geek in me thinks that I should know. (with the amount of time I spend reading online)
But I’m one of those focused online nerds. I read about what’s going on in the world of Human Resources because it’s my profession. Not marketing or new media…
As an entrepreneur, I’d like to think I know a little bit about marketing and new media…
So with that said, I think what Fast Company is doing is absolutely brilliant! There has been a lot of talk on how their approach is inaccurate regarding defining true influencers. But from what I know of corporate marketing, the click is it.
Engagement is what works, but the click is what sells. Not only did Fast Company put themselves in a position to increase their own brand awareness to unknown audiences, (such as myself) but they have also started to conduct a study where the results will bring them a lot more “klout”. I say brilliant.
Hi Veronica -thanks so much for sharing your viewpoint. It’s good to hear from a “focused online nerd.” I agree, the click sells. The missing component to this equation is how the conversion from traffic gets to click.
As far as knowing about Fast Company goes . . . there’s a paragraph missing from this post. The one about what Fast Company means to me. I decided that might be too self-centered so I went with more of an open approach.
Here’s a retake. Fast Company, first launched in 1995, and I have been together for years. Riding around in my briefcase in the early days when no one packed a computer or a phone, the magazine came out, along with its techno twin Wired [in 1993], as a must-read resource for us uber early adopters.
My clients read it, I talk about it and now I tweet and reference Fast Company at least once a week.
The magazine? For some reason, I’m getting two subscriptions, but that’s okay because my three children who grew up with it often grab the extra copy as their own.
Fast Company is part of our collective lives.
In my own humble opinion, I like to think somehow I’ve shared my influence and my audience with theirs all along the way. It makes me really happy to know that you now know about Fast Company. Hope you’ll stop back by again soon.
Barbara
Hi Veronica -thanks so much for sharing your viewpoint. It’s good to hear from a “focused online nerd.” I agree, the click sells. The missing component to this equation is how the conversion from traffic gets to click.
As far as knowing about Fast Company goes . . . there’s a paragraph missing from this post. The one about what Fast Company means to me. I decided that might be too self-centered so I went with more of an open approach.
Here’s a retake. Fast Company, first launched in 1995, and I have been together for years. Riding around in my briefcase in the early days when no one packed a computer or a phone, the magazine came out, along with its techno twin Wired [in 1993], as a must-read resource for us uber early adopters.
My clients read it, I talk about it and now I tweet and reference Fast Company at least once a week.
The magazine? For some reason, I’m getting two subscriptions, but that’s okay because my three children who grew up with it often grab the extra copy as their own.
Fast Company is part of our collective lives.
In my own humble opinion, I like to think somehow I’ve shared my influence and my audience with theirs all along the way. It makes me really happy to know that you now know about Fast Company. Hope you’ll stop back by again soon.
Barbara
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