Is Twitter A Pyramid Scheme?
As you probably know I advocate a mutual follow policy where I will follow a lot of people and will unfollow those who don’t follow me back. I am very upfront with this and while it may not be a strategy for everybody it is what it is. And besides this is my blog and if you don’t like it I’ll take my blog and go home!
The strategy of who and how many to follow has been debated over and over again on this blog but I came across a post on another blog that has an interesting perspective .
The author believes that Twitter is a “Pyramid Scheme” and that only those who joined early will be able to build a large following on Twitter. He also believes that there is “diminishing returns” on Twitter and that as Twitter gets more users it will become less useful.
Anyway, I totally disagree and I told him so. Rather than try to explain what he is saying Heres is a link to the post in question:
http://tangerinetoad.blogspot.com/2008/12/great-twitter-ponzi-scheme.html
Here is how I responded on his blog …
With all due respect … this post is full of Crap
Hows that for an Entrance? (smile)
seriously though anybody who says having a lot of followers on Twitter doesn’t matter … … doesn’t have a lot of followers on Twitter
its like saying size doesn’t matter ,, its all how you use it
Also this Pyramid thing is false as well
its like saying Amway won’t work because in short time the whole population of the earth will have been recruited
Amway’s been around for like 45 years and is not going away anytime soon
I have been on Twitter for about 3 months and have about 6500 or so Followers. My goal is to have 10K by the end of the year
there is an Old Adage in Business
“People will do business with those they Know, Like, and Trust”
Twitter allows you to reach a lot of people and if used properly they will
Know, Like and Trust youIts great for branding yourself and Networking
and YES driving traffic
I have a Brand New Twitter Blog that is less than a month old. I have already gotten several thousand unique visitors.
All of that traffic is coming from Twitter
the url is http://www.TweeterBlog.com
I rarely pimp products on Twitter but i did read a Good Little SEO book recently so I signed up as an affiliate. I tweeted about it (along with my affiliate link) and sold 15 copies in about 10 minutes
I have met several people from Twitter in person …
I have developed great relationships with lots of people
I have gotten complex questions answered in in seconds
I have done business with several people I met on twitter
I have developed several Joint Ventures on Twitter
I guess I’m just a Sucker ( For Twitter)
Jack Bastide
http://Twitter.com/JackBastide
he came back and said:
@Jack How nice of you to stop by and add your voice here, in what seems to be an unlikely venue for your wares.
Your thesis unfortunately relies on a number of false assumptions, all of which stem from the (not uncommon) error of universalizing your own unique experience.
Now I don’t doubt that gathering thousands of Twitter followers seems to have worked for you, but:
• Very few people are on Twitter to promote businesses like yours that rely on a massive volume of web traffic. That’s your business model, but it’s far from a universal one.
• Most people are not on Twitter to promote anything at all. As I’ve noted, it functions as an asynchronous IM device for many people and would prove seriously boring if it were just a business tool.
• It’s possible to have all of the experiences you list under “I have…” with as few as 15 followers. Again, quality is more important than quantity.
• Many of the people posting here in agreement do in fact have large numbers of followers– Laura “Pistachio” Fitton being a prime example. But as Purple Car notes, those lists have grown organically, rather than via begging and shilling. That’s a very important distinction.
• While it does rely on a pyramid structure of sorts, Amway’s business model is not a Ponzi scheme. Amway relies on the fact that there is, in fact, a fairly unlimited market for soap products. Contrast this with the extremely limited market for social media experts.
But again, thanks for commenting. Dissenting opinions are always welcome.
to which I replied:
Hey Alan,
Thanks for the nice welcome
Couple of questions
First of all what are these “wares” of mine?
I mentioned the thing about The Seo book merely to show what kind of “reach” you can get with Twitter.
As of writing this I have 6,247 Updates
At least 95% of those are @Replies where I chat with other users
I have dropped an affiliate link maybe 2 or 3 times? if that
I have linked to my TweeterBlog.com several times where we discuss Twitter Related Issues
You said the Following:
===
Very few people are on Twitter to promote businesses like yours that rely on a massive volume of web traffic. That’s your business model, but it’s far from a universal one.
===Actually thats not true. My biz is about developing a few quality relationships. don’t need lots of massive traffic for that … although it couldn’t hurt
You said:
====
While it does rely on a pyramid structure of sorts, Amway’s business model is not a Ponzi scheme. Amway relies on the fact that there is, in fact, a fairly unlimited market for soap products. Contrast this with the extremely limited market for social media experts.
====I don’t consider myself a “Social Media Expert” and don’t know that there is a “market” for that at all?
I’m in the people business and Twitter is great for that.
I just posted something about THIS post on my blog and maybe this is a good way to show the power of Twitter. as of 12:50 Pm EST there are no comments there because I just posted it. I’m going to Tweet about it and if you come back in a couple of hours you should see a bunch of comments
couldn’t do that with 15 followers …
here’s my post
http://www.tweeterblog.com/twitter-etiquette/is…
Tal;k to you soon
Nice meeting you
Jack Bastide
so what do you think? Do you agree with this guy? Disagree?
Jack Bastide
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.tweeterblog.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
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Comments
I am not on Twitter for business reasons, but I can see how it would work well for those that are.I have roughly 70 followers, most are reciprocal. Honestly Im not sure where they came from.
Speaking solely for myself as a former Amway drone. Surely there is a market for soap, vitamins and make-up.
However, and again this is speaking on my experience, we were told to push the business opp and not the products as much. That is all I will say here as to not get off the Twitter topic.
Wow.
This is craziness..
I FULLY appreciate that people would find different angles to view something, but the reach of twitter is something that is ONLY limited by what you put into it.. someone like Jack B above who puts in effort to tend to his followers in his available Twitter time, is able to build up a big following regardless of the time he has been on Twitter..
I remember Jack announcing his Twitter account and he has moved forward with it at great pace, in what is quite a short space of time..
And he’s not the only one either, to define Twitter in a “pyramid” setting is a little strange for me to wrap my head around, and IMHO comes from very limited thinking… the only limit you could ever have on Twitter is YOU (if you have an account of course)
Peace
Love the question rather than captcha! awesome.
Jack very interesting posting stuff. I know I have thought of having seperate twit account just for family and very close friends so I can sort faster.
I think you bring up valid points but stay away from analogies. Analogies are always weak because they aren’t perfect. So when you want to win argument it is better to stick to your facts and stats (stats even being debatable) . LOL early in marriage my hubby told me I pulled stats out of a hat. Other say you can maniupulate stats. so ffacts are easiest for killing an argument.
But I like a good argument and debate, this sound like you are both kind of saying a few things similar. In that the power of twitter depends on who is using it somewhat… a person bent on building like you are will prove tht it is doeable. The fact that people got in early on proves that they had more time to build and have an distinct advantage.
I think calling it a pyramid is a little lopsided, as you have shown you can build strong numbers without being one of the earliest twits.
Also twitter is evolving and changing. I have an article on he melding of ehow and twitter and while that might be a strong term – twitter is being used in conjunction with many adventures on the internet. http://www.ehow.com/how_4623492_pot-ehow-twitter-via-groups.html my article
Please overlook my poor writing here – I am in hurry. Note to self… use paperplate under popcorn bag, check for leaks and no more exploding plates……..have to run.
Also my twit wall is example of being able to market with haranguing my readres
http://twitwall.com/view/?who=alrady40
I can see Twitter going in one of two directions: fizzles out when the next best thing comes along, or continuing to grow to an astronomical number of users whereby people can easily find others to follow. I am not sure I agree with the law of diminishing returns here, except that if you follow a ton of people (as in the 10k you are aiming for), you would have to spend 24/7 to really make Twitter useful.
Someone posted not long ago that they only read the tweets where there is a photo, but also mentioned that they have so many people they now follow they can’t keep up with the tweets.
Are we throwing out tweets at random so that hopefully a handful of the 3 million tweeters will see it and act upon it, resulting in more sales for us and our friends/clients? Or are we really trying to build relationships via Twitter?
Someone told my sister-in-law she needed to be on Twitter, so I signed her up and tried to explain it to her, and now I realize that she doesn’t need to be on Twitter. She wanted to find someone that was in Botswana! Twitter is not for everyone and before you follow anyone you have to decide what purpose you are on Twitter then decide if it is good return on investment (of your time).
To me (and probably most people), a pyramid scheme is a scam in which people are cheated out of their money.
I don’t see any money changing hands on Twitter, at least no money to use the service.
The idea that only people who “got in early” benefit is easily disproven. Eben Pagan just joined this week and got 1000 followers his first day. Or are we still in that early period where it is still beneficial to join?
It seems to me that the MORE people join Twitter, the MORE useful it will be, as long as Twitter is able to handle the extra traffic. There are plenty of people I know in real life who are not on Twitter, who I would follow if they were.
The length of time someone has been on Twitter means nothing to me when deciding whether to follow them.
I think the real truth is somebody realized that calling something a pyramid scheme when it is clearly not would get him a lot of attention and traffic, and I’m sure it has.
I guess I should work on my “YouTube is a pyramid scheme” rant.
I just joined Twitter in August, and have only really been actively using it since (I think) sometime in October. So, I’ve gained the bulk of my followers in maybe 4-8 weeks. If only those who joined early on were the beneficiaries, then how could I have surpassed the following of so many who have been on so much longer than I have been?
If I can jump in at this point and get a large number of followers, there’s no reason anyone else can’t do the same thing. I think the same will be true a year from now.
People use Twitter for different reasons. It’s a contact tool, not terribly different from a telephone, an eMail or a fax machine. You can use it for business or you can use it to stay in touch with friends, or any combination thereof.
I don’t see where it’s a Ponzi scheme. That’s kind of like saying you shouldn’t try to be a salesman, because everyone probably already knows a salesman. Or, it’s like saying you already have a friend, why do you need another one? Or two more?
If I had just sat back and been content to use Twitter just to chat with people I already knew, or to just follow a handful of “experts” or whatever, I would never have met a lot of great people.
And, as for business concerns, well, quantity matters just as well as quality. If you’re not connecting with the people your competitors are, what hope do you have of reaching them?
Hello Jack,
Interesting post as always. I find the varying ideas people have of what Twitter is and is not fascinating. Assigning it all kinds of abilities and so forth. Some are really out there, like the idea that Twitter is even somehow remotely related to a pyramid scheme. If that were true, who’s on top? And what would they stand to gain by being on top?
IMHO Twitter is one thing and one thing only. A communications tool. No more and no less.
We are all free to communicate using it in the way that is most comfortable to each of us. Jack, you follow those who follow you. That’s your rule and that’s cool. Me, I follow those that share my interests as they are the ones I want to communicate with. That’s how I work it and that’s cool too. Like you, I’ll throw out an affiliate link here and there, as part of my interest is in Internet Marketing.
Mostly I just reply to others and ask questions and try to help where I can. That said, everyone uses it for their own purposes and in their own way. This right there precludes it from being anywhere near a pyramid scheme, where everyone involved has to do the same thing to achieve the same goals. On Twitter, everyones goal is different and that is one of the things that makes it fun.
Ross “The Pit Boss” – http://twitter.com/Tolemac
Bummer, I just wrote a long pithy comment, and it was erased cause I didn’t see the math question.
Basically, it was a twitter love letter. I didn’t start out tweeting my business, and mostly I don’t. However, I am finding that my Blog stats are going up because of twitter, and that I have sold product to a couple. 95% of my tweets, and there aren’t a lot of them, since it’s just been a month, are about making friends. With individuals. And out of that will business come? Assuredly. But twittering is definitely a relationship tool, and that’s the beauty of it.
Will continue reading and appreciating you tips and hopefully will learn more about how to be more effective and meet more new people.
Thanks, Dana
Hi Jack,
I use twitter for the social introductions and for building business relationships. When I thank someone for following me I do not send them to my business site(Tacky), but rather direct them to my BLOGs where they can learn more about me and get to know me a bit faster than through just my tweets.
Those with whom I develop a relationship with are directed to my business site when and if they are in need of my services which is determined by our reciprocal tweets. I think Twitter is a great social network and is getting better every day.
Kimi
http://tinyurl.com/57jfvq