Following The Leaders?

So, yesterday, Chris Brogan started the TwitterPacks project – designed to help answer the question “If someone were joining Twitter today, who might they follow?”. He kicked it off with a blog post, and a bunch of tweets. Now, there was some debate between myself and various others via @s and DMs and it seems people are confused on my position… So I thought I’d clarify.

Drawing The Line

I’m a fan of the idea. Twitter is a vast, vast community of people and trying to find groups of like minded individuals in it is getting more and more difficult by the day. I’ve been able to find other local Twitter users using the built in search, but finding other people who like, say, bowling, or who work at a specific company is not easy. So the idea of a list that answers “Who on Twitter is into bowling?” or “Who on Twitter works for ACME, Inc” is a really useful tool. I can understand, too, that not everyone is a fan of the search field, or fills in profile details, so a “Who on Twitter lives in Anytown” is also handy to have.

What I’m not a fan of is the execution – but I’m going to be a little shadowy here, so as to not hurt feelings. At the time of writing there are 8 people listed in the Toronto Pack. Now, in the interest of disclosure, I was following all of them prior to the pack’s creation. Had someone were to ask me “Who in Toronto should I follow on Twitter?” I would have probably rattled off a list of 10-12 people. Only 5 or so of the pack list make my list of recomended folk, despite me following all of them. I can also list people I feel are missing from the Montreal, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, PodCamp Pittsburgh and PodCamp Toronto packs.

So… Why Not Add Them?

The comment came up when I mentioned my stance to someone last night, that I could just add the people I feel are missing. The site is, after all, a wiki, and was designed specifically for any user to be able to add people. I have added a couple of people (Never myself, I don’t ever add myself or my projects to wikis), but then I decided I didn’t want to play anymore. Why? Well, what am I supposed to do with the people I DON’T feel should be on the list? I guess I leave them alone, right?  What’s to say they didn’t add themselves to the pack just to get a large number of followers? Or maybe Jane added John because she values his opinions – but she’s the only one who does?

The few people I added, were added because I either value what they say, or feel they bring unique perspective to conversations. Or both. I didn’t add myself to any of the packs I’m on, and I’m not sure who did, but I hope they did so looking at what I post to Twitter (Or my blog, or elsewhere) and added me based on who I was and what I have to say, and not simply because I know then through a specific channel or because we’re friends.

Next For Me

The TwitterPacks project is a really neat one to watch, but I’m not sure of a really neat way to FIX it. There has been some discussion on the original blog post, as well as on Chris’ follow-up, of new ways to “fix” the project, but I feel any method would be fundamentally flawed. A voting system can be gamed, a central body can be bribed (And sway based on personal opinion) and an open system, well, we’re seeing how well that one would work right now.

I chose to step out of the TwitterPacks project based on the fact that the decentralized, all-access system simply has too many holes. While I’ve been a fan of Wikipedia for years now, I’ve been known to critique them for similar issues. The major difference is that Wikipedia entries, most of the time, can’t be looked at as popularity contests. I’ve never been one to add or remove details about myself (or work I do) to any wiki, this one included – I only correct details. I’m not sure what the “removal” policies are on TwitterPacks, but I could easily see someone angry at this post removing me from the lists I’m on – and that’s OK by me.

I’ve always discovered new people to follow through word of mouth, or in-person events – and I’ll likely stick to that. A comment from someone else suggesting I follow you is a thousand times more valuable to me then seeing your name on a list. And finding me on a list of people? Well, hearing that someone personally recommended you follow me is a much larger compliment then any list could ever be.