Submitted by Kevin Ohashi on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 22:08

Posted in

In the least statistically significant sample ever (1), I noticed something interesting that fits well with marketing theories.

Nobody wants to list you first on Twitter

(qualifying statement: if they don't know you)

I have multiple accounts and some aren't really 'people' but services. I had one service with a couple thousand followers that has been at that level for over a year and is on zero lists. I have many similar accounts with equal or more followers that are on hundreds of lists. They are all very similar, but some are wildly successful and this one seemed dead. So I had another account that I own follow it, and within days, it got onto other lists.

Mind you, the first was automatically generated, but apparently just getting on one list got recognized by other automated systems somewhere as a form of tagging or social proof.

So for anyone trying to build a twitter account:

Increase your social proof by using another account (or many accounts? begging friends/family?) to follow your account and list you with keywords you want to be associated with.