The Reality of Social Media Reciprocity

Interestingly, many people think that if you follow someone on Twitter or are
connected to them on Facebook, LinkedIn, or are following their blogs, that they
are obligated to connect with you. This does not actually give you any
entitlement.

The truth is that they don’t owe you a thing based on the connection alone.
Each person (you as well as others) must decide who you want to connect with
online and who you want to interact with online. Each person may have a
different motivation for wanting to connect with someone online. The rules of
engagement are completely subjective and each person decides what they want from
relationships and how far they want to carry those relationships. You don’t need
online connections (at least not in the life-or-death sense); you want to have
them and you understand how valuable they are for you and your business.

Quality over quantity

As I am sure you are aware, you must always choose quality over quantity when
it comes to your online connections. If you indiscriminately accept every online
invitation to connect with others, you will end up with a very large number of
connections. However, are those connections worthwhile and can you build strong
and lasting relationships from them? If your connections are superficial, they
won’t hold much value. They are, however, a good starting point for building and
maintaining meaningful relationships at some point in the future.

Social media will only be successful for you if you put in the work that is
required to make it flourish. You need to dedicate consistent time and effort
for it to pay off for you and your business. Once you have established
meaningful connections with other people, you must build the relationships so
that they last indefinitely. One of the best ways to do that is by sharing
valuable and interesting information with them that you think they will be
interested in and that will help them to solve whichever issues they are
experiencing.

Respect is earned, not given away freely

As you are going along on your journey of building relationships that will be
strong and lasting, you must understand that reciprocity can come in many
different forms. One of the best forms lies within the interactions and the
multifaceted discussions that evolve online. All sorts of wonderful things can
come out of that. If you are connecting on social media for the right reason, in
other words, to help people without worrying about helping yourself, you will be
successful through your social media efforts.

If you come across some information that you feel is valuable enough not only
for you but to share with others, share it. You shouldn’t worry about what you
are getting from other people. The more thoughtful and considerate you are and
the more valuable information you share with other people, the more they will be
inclined to do the same. Of course, it feels great when people reciprocate. That
is a normal human reaction. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling that
way. However, you shouldn’t expect reciprocity. People don’t owe you anything.
You should never give something to another person because you expect something
in return. You should only give for the sake of giving.

Conclusion

Human beings give to one another and they like the way that it feels. The
idea of helping others makes  you feel like you are doing something good.
Mutuality and reciprocity are both important parts of any relationship but they
have to come about in a natural and easy way. All relationships must give and
take. If both people in the relationship have the interests of the other in
mind, everyone’s needs and wants will be satisfied.