I might actually disagree slightly with many who have answered. There are a few things I would think about when looking at how my followers can impact my results.

1. When you post something, is there immediate visitors to the page (in the first 24 hours). This can be a signal to the search engines that there is value on that page. If you have 100 subscribers and 50 of them land on your blog post in that first 24 hours, that's a better signal than if your content has 5 visitors in that first 24 hours.

2. Time spent on page - Another aspect of the algorithm is how long people spend on the page. All else being equal, Google likes a page that keeps people's attention versus one where people bounce immediately upon landing there. In theory, your subscribers are going to land on the post, read it, and spend some time doing it. That is a positive signal back to the Google.

Those are two things that immediately jump to mind for me. 

It has no effect - but following on AR shows:

• you are interested in what that person has to say
• You are part of the community
• Is part of the "like" phase of blogging and Q&A
• It's respectful when someone follows you

No, Google doesn't care how popular you are on AR.  I have no idea what you mean by social proof.

You go, Ryan Huggins - Thousand Oaks, CA !

No, it has NO direct impact.

However, I suppose if you have more followers and you write good content, you would theoretically get more comments and that may have a minor impact as there is more engagement on your blog posts.

I do like Bob answer and it makes sense

I am sure what Bob had to say was correct, or the closest to it. I don't know if any of us can really know how Google does anything. 

HOWEVER, the more I post on ActiveRain, the more both my posts and myself are likely to be found by Google and end up on the first page. Do I know why? Nope, I just know. 

If I am not writing, if I never found ActiveRain, you would have to Google my name to find me. And that is not going to help me at all. 

Also, there is another benefit to ActiveRain. My clients get to know me, many have commented on that. Local people in town have found my articles and know me. Local agents will comment that I am everywhere online. 

Bob Stewart provided the encyclopedic authoritative answer to SEO!

I do not believe so...I think, is is more beneficial for networking and connecting to other members. 

Google uses proprietary ranking algorithms and they have not provided the details regarding how they work.

Jody Wall - not directly. However, you are more likely to get more comments on your blog posts which are likely to be seen by Google!

I doubt that G knows how many followers we have but it may know how much traffic we get.

good question - I enjoy reading the answers even when I don't have an opinion!

I didn't know the answer. Good question. I like Bob Stewart's answer. It makes sense to me. 

I think the points and followers only matter to us.

WE are the impact that all sites look at.

When it comes to Google no, but and i say but, when it comes to consumers, yes it could help, even a little and ill take that

No.

Jody, 

On the contrary the number of impressions through Google www matters. But it must come outside not through AR internally.  That is your last column on the excel stats.  I do find my comment under someone's blog when searching my name so I disagree with other pros.

The social media blogs do not really get measurable Google juice. Same blogs are redudent and are removed during indexing.  The only exception is G+. 

First Question.  No

Second Question:  Social Proof is in the results we get from our efforts post and engaging with the community.

ActiveRain is providing you with the avenue to receive Google Juice....take advantage and write blog posts with good content and keyword phrases that will get indexed....

I agree with Lyn Sims . Social proof was not a phrase I was familiar with.  It was an interesting searh result but I need to do more research before I totally understand the concept.  

Social proof? Interesting phrase.

So you're saying prove how fast you show up in G for a keyword phrase? 

Answer:  10 mins tops.  Add in G+ brings it down to about 8 mins.

I do not know about followers helping your ranking. No one has ever discussed it.

parked and reading...

I do not think that the number of followers has any impact on searches.

Too hard to judge I believe!

Possibly in a round-about way - more comments COULD have an influence but, other than that, no!

I don't think Google cares about followers or points.

Re: SOCIAL PROOF, on AR I think followers don't provide much. This is primarily an agent-to-agent platform.