Twitter’s Social Capital is Unlimited – Joe Jaffe is wrong…

Apr 27, 2009

I read today Joe Jaffe’s blog post titled “Twitter is a giant Ponzi Scheme (there’s a Twucker born every minute)“.

twitter_logo I have to say that it’s one of the most inane post I’ve seen in quite a while. The point Joe seem’s to be trying to make is that Twitter is past it’s prime and that anyone getting a Twitter account today could never possibly achieve the same social capital as early adopters.

My analysis is he’s full of it…

Social capital is not a limited commodity, like money, which is the basis of a  ponzi scheme.  Social capital is unlimited in it’s availability.  Joe’s comments and those of many of the commenters on his blog seem to be living in an environment of lack where social capital is kept in a jar and doled out until it’s gone.

The social capital that comes from connecting in social media is not capable of being constrained and is not limited – at least not in quantity.  The quality of the connection, the relative benefit of one connection versus another is limited though.  It’s why I follow far fewer people in Twitter than follow me and why I do not automatically follow or connect to people in LinkedIn or Facebook.

If Joe and his follower want to believe there is some constraint, some limit to their activity on Twitter and they they MUST get more followers before someone else get’s them, they’re really missing the point of what the ’social’ in social media means.

Posted by Steven Groves | Categories: Social Media, strategy |
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I read today Joe Jaffe’s blog post titled “Twitter is a giant Ponzi Scheme (there’s a Twucker born every minute)“.

twitter_logo I have to say that it’s one of the most inane post I’ve seen in quite a while. The point Joe seem’s to be trying to make is that Twitter is past it’s prime and that anyone getting a Twitter account today could never possibly achieve the same social capital as early adopters.

My analysis is he’s full of it…

Social capital is not a limited commodity, like money, which is the basis of a  ponzi scheme.  Social capital is unlimited in it’s availability.  Joe’s comments and those of many of the commenters on his blog seem to be living in an environment of lack where social capital is kept in a jar and doled out until it’s gone.

The social capital that comes from connecting in social media is not capable of being constrained and is not limited – at least not in quantity.  The quality of the connection, the relative benefit of one connection versus another is limited though.  It’s why I follow far fewer people in Twitter than follow me and why I do not automatically follow or connect to people in LinkedIn or Facebook.

If Joe and his follower want to believe there is some constraint, some limit to their activity on Twitter and they they MUST get more followers before someone else get’s them, they’re really missing the point of what the ’social’ in social media means.

  • Jaffe's article was unspeakably lame. I think he's still miffed at nailing his colors to the mast of Second Life and failing to predict the success of Twitter.
  • Did you notice Jaffe once again blundered himself in to a corner. He criticized WPP's twitter feed for not following anyone then someone pointed out that his own "social media consultancy" Crayon only follows six people! Oh dear.
  • Uzi
    I completely agree. The self-designated "guru" seems to be going off the rails.
  • Welcome to the blog Joe and I did not catch your jaffejuice.tv post so your humor might have escaped my attention.

    It's good to hear you get the unlimited nature of social capital, but at the end of the day I am trying mroe for quality vs. quantity of followers (BTW, thanks for the follow Amigo)

    I agree that I think the constraint then becomes in the best way to participate in social media - the easy answer is 'do what you like'; and Twitter usage is on a high note.
  • Steven - what you're saying I'm saying is nowhere close. In my JaffeJuiceTV rant (www.jaffejuice.tv) I'm talking about perspective i.e. make sure we don't bias too much of our time/attention/effort against one approach versus a suite or portfolio of platforms/media etc.

    In my blog post (which has elements of both truth and humor), I'm saying that there's a bit of a self-fulfilling love affair which is as much created by the media as it is enforced. Put differently, most twitter is a great traffic driver to articles about twitter.

    Ironically (or not), I agree with you fully that social capital is unlimited, although there is the tendency for platforms such as Twitter to become quite traditional and recognizable insofar that there is a clear division between have's and have not's (case in point - @aplusk)
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