Follower Fatigue

Follower Fatigue

I recently received an email from Google asking if someone I know could be my “friend” on Google Places…and I just about lost it.

Why?!

You know that bad dream where you’re on stage, everyone is watching and you freeze? You don’t know what to do, everyone is disappointed and you run off in horror.

I’m beginning to feel that way online.

So many new services, and for each come new requests and notifications to connect and follow. And for what? What are these followers expecting from me? Do they even know? What if I’m not worth following? Do I even know how to be a good Followee or Friend?

Facebook. Twitter. Foursquare. Scribd. Quora. Pinterest. And now Google Places. The list just keeps growing.

I’ve been posting to Facebook for so many years now it just comes naturally. Judge me by my wall, feel free. But my new Pinterest page? What does it say about me? Before I’d even “pinned” a thing a friend made fun of me for having nothing. I was boring before I could figure out how to be interesting. Feels like middle school all over again.

Signing up for each new service is like moving to a new achool – you’re a no one all over again.

But what to do? Reject followers? Reject friends? Or reject the new sites?

I’d like to begin as a follower before becoming a followee. Like in Middle School, I want to join a clique before having to create my own identity. This is possible on Twitter, you can follow without an account. But once you enter your name…BAM, here come the followers, the requests and the expectations.

Oh, those expectations…