This post has been brewing in me for awhile. Maybe a long road trip was just thing to make me sit down and put it on paper. The idea that there are social media experts is something I can buy. In fact, I think there are some people that have practiced the tools of social media long enough that their proficiency to communicate, relate and perfect a craft (podcast, vlog, blog, twitter).
However, when a those people start to criticize others on their use, or mis-use, of the medium, I take issue. Social media is hitting its puberty. It’s beyond it’s infant stage, stumbled through the toddler years. Several companies and people made the grade and now social media’s face is marked with pimples and a mouth full of braces. The awkward years are upon us. Do you remember middle school? Awkward.
The fact is the trailblazers of the space have written their books, have done the television shows and have helped to justify this space as being a legitimate marketing discipline. So, all that talking and video work has lead to mainstream America to join the cloud. The new guys on the street are now making all the same mistakes the visionaries made before…before when no one was paying attention. Instead of opening the metaphorical wing and embracing the new comers, we’re blasting them. FAIL!!! DIAF!!! URDOINITWRONGOKTHXBYE!!!
Nothing like the cool-nerd crowd to start treating non-nerds like nerds. And when non-self-proclaimed nerds start using the medium, the community is quick to jump on them.
I see it all this way. People are scaring people, business and management to believe that social media needs to be taken seriously. They want to set examples of others to show value. Guess what? URDOINITWRONG.
Value is proven day-to-day. Value is proven in support of the business. Value is not inherently funny or cool. I know it’s not fair, but value was never applied to cool. Cool is cool. In fact, the only thing cooler than cool is Ice Cold. And the only thing lamer than lame is a social media “expert” not supporting the community in which they live.
Matt,
Thanks for this. I love the line “The awkward years are upon us.” It’s very true. I also love the “Nothing like the cool-nerd crowd to start treating non-nerds like nerds.” It’s very true.
I was reading a blog post the other day by two rather well-known marketers/PR folks on Twitter and the entire post consisted of their “brilliance” and everyone else’s “URDOINITWRONGOKTHXBYE!!!” menatlity (as you so eloquently put it). The entire post really struck me because as far as I can tell, one of these experts has a very short resume in actual marketing – and only recently (last year or so) began incorporating social media into that marketing – and is now making the most of her 15 minutes of Twitter fame by denouncing others. It’s a bit appalling.
The great thing about social media has been the opportunity to learn from the community. For the most part, the community has been helpful and supportive – sharing stories of lessons learned along the way to help others avoid such mistakes. But as it grows, the “Twitterati” factor becomes a bit diluted for some and perhaps that’s the catalyst for such negative behavior.
Of course, there are some people who are purposely abusing social media networks to the degree that we can all agree it’s wrong – spammers and those who are only about the “follower” numbers, for example. But for the most part we are all learning and experimenting. Maybe we’re just in different grades but we still go to the same school.
Christine Perkett
PerkettPR
http://www.twitter.com/missusP
http://www.twitter.com/PerkettPR