Month: November 2009

Avoid Making Assumptions in Social Media

The particular incident I will explain occurred on Facebook, but can happen anywhere. I read a Facebook status of a person who was contemptuous toward the American judicial system. The person who wrote it was angry about the way the laws of his country work. He had a bone to pick. I suspect that anybody with a parking citation could give some criticism of the court system. Is it perfect? Of course not, but when compared to many nations, it is pretty effective. Whether we adapt our behavior to live within the laws, or not, is our choice, but this is not a legal argument … it is a blog about misunderstanding and making assumptions.

I had a reply for the Facebook status. Replies are accepted on Facebook. If you do not want a reply, it is generally a good idea that you keep it off your Facebook wall. My reply was based on my opinion of his status message. It made him angry that I gave my honest response. Perhaps he would have preferred that I lie.

He took my disagreement as public disrespect toward him. He was angry because he thought everybody should agree with him. I came to find out by calling him on the telephone that the reason he was so passionate about the topic came with a back-story. His Facebook status did not come with a back-story, or perhaps I would have commented on that, too. It seems that he is angry that a bunch of his family members are in jail as a result of a grand jury indictment that he thinks is unfair. My opinion is that a grand jury is usually not something to mess with, and those kind of indictments do not normally come without cause. I think there is a pretty good assumption that you have broken the law before they assemble a grand jury.

I have never faced charges before a grand jury. Come to think of it, nobody in my family has ever been indicted by a grand jury. Five of his family members were, all at once. Darn the luck, somehow this guy’s whole family seems to be getting the shaft. What an amazing coincidence that the courts are picking on his family all at once … and all of them innocent. Darn the luck, he presented a statement for others to comment on it … but preferably in his favor.

In any case, this very passionate individual was angry that I made a reply that did not suit his agenda. He made the assumption that everybody reading his Facebook status would respond to his lengthy story of his innocently imprisoned family rather than to this individual comment he made. In fact, he even said, in our telephone conversation, that “Most of the 400 people on my Facebook know the whole story behind it.” If you make this kind of assumption, you are delusional and bound to encounter many disagreements.

The point here is that if you make a brief statement about something, it is unwise to assume that everybody knows your lengthy story behind the statement. If it is in a Twitter or Facebook status update, be sure that if you do not want people to respond to only a portion of your message that you give them the whole story for their consideration. Otherwise, be happy that they took the care to reply to what little information you gave them.

On a similar note, it is best that if a person does give you a more complete story that you do not simply comment on the title of the story. What I mean by this is that if you comment on a Facebook or Twitter update that has a link associated, be sure you are not only commenting on the subject, but rather on the whole story.

This is just one of many simple ways to avoid conflict in social media. Please tell me what you think. I await your comments.

Stop Stealing in Social Media

We have all seen a blog post with an interesting video or a link to a news story that comes through by a third party. You know, the person who writes something up and includes additional content that they feel may interest you.

Sometimes it is as simple as if I added a YouTube video in this post and you liked it, so you share it with your friends with the YouTube link instead of sharing it in the format and with the comments I was trying to share.

Sure, you can say that you are passing along the message of just what you wanted to pass along, and sometimes that is fine. However, when you do that, there is sometimes a value added purpose for the format in which you received it that is missed. Sometimes it is because the author of the blog, Digg account, or FriendFeed wanted to start a dialog with you. Maybe they really wanted your comments. Maybe they earn their living based on the content that they provided, and not just the third-party link you passed along. The matter of advertising is not the case for me, because I have not sold links on my Websites since the mid-1990’s. However, advertising is a pretty common practice on websites, and one that really does not hurt most people. When the traffic is stolen, it really does matter to the operator of the site.

When I see this sort of “stealing” as I call it, I am not pointing fingers at you. I am simply saying that a little bit of consideration for why and how you received the interesting tidbit is often in order. For those people who do earn their living by the traffic their Website receives, do not think for a moment that they are not fully aware that you have done this. The Internet is a highly trackable place, and the professionals know that you have retweeted, Facebooked, blogged, or otherwise passed their hard work along and cut them out of the equation. Count on it! Oh, and by the way, Twitter even addresses this in their Terms of Service. They will suspend your account for retweeting without attribution to the author of a message.

This just came to me as I considered the blog post I wrote tonight on the blog for my latest book, “Living in the Storm” where I included a video of “We Are the World” by USA for Africa. I saw that the video was getting a sudden spike in plays after I wrote the blog. I looked, and sure enough, people who read my work had passed it along without any consideration for the thoughts and words in my post. I should not need to mention that as an author, I found it troubling because I have worked very hard and I deserve every bit of attention I have produced for my book.

The question this begs is in how can it possibly hurt to pass along content in the context with which it was presented? Just think of it as just a little piece of respect for the author. Authors and content providers often work very hard and deserve it.

I know I am not the only guy who feels this way, so speak up and give me your comments here on the blog.

If you just must pass along something without any attribution or guilt, here you go: Take Rick Astly with you. 😉

Director of Social Media Instrumental in Blunders

“Get to the point!” was my reaction as I read the article from a “social media expert” bragging about this and that, blah blah, “instrumental in”, yada, yada, “leveraged” that, and etcetera.

Attempting to gain respect by adding ambiguous terms or unrecognized titles is losing ground. It has a lot to do with making people feel smaller than you by using bigger words than they do. Do you speak to people that way? Do you speak to friends that way? People like friends.

Welcome to the human era of communications!

As I read the article, it did not take more than a single line to realize I was reading some garbage filled with a bunch of fancy word plays to distract me from any meaning. What do people really get from a bunch of language that sounds like a resume? I can tell you, but if I did, my language may not be as eloquent as this 1990’s throwback hoping to create allure with a bunch of impressive blather. Do not get me wrong, my linguistics are fine. I can do that, too. I have authored countless marketing articles over the past two decades and three books just this year. I can blow you away with a bunch of word plays, but will you admire my work more if I do?

I am not going to say that you should curse like a sailor and use a bunch of slang, but if you are writing to general public like it is your resume, don’t bother. They probably wrote that same line of junk in their resume, too. If they didn’t, then they likely have a better job than you, and if they did, they have probably held their job for a while.

Maybe it is just me, but I get a little tired of false impressions and a lack of the human aspects in communication. Sure, the “experts” will tell you that if you polish it with some glittery words and make it look really shiny that it does make a difference. That was true, way back then, but then is in the past. People want people, and they want real people they can relate to on some level. Some people will still look at the shiny things and go blind and be fooled. Most of us are smarter than that. I know this because I did the research. I know the people. There are still opportunities to puff out your chest and be the “impressive” one whom everybody will linger on your every word. Those days of false impressions with big titles and clever phrases are fading. Being reliable, having integrity, and being human are more important again … as it once was.

My hands are cold from standing outside where I just smoked a cigarette. I printed the particular article I am referencing so that I could pace my driveway where I could smoke and thump my finger on the pages as I read them with disgust, without carrying my laptop around. I am a real guy … a guy with a brain of my own. I guess I just don’t see a whole lot of value in building myself up to gain your respect and admiration. Sure, I know a whole lot more about marketing, the Internet, and Internet marketing than most of my readers. I got that by working in my industry for a very long time. I was here before Al Gore released the Internet to the rest of the world. I was here when yahoo was not “Yahoo! ÂŽ” and I remember when RFC 1939 (POP3) was established. I became successful in my industry by working hard and not showering until I learned that new craze called HTML. If I ever need to be a “Director of Social Media, Instrumental in Blunders” in order to impress you … count me out. I am just not that guy. I evolved. If you want your resume written, I can send you to some swell writers, but I wouldn’t suggest using it as your marketing “hook”.

History is repeating itself, as we knew it would. The people who came up with terms like “instrumental in leveraging” and “received awards for” without telling you that the award was given by their mother are greats in history. They are right up there with the piano keyboard necktie and the Delorean automobile, which both get a lot of chuckles. Maybe that fashion will return, but for now, it is a whole lot more acceptable to just say it clearly and stop trying to impress everybody. Be yourself! Then you can come have a beer and a cigarette with me.

If you have ever felt as if you are not in their league because of the words they so cleverly crafted, do not be fooled! They are probably the ones writing their resume and “seeking a fulfilling opportunity”, which really means they want a job that pays them to be somebody completely different than what it said on their resume.