Facebook keeps a running tally of how many “friends” you have. Facebook also keeps track of how often you connect with those friends.
Google keeps track of your entire online footprint. When I google my own name, it shows me my race results, my videos, photos, blog comments, and blog posts.
Google Analytics can tell me how many people read my blog, for how long, where they live, and which posts they read the most.
All these metrics focus on quantity of connections. They report on numbers of friends and numbers of blog readers.
None of these metrics can tell me anything about the quality of my connections. Facebook cannot tell me how good/close/strong my friendships are.
And google cannot tell me how much impact my blog has had on the people who read it.
Sure, you can draw some conclusions about these things, and you can predict that people who are friendly to others will gain more friends. You can logically assume that if your writing is good quality, more people will read it.
But at some point in your life, you might have to decide if you want to pursue quantity or quality of connections.
Whenever you create something and share it with the world – a website or a blog or a business or a brand – you have to figure out who you want to reach and who you want to connect with.
When I started my blog a year ago, the first question my website team asked me was “Why did I want to publish a blog.”
Their question was so obvious it momentarily stumped me.
After reflecting on their question, I explained that I wanted to help people. All my life I’ve been an educator of some sort, and everywhere I’ve worked, I naturally try to challenge people in order to help them grow. And now I just want to publish stories that will help people grow.
One year later, that is still my primary goal – I still want to become better at telling stories that help people grow. My mission is to share stories that generate hope in others. My goals are about quality – about quality stories, quality writing, and quality of connections.
Fundamentally, I write to have a positive impact on other people – I want to live in ways that have a positive influence in the world.
And Facebook and Google cannot tell me any of that. They cannot tell me if one singular reader somewhere in the middle of Iowa read my blog late at night and found value in a paragraph of words I wrote.
Google cannot measure emotions like inspiration or hope.
No website I know can measure personal impact or influence.
Which is why some of the most important things in this world need to be done on faith.
We need to do those things in the world we feel compelled to do, those things we feel called to do. When we set out to change the world, to do something new or different with our life, we can’t rely on metrics because those metrics don’t exist.
Facebook and Google can tell you about the quantity of connections but they cannot tell you anything about quality. They cannot tell you about the quality of your life.
And if you want to do something significant in this world, if the quality of your life matters to you, then you’re going to have to rely on faith.
You’re going to have to learn how to trust yourself, to navigate your own path and use your own strengths.
And you’ll need to have faith that other people will find value in what you have to offer. You’re going to need faith in yourself and faith in your own talents.
When we have a positive impact on other people, the results of that impact often don’t show up until years later. Students often wait 20 years until they say “Thank you” to their favorite teacher.
During those inbetween years, the years without any feedback, we need to keep the faith.
Because the most important things in life cannot be measured by Facebook or google.
The most meaningful things in our life must be done on faith.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
One of my biggest frustrations working for a large corporation versus yourself or a small company is the absolute requirement to demonstrate the “value added” of a project or initiative before getting started. This “value added” had better be backed up with “facts and data” or your dead before you’ve even started.
Being the right thing to do isn’t enough, patience and faith that an initiative will work is not enough in a large company. If you extrapolate this you could say that innovation is getting stifled.
Hi Mark,
I tend to agree with you about that. Here’s the thing: metrics/data can show you what WAS or what IS. They are all about past and current state. But metrics cannot show you what is POSSIBLE in the future. If we limit ourselves to what has happened in the past, then we are shutting down the future possibilities, for ourselves and our organizations. It’s one thing for an individual to have faith in what’s possible. It’s a whole other thing to convince an organization to have faith.
== niki
Facebook/Google can’t tell you how much I have learned from you this past (almost) year. Keep writing and writing. I look forward to your posts each and every time!
Thank you so much Tracy – I think I’m learning as much as anyone else. What a wild and crazy ride the last year has been!
Here’s to a calmer year ahead for both of us…
== niki
I sometimes feel bad that I am not a social media person so I was happy to read this post talking about quality vs. quantity. I think the problem with Facebook is that so many people are connected to us and there are all very different. It is hard to be very open or active there if you value privacy of your life. And I have no balls to “unfacebook” anybody who is not a real friend.
Niki, so many people said that, but I am going to repeat them and say THANK YOU for starting and continuing this blog.
One more thing that touched me from this writing:
“And you’ll need to have faith that other people will find value in what you have to offer. You’re going to need faith in yourself and faith in your own talents.”
So well-said. Thank you. I read it at the exact time when I needed it.
Hi Elena,
You should never feel bad about not being into social media. There’s no obligation to become a social media expert! I agree with you that Facebook creates some interesting dilemmas about who to friend and how much to share. Everyone has to figure out their own boundaries and what they feel comfortable with.
I’m happy to know that any of my words have been helpful to you. Remember that you are resilient and you have many many strengths. And many of us appreciate your strengths…!
Peace,
== niki