Since I started using Steemit, I have found a new love for research. Since my Time Management post trended a few days ago, I have been trying to keep to the plan. One key thing that I noticed is that I am making a lot of notes under the researching column :).

I research a lot as I want to ensure that I can write with confidence, whilst not being a specialist on the subject. I have referred to Robin Dunbar in an earlier post as well, but then I read more about him. He is an Anthropologist, as well as an evolutionary psychologist, with a specialty in primate behaviour. While I was reading up on reputation building in the social media realm, I read something very interesting. There aren’t many people that can say they have a number named after them ... well Robin can ... Dunbar 's number.

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Dunbar's number

Dunbar's number - 150 is the number of individuals with whom one person can maintain stable relationship with. He also argues that this number has not changed much throughout history. In an article in Phycology Today he explains that the theoretical number of 150 is not a homogenous group. Ito consists of 4 layers, or "Circles" which scale relative to each other by a factor of 3. The core of 5 friends - let's call them besties - and then outwards 15 friends, 50 Friends, and 150 friends. As we move outwards the number of people in the circle increases, but the emotional links with these people decreases. It actually make sense doesn’t it?

If Mr. Dunbar is correct about the 150 friends, is not really the point, maybe he is and maybe he is not. I always try to add value in the posts.

My personal use of social media.

Facebook

I must say I am not really a massive Facebook fan, but it is a nice place to see how your friends from the past is doing and progressing through life. I am speaking about older friends, like school buddies, who they married?, do they have children? etc. I do not accept anyone to Facebook, only people I now. My wife will usually posts pictures to my Facebook profile from my phone, I don’t. What I might do on Facebook is use the Check In feature and the only reason I do this is that I am a very statistical person, and will probably at some point draw some graphs of where I have been for the past few years … You never know.

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Linkedin

I am more fond of Linkedin than Facebook, as I am a Business Development Executive by profession. My main function is to sell IT solutions to businesses. LinkedIn is very useful for this and I have grown a fairly large following on LinkedIn. I will much easier accept an invite from somebody I do not know as it might mean business in the long run. I also have a lot of followers that are offering me alternative positions to my role. I get a fair amount of job offers, but I am not really somebody to move to frequently. LinkedIn for me is a business tool.

Twitter

I use twitter a fair amount to promote myself and my business. I have grown a large, but not massive following. It definitely assists to promote business or get the word out when you have marketing campaigns etc. A very useful business tool.

and Steemit?

This is a very good question and too early to answer. As I mentioned in various posts, that I believe that it is a wonderful community, which will grow exponentially over time. At the moment the only focus I have is to build a good reputation as an author that covers a wide variety of topics, and that these topics are useful to the rest of the Steemit community at large. Looking at what Mr. Dunbar said, I might just use some of that information to build a community around me. So first step … Make 5 friends … Do you want to be my friend?

On a more serious note, it is not a bad idea to build communities around you. These communities will grow by up-voting each other's post and quickly push out those who does not fit into their community. You will soon find yourself in a community of Dolphins around you. It will be very useful if you can be in a community where each vote can push you up by $1 don’t you think.

It might sound far-fetched, but those days will come my friend, and I hope they never end!!
We just need to stick around, build a good reputation by writing posts that adds value to the community, make good friends and build a base of followers.

I loved @rock-sivante 's post which trended yesterday , especially the way he ended it.

You dig ?
Word :)

Happy Steeming !