Why do you look at your friends’ Facebook photos? Many people do it for the same reason: to see if they’re in any of the pictures. That’s not the only reason—of course you want to see what your cousin had for breakfast—but everyone gets the same rush when their face shows up on someone else’s “Photos” page. There may have been hundreds of people at the party you went to on Friday, but when you’re front and center in one of the pictures, you’re more than another attendee. You are recognized.
The Top Distributor feature is always one of our most popular stories every year, and some of the same reasons are at play. We receive hundreds of submissions, but can feature just 50 distributors. Our site traffic spikes the day we announce the list, as distributors click through to see if they are recognized.
It’s more than vanity, though. Sometimes you click on the party photos even when you weren’t there. You want to know how the party went. You want to see how your friends are doing.
That’s just as true here. The number of people who read and comment on our Top 50 Distributors list exceeds the number of submissions we get many times over. Thousands of readers who didn’t send in submissions still look at the list—they aren’t looking for themselves in the photos. Those distributors are checking for their associates and their partners. They want to see if their friends are doing well.
Besides, who doesn’t like a good party? And seeing as how our Top 50 Distributors this year made more than $200 million more than they did in 2012, I’d say the party was very good.
The promotional products world is deceptively small. We run into the same people five, six or 10 times a year at trade shows, sales meetings and sometimes simply passing one another at the airport. Even if you aren’t on this year’s Top 50 list, someone you know is. Take a look at 2014’s top distributors and see how your friends are doing.
