@woo @mfennvt @APBBlue I don’t have the biggest numbers on any given network. But I’ve often had a very diverse network that included a lot of people who were themselves hubs of some form in their own different communities. (This was true of my social network long before any online social networks existed). And it’s often true that such hubs know each other even across topics and fields - often introduced by less well known folks like myself when I ran a conference and other events

@woo @mfennvt @APBBlue we’ve been taught in the last decade+ that bigger numbers matter (or ratios etc) by social networks where a lot of those numbers are wildly manipulated (literally by bots in many cases) but also as you point out by wildly diffferent but I’d argue equally valid approaches to how people use the tools made available to them.

Which is why a lot of folks suggest not showing many such numbers - as what is counted becomes what people optimize for (and cheat)

@woo @mfennvt @APBBlue (context here - I started and ran a conference on the study of Networks more than 20 years ago - where we had a very broad and interdisciplinary view of networks - speakers included pentagon logistics experts, social network analysts, mathematicians, professors of traffic studies, artists, investors, entrepreneurs and many many others.)

In social networks “influence” is often in bridging different networks - and in who those with big networks respect and listen to

@woo @mfennvt @APBBlue interestingly social capital is a very bad metaphor for a bunch of reasons.

(One - because most people have a really bad understanding of economics - including most economists - standard Econ as taught in Econ 101 classes is very wrong - even the professors teaching it know it is deeply flawed)

But also social capital isn’t zero sum. Having social “capital” doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t. And often the most influential hubs in a social network aren’t the biggest

@kevin shower timer in the shape of a duck that quacks when it goes off.

Under $20

Has dramatically shortened how long my tween spends in the shower and eliminated the need for my wife or I to be time keeper/nag to get the shower to finish.

Amazing how big an impact <$20 can have (paying for itself in the water savings as well as the stress/time savings)

@woo @APBBlue yes. But that’s not relevant here. It isn’t specific advice for a single person it is very broad advice for new users.

Yes each person is different and will define what they want and thus which other accounts (people) are “good” but that doesn’t mean you can’t give general generic advise that can help new users (and perhaps even remind more experienced users)

Who uses boosts and why also varies a lot. Many users rarely boost. Others almost exclusively boost.

@woo @APBBlue it doesn’t matter. Seriously.

The point of my advice however is for newer users - finding someone who boosts a lot likely means you get exposure to a bunch of people (if the person boosts lots of people’s posts not just only from one or two sources)

A similar approach is if you find a hashtag that interests you - following accounts that you see making good posts there is a good way to find accounts to follow.

But this is t about a score or a social media strategy

@APBBlue the other advice I would give it start by following accounts that boost a lot (if what thy boost is of interest to you)

And then when they do boost something interesting - look at the account they boosted. If you like it, follow that account.

Over time this is how I’ve found a ton of great accounts to follow and engage with