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Rebecca Thorman is using Brazen Careerist to share ideas. Join now to become a member and start networking with Rebecca Thorman and other professionals just like you. Learn more.
Rebecca Thorman is using Brazen Careerist to share ideas. Join now to become a member and start networking with Rebecca Thorman and other professionals just like you. Learn more.
Stop writing about social media. Talking about how Twitter is or isn’t an effective networking tool is boring. Really, freaking boring.
I read a lot of posts on social media hoping someone will say something new, but that never happens. We need to stop masturbating to what the tool is and start using it to see how it works.
Some of my favorite bloggers have said recently that they want to stop their current blog and start writing a blog about social media. How unoriginal. You aren’t an expert because you write about social media. You’re an expert because you use it.
It’s like saying social media isn’t as individual as the style of clothes that we choose to wear, or the neighborhood we live in, or the brand of toilet paper we buy. Different things work in different ways for different people.
Social media is as expansive as every kind of book out there, and while there will be bestsellers and cult classics, there’s no one style or clear path to follow.
Innovators aren’t people that join the conversation, but interrupt it. Innovators ignore the should and should nots, and just act.
I get why people write about it – it’s a fixation — an obsession for many of us — that we all have in common. But you can’t define social media. You can’t package it up neatly in a box.
Here’s how I know this is true. I don’t like Scott Monty, social media guru for Ford, at all. I mean, he’s a nice guy (nice enough to email me personally when I ranted about him), but I don’t like the way he represents Ford, and I think his approach is slightly ridiculous. But it is working for him, and tons and tons of people do like him.
Also, Chris Brogan isn’t all that original, Guy Kawasaki can be annoying, and ProBlogger writes about the same thing every day. There. I said it.
Celebrities are not more interesting than you. They’re not smarter. They have skills. In social media, they have mad skills. Mad, crazy, enviable marketing skills. You can have respect for individuals and their game – and don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for the Scott Montys and Chris Brogans of the world. They are succeeding and deserve props.
But it doesn’t mean you have to follow what they say, or emulate their game or even read them. That makes you an observer. An observer that sits in a wagon pulled around by “the influencers.” What chance do you have if you’re not even thinking on your own two feet?
Here’s how to escape the social media wagon:
1) Unsubscribe from one of the talking heads. How do you expect to be original and innovative when you read what everyone else reads? Lightning will not strike down upon you, I promise.
2) Subscribe to one of the thousands of other bloggers out there that are putting out real and original content. Content about politics, design & art, relationships, news, fashion, careers and issues. Content about things that matter. (Yes, fashion matters too).
3) Write about something else besides social media.
4) Repeat.
Novel idea.
Great post! Blunt, to the point, and very true! Thanks!
@ Ann - Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
I totally agree Rebecca ... that's why I subscribe to your blog. :) The Internet can be used to level the playing field so that's how it should be used. I remember your comment on Penelope's blog post which referenced Scott Monty and I read the links you provided there. I was *shocked* and *appalled* :) and agreed with you there also. I like how you worked in the Alice.com link above. I'm not here as a yes or a no person ... just somebody that likes to share their two cents worth. I hope you remember this post of yours when you become a celebrity. :)
Glad someone finally said it!! My favorite lines:
"You aren’t an expert because you write about social media. You’re an expert because you use it."
It seems everyone who's blogging, is on Facebook and Twitter, and starts attending SXSW or TweetUp's is now a social media expert. I don't get it. There are way too many people in the "social media expert" boat and it's time to build a new boat before the crowded boat sinks.
I completely agree with you regarding originality and real content. I joined twitter in it's infancy, and stopped using it because no one was on it. Then, all of a sudden, there are millions of people on it last month. I jump back on it, start following people and it's all a bunch of noise. LOTS of noise. LOTS of link posts, and follow requests, and followfriday's and no original thought. I follow people because I want to hear their new epiphany that I and others haven't thought of yet. That's it. I want ideas!! It is the only purpose of social media, NOT to compete on how many random connections and followers you have. Not how many people you can push to follow someone on a FollowFriday. Not the newest article you read that came from Digg or from Guy. I want to know to hear an original thought.
And I heard it here today. Please stop talking about Social Media, and use it! Thanks Rebecca! We can count on you (and the gang at Brazen) for some original thought. Which is why we follow you here and on Twitter...
@ Mark - Thanks so much for the comment. I love that you talk about that the internet can be used to level the playing field. That's why it's so interesting in the first place.
@ KV - Great analogy with the social media experts and boats. I'm claustrophobic myself so I don't want to be on the boat with all those other people anyway! And ideas are what keep me going as well. Thanks for sharing your perspective!
As one of the apparently few people who don't use social media to the point of exhaustion I say bravo for this post. If I didn't have to embark on a 45 minute drive for a discussion at school I'd probably write volumes but for now ...bravo.
I'm going to try to get past the fact that I like a blog post about social media being not a worthy blog post topic.
And I'm going to say that in my MFA program for creative writing my professor threw a fit any time someone wrote about writing. "No one is interested in your process of deciding to write but you!" That's what he'd scream at us.
The result is that I try to never write blog posts about writing blog posts. (Though some slip through.) And now, maybe I'll try never writing blog posts about social media. (Though I might still write comments :)
Penelope
@Penelope,
It's an interesting fact that people tend to write about whatever they immersed in. I was reading "The Screenwriter's Bible" and Trottier was saying that a lot of authors fail because they cease doing new and interesting things that make the inspiration for good scripts and start producing a deluge of "struggling writer in Hollywood" stories. I also used to be disgusted at how many songs made constant reference to the music industry. I suppose the same applies to blogging.
@All,
As for social media, the one thing I find critically lacking is that no one seems to say much beyond "this is good and will be a critical component of your marketing." Oh? Good for what? Killing massive time networking with other people in the process of killing massive time? What is sorely lacking is material explaining what objectives social media is good for and is not good for--with plenty of data and not mere "It seems like a good idea" to back it up. That's an easy one hit kill ebook or series of posts though. It doesn't necessarily merit an ongoing blog.
I totally agree with your statement that "Innovators aren’t people that join the conversation, but interrupt it. Innovators ignore the should and should nots, and just act." Rather than talk with other people who share similar ideas, innovation takes shape amongst people who see the world differently, who may share seemingly incompatible points of view and somehow find a way to draw upon the differences and create something altogether new. True innovators probably don't even realize they are innovators until after the fact. With so much noise on the Internet nowadays, it's become increasingly easily to spot writing that is different and more authentic. And you're blog posts usually are.
HA!... love it. With all of the Internet marketing gurus out there making a killing, everyone wants to do the same thing... BORING. If I get one more tweet telling me how to get more twitters followers, I'm going to scream... thanks for putting my feelings into the right words. Rock on.
@ Olivia - Thanks for the kind words and bravo for not getting wrapped up in it all :)
@ Penelope - That's right. I hate books about writing. The only author that's good at this is Natalie Goldberg, and that's because she writes about herself more than she writes about how to write.
@ Brian - It's good for what you use it for. It's a tool and you use that in any way you want. You could waste time, or you could find value. Like all things in life, it's the choice that you make that determines that, not the tool itself.
@ Jason - I'm glad you brought up the idea of differences because I took that out of my post. I think you learn so much more from people that are different from you. It doesn't mean you have to agree, but just learn.
@ Ethan - Yes. I was close to screaming when I wrote the post. Kind of :). It's my job to do social media, but I've never seen anything help more than just trying something out myself. Thanks for the comment.
@Brain With the exception of "American Pie" all songs referencing the music industry should be banned from the iTunes.. or iPod.. Walmart.. LP Rack.. well, wherever it is you kids are putting music these days :-)
@Rebecca LOVE the brutal honesty and frankness. I will never again read an article about Social Media without getting a visual of a pencil neck geek, mast... umm.. "writing" with himself. I also agree with you on CB and PB. Blah, blah, blah, nothing beneath the surface. GK, he has a lot of depth of experience, but sometimes I wonder if he isn't getting hammered on the Kool-Aid in the back room. Because he has a rich off-line history, I give him the benefit of the doubt.
I saw a video of Seth Godin today http://www.openforum.com/marketing/video_socialgood.html which was a lot of geezers (yes, I am also a geezer, but hear me out...) being snarky about this social media stuff. Essentially, their view of it read just like a headline reading of CNN Headline News on Twitter and Facebook. No depth, but he is an expert. I'm not anywhere near as famous as Seth and probably not as smart, but my company is using Twitter and Facebook in entirely different ways than what the media (and Seth) sees. Most of the crap that is written by SM "experts" is just surface, wank stuff.
I've rambled on too long (and I did say "wank" I'm sorry.) Thank you for helping unravel the hype from all this Social Media stuff so the rest of us can finally get back to work instead of cow-towing to anxious, panicky clients who think they are missing something. If we're on the job, we've already been integrating the useful parts of SM in your workflow. Really.
@Rebecca
Tools are not a you get out of it what you put into it kind of item. Tools are generally built for a purpose and are particularly suited to doing a particular task. Hammers are good for hammering. You might also be able to use it for cracking open eggs or scratching an itch, but those wouldn't be my preferred uses. Maybe someone would like to use a hammer for those purposes, but it doesn't change the fact that a hammer was built for hammering and is best at that task. Likewise, as tools, social media inevitably has it's best uses and best practices for getting the best results. Things like Twitter are a bit more complex and less obvious than a simple hammer which is why I think there's a general lack of good information about what these tools are well suited to besides the obvious sucking of time. I'm open to being convinced with actual data and evidence that things like Twitter and Facebook can be used for good marketing, but so far the arguments I've seen for them are very hazy and rely solely on sentiment.
@ Brian - There a many different kinds of tools - a hammer being more of a simple one as you state (although many people would argue with even that). Think instead of a tool like a resume. I've seen some really great resumes, and some really sucky ones. It's a tool to get a job, but the myriad of ways to use the resume and how you choose to use it will largely determine your outcome.
If you're not finding the data and evidence that Twitter and Facebook are good for marketing, you're not looking hard enough and maybe you should be reading SM stuff. But that's exactly the kind of thing that I'm tired of discussing.
Sorry if I'm being short, I'm sick today :( Anyway, I do appreciate your points and the conversation you bring up.
@ Gerard - Loved your response - more entertaining than my post, for sure :) Thanks!
@Rebecca
I think we're getting closer to the same page. That's generally where I was going though. A resume is a tool to get a job. That's it's main purpose. While your individual personality and experiences make the actual content different, the underlying structure (experience, school, skills) and the way you use it (give it to a person/company who might be interested in hiring you) are essentially the same. It's all about distilling the best practices and how you go about wrapping your own situation around it.
I guess what I was really getting at though is that one of the ways we can put the protracted discussions about whether SM is/isn't good for something to rest is by substituting rhetoric for actual data, creating a fundamentals guide, and then moving on the more interesting issues that take us to the next level.
Anyhow, no worries on the shortness. Good ole Meyers-Briggs tells me I'm the "conqueror" (ESTP) myself.
The first rule of social media. Don't talk about social media.
Here’s an example of someone who I think does a great job at social media blogging. Maybe it’s just me …
I know I could find more if I had the energy. The point I have is
that there are people out there in every genre that stand out. And just
because one person, or group of people, says that it’s not worth doing,
doesn’t mean that it’s not worth doing.
Do you what you want with your blog. If you’re passionate about
social media, blog about social media. As long as you do it in a unique
and fresh way I’m sure you’re going to be successful and make the
connections that you sought to make.
Great post. If and when one is going to write about social media, it NEEDS to be original or have a unique perspective on things.
I remember a conversation with a friend asking about what my then-soon-to-be blog was going to be about.
"Well what are you gonna write about?"
"I think it'll be a blog about tech and society relationships, and some social media..."
"Oh, a social media blog. That's cool."
"No - wait, I mean, not like that. I mean, not exactly how everyone else writes about boring marketing tactics and all that pap. It'll be, like, more real, and 100% original content, and - "
"Oh, ok, you mean like that guy Chris Brogan."
"...Yeeeeah not really. More for like, people under 40, and sort of counterculture, you know?"
There are always hundreds of posts and unoriginal re-posts about how to use Facebook's new Pages, how to monetize Twitter, or the impact of Twitter including all @ mentions on the front page.
Blogging used to be about taking a deeper look into someone's personality and checking out their personal response to the world. You've succeeded when your readers hear about something in the news and they look forward to reading your take on the matter.
Agreed! When I started using twitter, I followed some of the "experts" for an insight on what was going on. Then I realized most of that advice quickly became very redundant. And while I don't think it's unnecessary to have these social media gurus, we shouldn't all quit our day jobs and start a social media blog.
But Ryan Paugh has a point, if you're passionate about social media, blog about it. Just don't do it because it's trendy right now.
I like your post a lot. I disagree on a point: the one about being a social media expert, because you use it, not write about it. You are an expert on social media, because you say you are. It also helps if you are from out of town.
When I realized these two things, my career exploded. And for some reason, it took me a long time for me to realize that.
So keep up the good writing, expert :)
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
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