What is a Social Media "Power User?"

If you use any social news or social bookmarking sites, you've probably heard the term "power user" applied to individuals who seem to be extraordinarily active and successful in particular social media communities. You may even have wondered how to become a power user yourself or complained about the disproportionate influence of power users on a specific site. So what is a power user, really, and can an ordinary user become one? Do they affect social media communities positively or negatively? Read on.

What Is a Social Media Power User?

A power user is a social media user who has a much more significant effect on a community than does the average user. This often stems from investing much more time than the average user, but most power users also display a natural talent and passion for effective participation in the sites they use. Power users are influential on link sharing sites not only because they are able to drive traffic to the links they post, but also because they actively or passively develop a prominent social status within the community.

Do Power Users "Game" Social Media Sites?

Most power users seem to achieve results that are unrealistic without the use of "gaming," the unethical practice of skirting a site's rules and Terms of Service in order to become atypically successful on the site. For this reason, many average members of social media communities distrust or actively attack power users.

It's true that some users gain influence in social media communities through questionable practices like vote sharing on Reddit or mass auto-following on Twitter. However, it's equally possible for a user to gain influence and achieve success through authentic participation.

MrBabyMan, arguably the most prominent Digg power user, advocates a social media strategy focusing on good content and personal engagement. When asked on Reddit about the secrets of his success with Digg, MrBabyMan replied as follows:

"There are two very simple, guaranteed steps to achieving consistent success on Digg (or most other social networks, for that matter)

• Submit the best content you possibly can. I made the mistake early on at Digg of submitting whatever struck my fancy-- I was indiscriminate. I learned soon enough that doesn't get the front page. You have to narrow your focus to submitting the content you think will be the most popular (having said that, you should maintain a standard of content that likewise appeals to yourself as well-- don't submit popular content you don't agree with). How can you choose quality content? If you don't have a natural knack for it, watch the site for a while, lurk moar, as they say. Get a sense for what's in the zeitgeist.
• The best content in the world won't find its audience without the proper exposure. On Digg this means support from your mutual friends. Develop a base of mutual and like-minded friends, and grow that base. It's social news, let it be social."

(Emphasis is mine)

If MrBabyMan achieved success through discerning content choices and relationship-building, there's no reason anyone willing to put time and effort into participating in social media can't achieve the same result. In fact, quite uniformly across the top social bookmarking sites on the web, the most prominent users use a very similar strategy to that advocated by MrBabyMan.

For example, qgyh2 of Reddit relies primarily on the merit of his prolific submissions, and Peter Shankman, a popular Twitter user, follows four simple rules on Twitter:

1) I don't blatantly self-promote.
2) I post links of interest, and links of value.
3) I don't waste people's time with repetitive posting, or tweets that serve no purpose.
4) I don't double or triple post.

Becoming a Power User

If you want to become a power user, once you've found your social media home(s), take the advice of these respected and influential users: Share great content, build strong and honest relationships and don't self-promote excessively. It really is as simple as that.