Are we living in a brave new world, consuming SOMA and living a 24/7 social life which is relentlessly positive? I’ve always found that social media, although amazing as it may, to give off a false sense of perception.
The following are several reasons why I believe social media is destroying the world.
- False sense of happiness. I’ve always noticed that people on the social web are happy, ridiculously happy – no, unnaturally happy. One of the problems with the social web is the implied “best practices” which entail “don’t be negative”. The problem is that we’re still human and always have a range of emotions. Drama and other emotions should still play a large part of being social on the web.
- Spoiler alert! A new movie, video game or book just came out – can’t wait to check it out! Oh wait, someone just spoiled it for you. Due to smartphones people now will talk about media in real time which can spoil it for others. Additionally, it can also give you a false sense of value for these new releases.
- Abrasive marketing. Just as advertisers jumped on every other media they are now forcefully (and abusively) targeting us on the web. The worst part are “buzz agents” which appear as normal people like you and I but their whole intent is to convince us to buy products. A lot of advertising on the social web is obtrusive and sometimes in bad taste.
- Megaphone approach. You have a podium to talk to others with the social web – many are using it just to hammer you with themselves. The social web is meant to connect others but it seems like it’s more about promotion than anything nowadays. One example is how many people only use Twitter as if it’s an RSS of their posts – no interaction and blatant self promotion. Where’s the fun in that?
- Social anarchy. If you want to wreck up the place look no further than the social web. With a small army of followers you can utterly destroy brands by spreading false information. Because most people don’t bother investigating beyond reading the headline these attacks spread faster than damage control and can lead to social anarchy.
- Inflated egos. You have 100,000 followers – congrats! Unfortunately, it’s over inflated your ego and value. Sorry to say but just because you have a massive following doesn’t mean you’re an influencer. Millions follow celebrities that have nothing to say – I think we could agree that their ego is a little overblown.
- Brand prostitution. This is more of a pet peeve of mine. I absolutely hate when others ‘like’ products, services and brands on Facebook and other websites. It’s not so much that it’s probably true but that it’s intrusive. ‘You’ve become a fan of ketchup’, congratulations, no one cares. It subliminally turns people into brand prostitutes – you wonder if they even care about their privacy online.
Don’t get me wrong
I absolutely love the social web, it’s done so many great things for all of us:
- Given average web users a voice
- Allows for online branding
- Helps spread important information
- Influences major political events
So yeah, the social web certainly has its purpose but I think we’re starting to become jaded. Take a deep look into your online activity and see if what you’re doing provides value vs. simply adding to the chatter.
Leave your mark on the social web but don’t be the one that destroys the world.
Image by Daniel James Cox
You’re back! Did you have a great trip?
I love your Inflated Ego caution. Those who pretend to listen do not equate to those who listen. You can be trumpeting all day on Twitter and not getting through to anyone.
I remember when I first read about Twitter there was a lot of advice about what you can do to to inflate your followers. Things like following new accounts and then unfollowing them when they became inactive. The whole point being to fill your ranks with apparent followers who would never object to your message because they no longer use Twitter. What is this logic?
I think it’s funny because now, I’m not even interested in following people who follow significantly fewer people than are following them. I have a few celebrities in my stream, but for people I have never heard of before, I look at that 180 following/1748 followers and think “this tweep has an ego problem” and I usually won’t follow. I certainly don’t take anyone’s follower count as a measure of their credibility or reach.
Great to see you’re back.
The trip was amazing Tammi – I’ll be sure to talk about it shortly
Twitter is interesting indeed. I’m at roughly 940 followers and follow (I think) about 400 back because it’s simply too much noise sometimes. But instead of blindly unfollowing people I check to see what they’re actually tweeting about, wither they’re just using it as an RSS and if they actually talk to people.
Much like any community, it’s better to have one which interacts with you instead of just listen, ya know?
i agree with the promotion bit, people really don’t care any more and they have the only intention of promoting themselves. BTW, welcome back Murray
Thanks Peter,
It seems, like many things, that it’s easy to get caught up with what people try to push on you about social media. You have so many people talking about how you’re suppose to monetize it and do this and that but the fundamentals are always the same – connect with others and talk.
Interesting stuff, Impressed
Your blog is awesome and You share great content dude, keep rocking !
Glad to see you back Murray.
Really Great Post. I’m totally agree with you.
I see many people using social media just for promoting products and to make some money.
Anyways, Thanks for sharing this great post. Really Great post murray.
~Dev
Glad to see you can agree on the same level Dev.
Don’t get me wrong, I think social media can be a great place for promotion and even affiliate marketing but it shouldn’t come to the point where it’s abusive, ya know? People are following you because you have great stuff to say; they don’t want to be bombarded with marketing messages 24/7.
Hi Murray,
I’m guilty of some of these social hells but lately it’s been plaguing me on how to effectively talk to my audience without all those self-promotion. I disabled that on Facebook and now I feel that’s something I’m going to do with Twitter as well.
Looking through my streams there’s not much interaction but posts updates. I guess it’s alright but everyday accumulates to quite a stir of ego.
Thanks for pointing out the true essence of blogging and marketing. Getting back to the roots of old fashion communication sounds like a lot of work but beyond the new tools, if you’re not already doing it what good is the tools?
Ah, I love that expression Thu the ‘roots’.
Back during BBS’s and the early web there wasn’t this idea that you’d be making money online so everyone was just enthusiasts and wanted to share information. It seems like over the years a bit of it has gone to the wayside but we can take it back! We have to start with our blogs, move to social media and so forth. Use these platforms to give, give, give.
Yes, did I forget passion? Without hard work and passion that’s what I mean. Who says hard work isn’t fun?
Giving has always been the basis and without a hint to that, we’re falling towards the dark side.
Hmmm. Some very good points about the evils of social media!
However if you use Social media for good (helping people) then that can’t be a bad thing can it?!
I don’t think it’s anything to worry about when you’re doing good Matthew – especially from you because you’re always being very social and giving on the web!
There’s always going to be a bunch that will use the web in devious ways but we can’t let them influence those that want to use it for good – it’s our duty as bloggers that talk about social media to point people in the right direction.
Well, not everything in this world is perfect, including social media, although it does benefit all of us to connect and communicate but it also could destroy anyone with a false information or even true information.
Just like the one recently a few months back, where some one created this “Draw Mohammad Day” in Facebook. And it offended an entire nation which actually cut them from entering facebook from their country and facebook group was alerted… well, I didn’t really know much about it but it’s really a terrible news.
Yeah, we have to take a lot of the web with a grain of salt these days and people will do bad things (such as what you mentioned) but we can always help others and follow a straight line – but be sure to add a human element to it whenever possible as well
I’m liking this post alot Murray. Point 1 is a big issue for us therapists. Many a time I get clients that feel something is wrong because they are not happy 24/7. In the world of social media this is promoted and becomes an expectation. Unfortunately life isnt like that and we all have times when we feel angry, sad, fed up, bored or a whole host of other things and all of these feelings are OK.
Sometimes it can be tough to convince others of this though.
Came out of left field Ian – a psychotherapist!
I mean, obviously we shouldn’t go out of our way to bring others down while we’re online but it can also be a great place just to get your feelings out, get some feedback from people and maybe even find closure because many people are willing to help
I agree with you, because people are using social media in different ways. The points you mentioned are the reality.
I agree with you about the incessant promotion. It can get old when someone retweets a post 5 times, or “follows” hundreds on Twitter just to get followed back.
I guess I’m not as upset about “brand prostitution” as you are. I always assume they want to be informed about cool events or get discounts on things they already use.
It’s funny about the “don’t be negative” thing. I can think of quite a few bloggers who had a post go viral after a rant and their popularity shot up. I guess that’s a lesson to me to put up a post about a country I didn’t like visiting at all. I think it comes off as fake if everything is sunshine and roses all the time.
Great points Jennifer.
I think ranting can be quite great as long as you’re not just battering down something. Use valid points and not only can you vent but get a message across – instead of just saying “it’s all good”.
I had a really bad experience with Delta recently during my trip which I was going to write about but in retrospect it would have just been too negative. I think it would still be worth mentioning because, ya know, it’s raw life.
Hey Murray, good to see you again mate, and what a way to return!
Love this post man, seriously! Original, awesome title, and that first point Hahahahaha, so true man, shit I want to vomit sometimes with all the happiness appearing in social media. I have voted for this at BE, dugg it, tweeted it and all, but I refuse to ‘like’ it because there is already too much happiness out there!
Thanks for an engaging read Murray, awesome.
Thanks for the welcome back Alex – was a good trip. I had planned a larger post and had worked a bit on it during vacation but it became so large that I had to break it up haha – it should be scheduled for the future.
There are a ton of happy people out there but sometimes it’s just like, c’mon, you can’t be this ridiculously cheery all the time, can you? I want to see rants! I want to see drama! Reminds me of the black hole sun video – everyone with the warped out smiles haha.
Blackhole sun vid.
NICE FLASHBACK MOMENT BROTHER!!!!
Awesome.
twitter has really become overused on self promotion, article retweeting, etc… since I started this whole blogging business, I rarely see anyone actually making conversations on twitter. It can be a healthly ice breaker once in a while to stay in touch personally with your followers. You can also gain loyal friends AND followers that way.
Hi Cindy and welcome to the blog,
Twitter does seem overly promotional way too often – I think (as bloggers) one of the best benefits we can gain from it is through network marketing. I’ve (and I’m sure you have as well) have found a ton of people that compliment many of the business ideas and projects I work on. Instead of going off to a random company, I now see these people as potential business relationships – I’ll pass off work to them instead!
Personality needs to show (as you have said) whether it’s good, bad or otherwise – a conversation is where the heart and soul of Twitter lies, it’s just a shame so many seem to abuse this platform.
I’m curious, do you have tips that you personally subscribe to when talking with others and trying to build a loyal following?