What does your social footprint look like?

I recently noticed Max Heywood running a little side project under the tag #socialfootprint (with both Facebook and Twitter streams!). Many I know take stock of their differing social presences from time to time – Max went one step further with his social footprint and reached out to his network looking for comparison data points. I asked Max to take me through the story so far – so this post is a mix of his views and mine.

“I thought it would be interesting to record the number of friends/followers etc I have on each platform and their relative importance to me. So I built a little table graphic in a Google doc with my data. Then I started thinking that it would be interesting to compare my data with other social media nuts and so on Sunday night I posted the graphic and a link to the Google doc in the #trufriends FB group asking for people to share their data. The next day Suzi Tonini, Jacco Valkenburg and Balazs Paroczay sent me completed surveys. I decided to make a another graphic comparing the three footprints side by side. I styled the document as a ‘Contributor Hall of Fame’ to give those people a little recognition.”

As is often the case, the project took on a little life of its own at this point.  Swiftly, Max was persuaded Foursquare was in wider use than Vine, so a quick switch was made there.  Others began to jump in and there are a fair few more contributions to the project now (including my own).  As is always the case, debate ensued. Is seven platforms enough? Should more be included? Surely the data is skewed towards the preference of your initial network, so it’d be more valid with a wider range of contributions?

I agree with all the above points – but everything has to start somewhere.  The initial results reflect, to an extent, my own expectations – Twitter on top, followed closely by Facebook and LinkedIn – but then, I know Max’s network is relatively similar to my own, so that’s no surprise. Take a look at the first batch of contributions and scores (note: 1.00 is the highest score).

In addition to the close competition between the top three being unsurprising, it’s kinda gratifying to see my earlier thoughts on Pinterest and Google+ being mirrored by others too.  I guess Andy‘s upcoming talk really is well-timed!

There are many more platforms that could be included as the project rolls forward – but also some interesting details for the existing seven which could be explored further. For example, some I know maintain a relatively small network on LinkedIn and are picky about the invites they accept – but actually run active groups or participate in many discussions. The raw numbers alone don’t necessarily reflect influence or engagement. Some would say the platforms are equally important (I recall Balazs arguing this point at a debate previously).

I’m certainly intrigued to see where this goes. It’s an interesting reflection of a personal network and as Max told me:

“I want it to be by the community for the community”

What I want to see more than anything is for the project to gain contributions from outside Max’s own network. Max focusses very much on social recruiting and employer marketing, whereas my networks also touch on product and tech startups.

If you view your network as delving into other walks of life, please, get involved with your own stats by contributing here – and better still, share this post to widen the net!

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