If you could be known for one thing online, what would that be? Right now it seems that everyone wants to be known for their influence. But the entire influence discussion seems to be veering off in the wrong direction, beginning with the question: “How much?”
This whole influence hullaballoo started when Fast Company magazine announced their Influence Project and their intention to find 2010’s most influential person online. Predictably, this got the Twitterverse all frenzied up in an orgy of influence. Fast Company is a respectable magazine and Twitter is awash in influence seekers. But after the initial excitement subsided, everyone started paying attention to the details and Fast Company’s definition of influence:
“Real influence is about being able to affect the behavior of those you interact with, to get others in your social network to act on a suggestion or recommendation. When you post a link or recommend a site, how many people actually bother to check it out? And what’s the likelihood of those people then forwarding it on? How far does your influence spread?”
The reaction was: “That’s influence? To control people’s link-clicking behavior?” As we discussed in my last post, there’s already too much link-sharing and not enough online conversation. And if link-clicking is your measurement of influence, Fast Company, then no thanks. So that changed the question and online discussion from “How Much?” to “What is?” real influence. Rich Becker eloquently explores the What is Influence? question and surmises that it is idea-inspired action. But there is one more question that needs to be asked: Why influence?
While there’s been plenty of criticism for Fast Company, there’s also been plenty of participation in the rush to recognized as an influencer, ostensibly to gain even greater influence. But why? Many times the influence seeker is looking to sell stuff, and I suppose much of this rush to influence is about ego trips. But there is certainly not enough discussion about why you would want to influence people in the first place. I like what Chris Garrett said in The Influencer Project (slightly different title, totally different project), that gaining influence is a matter of
“getting into other people’s heads and helping them with their challenges. The more that you help other people overcome their challenge and get to where they want to be, the more the influence you’ll increase over time.”
It looks like answering the Why? question gives us the real answer to the What is? question. Maybe real influence is how you make people better, not how important you make yourself look.
If there’s anything Fast Company’s influence project did, it was start a discussion about what real influence is. It’s not about how much of it you have, it’s really about why you want it and what you will do with it. Are you really trying to influence people, i.e., affect their behavior in a way that reflects positively on you? Or instead are you trying to help people, to make them better?
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