When I started following Guy Kawasaki, I did it because it was the thing to do. A guy with 150,000 followers must have something valuable to say, right? But as I began to realize that what Guy and his minions do does not add any real value to the internet or to Twitter though the same cannot be said for Alltop, Guys news aggregator I began toying with the idea of unfollowing him.
Guy himself will point out that he doesnt take this kind of thing personally. Hes quick to point out that hes unfollowed by about 500 people every day. Rather than become one of those 500, though, I decided to stick it out with Guy not for the content, but to figure out exactly why it is that this dude is so popular.
And I finally figured it out. Why is he so successful? Because hes a pompous jerk. And thats exactly what he needs to be.
No, I dont fault Guy for sneering when novice Twitter users tell him he doesnt know how to use social media. I dont fault him for telling people that if they dont like something on the site, they can go elsewhere. I dont even fault him for making fun of his critics in pseudo-private conversations. The stresses of running an enormously successful website will do that to you. Its a terrible business practice, but I can at least understand the desire to lash out at customers. And when youre in a position like Guys, you can afford to do that kind of thing.
But heres why it works. Alltop is in the business of aggregating all kinds of information from across the world. To push that service in the public sphere the way Guy does takes cojones. Guy pushes out tons of information which reaches your computer screen under the guise of it being really important and interesting. That means that Guy knows a lot of interesting and important things, which, by association, makes him interesting and important. That kind of thing takes balls.
Now, I dont know if Guy is ballsy or not in real life. But I do know that his Twitter personality is tremendously ballsy. Hes got the whole big-mouth, dont-take-no-crap-from-nobody, Internet celebrity thing going. Hes like the Perez Hilton of c-class executives. But he has to have that kind of personality to sell what hes selling and what hes selling is the fact that everything he says is worth knowing, and Alltop is the place to go to know as much about everything as he does.
And Twitter is a great place for Guy to intimate his vast knowledge of all things worth knowing. Hes got instant, real-time contact with 150,000 people. Every time he learns something new, he can share it with the world.
But thats not the reason that Guy loves Twitter. No, the reason Guy loves Twitter is because he gets to interact with me. Dont believe me? He said so himself.
Read Tweet.
Youre welcome, Guy Kawasaki. Youre welcome.
So what did I really learn from Guy? Well, the simple fact of the matter is that status is no excuse to treat people poorly. Im betting that Guy didnt get to where he is on his own. Im sure he had a mentor he looked up to and asked for feedback. And if he doesnt want to give novice Twitter users an opportunity to learn what he has to offer and he does have a lot to offer then his power as an influencer is really limited, despite the number of followers he has. Likewise, if he lacks the ability to take criticism from his audience seriously, I doubt hell be able to adapt if and when his environment changes.
