Do you want a blog community or do you just want nicey-nicey?
Nov 8th
When I immersed myself in the social media world three years ago, one of the most remarkable things I noted was how freaking boring it was.
There was an almost total lack of any meaningful debate or community. Sure, everyone SAID they wanted community … that was the big buzz word … but that is NOT what was happening!
For the most part, the top bloggers of that period hated any form of debate. If anybody dared to criticize an A-Lister, a fortress of sycophants would gather like blog-zombies to mindlessly defend against the most minor criticism or slight. Blog comment areas were simply a chronological list of people saying “Great post!”
It was remarkable to observe. Nobody would EVER DARE to write an unfavorable word against another blogger because it would end the reciprocity gravy train.
It’s still a lot like that today, or course. The social web runs on the hope of reciprocity — an economy of small favors. If you cross a powerful blogger, the hope for a favor in the form of a mention or a tweet dries up. So why risk it?
I thought this was a really destructive and dysfuntioncal dynamic. The blogosphere was one big love-in. How would we grow, how would we move forward, how would we innovate, unless we challenge and push each other in constructive ways?
And on top of it all, I found all this social media nicey-nicey happy-happy joy-joy breathtakenly dull.
So I wrote an article about it. In The Social Media Country Club I called out the A-Listers and said they were a bunch of back-slapping, glad-handers and I wanted to see some debate. That … I got.
When I pushed that “publish button” I figured I had just killed my chances of ever being a mainstream blogger. But just the opposite happened. Yes, I got a LOT of flak from the blog zombies, but I also had a groundswell of people saying “YES! It was about time somebody said this!”
And this, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of the {grow} community.
I took the risk and stepped out of the nicey-nicey box for a day to see what would happen and it was successful because it started a REAL debate and attracted a core group of folks who said “We’re in” and many of them have stuck around for good.
So now I need to ask you something. When was the last time you wrote a blog post or comment where you DISAGREED with somebody? I mean you’re human, right? I’m sure you disagree with a lot of stuff going on around these parts. Why aren’t you writing about that?
If you really want a blog community that TALKS to each other you’ve got to get out of nicey-nicey mode. We do not need another freaking blog about “Five Things I Like About Google Plus.” Disagree with something. Show some passion. Take a risk. Write a blog post that only you could write.
Here are five tips for disagreeing in a productive way:
1) Don’t write when you’re mad or emotional. You’ll probably regret it and you’ll lose credibilty if the rant does not have some substance. Also, don’t rant when you’re drunk.
2) Don’t take it personally. When you get pummelled, it’s a sign that you’re making people think and that you’re evoking a reaction. Get in a mindset of “If I take a risk, it is likely people will disagree. I should be prepared for dissent” … and when it shows up, just think “well, there it is.”
3) Be constructive. I have publicly and voceriferously disagreed with Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, Jay Baer, Mitch Joel, and Jason Falls, to name a few. In each of these cases, I have disagreed, but also managed to remain friends with these folks (Except Seth. Have never met him) because the disagreements have been constructive and professional. Don’t just rant with out some answers.
4) Take your licks. I’ve had more than 18,000 comments on {grow} and I have only deleted just three for being inappropriate (and two of them were just being too blatantly sales-y). Trust your community. Usually people are nice. And if they’re not, hang in there amd show ‘em what you’re made of.
5) Be patient. At one point last year I actually did a study and found that about one-third of the comments on {grow} disagreed with me, Honestly, this can get wearying! Sometimes I am in just in a mood for harmony. But I also know that every comment — both positive and negative — is a gift. This person devoted their precious time to YOU and cared enough to comment. That’s awesome, isn’t it?
Now I know if you are working for a big corporation there are some very practical, legal, and political reasons why you might not want to kick up some dust. But if you have a personal blog, what’s holding you back?
If this is out of your comfort zone … all the more reason to do it. At least try it. It will add some interest and diversity to your content … and it just might the kick-start your community needs!
Research shows companies re-trenching on social media
Nov 6th
An annual study by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts concludes that social media use by the largest companies in the world has stalled, or perhaps is even re-trenching.
Let’s look at some of the numbers from the study.
The largest public companies have traditionally lagged behind other organizations in both level of blogging and the adoption of other social media platforms. But the issue is even more dramatic than this chart depicts. The top 100 companies are the most active blogging companies. Only 17% of the next 400 companies blog.
Blogging … and all other social media activities in the study … have stalled or declined over the previous year, according to the unversity study.
Nearly every large charity and university in America is on Facebook. Less than 60 percent of the F500 are. The researchers conclude:
These results may signal a leveling off and possibly retrenchment when it comes to the adoption of social media among the 2011 F500. There is also evidence of change in the adoption of these tools by industry and a clear sign from some companies that these are not part of their communications strategy. Given that the F500 are the titans of American business, we may be seeing the slowdown in business adoption of social media. At the very least, this group appears to have slowed or stopped its adoption of the three most prominent tools – Blogging, Facebook and Twitter.
I find this to be very interesting data. Although the F500 companies may be re-trenching, the INC 500 of America’s fastest-growing companies continue to expand the use of social media. What do you make of these trends?
Social influence and social media activism
Nov 4th
I want to call-out this villainous company who is distiliing our personal information and peddling it to companies as “influence” without our permission. This is what they are doing:
- Taking our social media information and content — and in many cases PRIVATE messages and even emails — and using this information to help brands sell their stuff.
- Making money off of our backs, off our content and goodwill.
- There is no opt-in. If you use the service, you are in. No compromise.
If you think this is about Klout, you’re wrong. It’s about Facebook. And Google. And Yahoo.
In fact, this is the fundamental economic model of the Internet: Collect as much personal information as possible and deliver it to brands so they can sell you more stuff through ads and promotions.
We have been de-sensitized into not caring about this. The rules of the game on Facebook are … if you’re on the platform, you completely give up your privacy. In fact not only do they slice, dice, and dissect every word, photo and video you post in order to present you to advertisers, they OWN your information. Scary stuff. Orwellian, no?
Why is there such a huge stir about the business model of Klout when every social media platform operates essentially the same way — or worse?
Because we all see it. The big difference is that Klout’s assessment is public. Facebook and Google are certainly assigning you a number — probably LOTS of them! — you just don’t know it. So there is a psychological ickiness of being rated in public.
The psychology of an “F” — Klout changed their grading system and many people’s scores precipitously declined. Why did this bring out such a violent out-pouring of emotion, especially if the score stayed the same on a relative level? Here’s my theory. Last week my score was an 82. That’s a “B.” This week I’m a 63. That’s an “F.” After a decade or more in traditional school systems, we are hard-wired to associate these numbers with grades, and grades are associated with our egos. All of a sudden somebody gave you and “F?” Well that will stir things up won’t it?
Privacy complications — Somewhere along the line Klout royally screwed up by opting-in minors and committing other privacy violations. Good grief. You just can’t do that. If this happened to you, you have a right to be mad.
Since I wrote my post last week trying to assert some rational thought into the Klout re-set, there is a small movement among some bloggers to remove themselves from Klout.
I sincerely honor anybody’s right to quit anything they like and make a statement of activism. But as a digital marketing professional, why would I disconnect myself from one of the most significant marketing developments in our field? Is that activist position really going to have an impact on anything 12 months from now?
Are you quitting other platforms as well to make a statement? No company in the world poses a bigger threat to privacy and personal safety than Facebook. People are committing suicide over Facebook. People are divorcing because of Facebook. Facebook routinely and accidentally divulges our most personal information and connections to people who should not have it. They are the world’s biggest hacking target. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when, we will be facing a Facebook privacy disaster.
Now that’s something to blog about. Klout is comparatively trivial.
If you quit Klout to make a statement, that’s cool. But as social scoring matures and the dots are connected between online conversations and offline buying behavior, aren’t you putting yourself at a professional disadvantage by not staying connected to the trend?
Are we protesting against the grasshopper when the lion is about to eat us all?
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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