Are you actually reading this?

For a long time now, people have been preaching the “content is king” sermon. You need to have content to share. You need to have content to show your expertise. You need to have content to…well, you know all of the arguments.

I think the underlying assumption behind these arguments is that if you generate content, people will actually, ya know, read it. Thoroughly. Certainly before sharing it or commenting on it. But I am finding more and more often that people in the online world are actually not reading most of the things they respond to. In fact, it seems like most people these days are ready with a response and they are just looking for a good place to dump it, whether it’s 100% relevant or not. If you want to promote someone, you may automatically or without much thought promote a post of theirs. Whatever is at the top of their site. If you read a title and it seems to make sense to you, you promote the post and say it’s brilliant.

Only, what if what you are sharing is sheer and utter crap? What if your own credibility gets waylaid because people think you’ve lost that hamburger that makes you a full happy meal? Why are you talking about how awesome dogs are when the post was about mean women, for example? It doesn’t make much sense, right? And yet without carefully reading the content you’re sharing and promoting, this could very easily be you.

Women aren’t mean enough to win

I sort of fell into this conversation by accident. I wrote a post with the title, “Women aren’t mean enough to win.” My post actually railed against this kind of thinking, but a lot of posts have used titles akin to that and argued in support of the concept. I thought a bit of sarcasm could work in that scenario. I mistakenly thought that if people saw the title, they would go on to read the post before offering a comment or before sharing.

Oops.

When I first tweeted out the post, I got several responses from people who had clearly been scarred by mean women. I got responses that evinced a sort of shock that I would say that about women (thus proving my point about how dumb the argument is, but that’s beside the point). People responded that they agreed with me 100%, meaning they agreed that women really are NOT mean enough to win. A large majority of the first wave of tweets I got indicated that no one had read the post. They saw the tweet and responded immediately, not knowing what it was they were responding to.

That scares the boogers out of me, quite frankly.

Misinformation is behind every corner

Let me tell you a story. I was working on our company’s e-newsletter one day and I was writing about ROI. I was negating the argument that the ROI of social media is the same as that of your mother, an argument that was floating about the online world at a dizzying pace at the time. My boss/dad and my co-workers thought I had finally lost it. “ROI of your mother? Who would even say that? That doesn’t even make any sense! Take it out!”

And yet many people in the online world are now holding on to this refrain as if it is gospel. Why? Maybe because a person with a pretty big online following said it. Maybe because it’s catchy. Maybe because it makes you stop and think (even if what you are thinking is, “Huh?”).

This is how misinformation is taking over the marketing world. Marketers are joining the online frenzy and their priorities are all askew. Instead of trying to use social media to promote their businesses, they are using social media to get more followers…for themselves, in many cases. So, retweet what that person with the big following is saying. Comment with saccharine niceties on blog posts that you think will help further your cause.

Hey-we can do better than this. Right? Surely we can read. surely we can think for ourselves. Right?

It’s not just about journalism

A lot of people got nervous when it was announced that the Associated Press was going to start considering bloggers to be credible sources of information. “How do we know that what these bloggers are saying is true?”Well, the same goes for any division of knowledge you are studying digitally. One must continue to read and question. One must research and say, “Wait – that is not right.”

If you are not interested in reading content that you are sharing, it is not your followers who will suffer. It is YOU who will end up doing something that cannot be undone. Whether you’re relying on the automated tools of Triberr or whether you are simply reading titles without reading the full post, you are making yourself vulnerable to foolishness, a loss of credibility, and a tarnished reputation.

Are you still reading? Do you hear me out there?

Nod if you got this far. I’m crossing my fingers.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgifford/5024892224/ via Creative Commons

73 comments

  3. I also read the whole thing and boy, do I agree with this post. I’ve seen it first hand. Send out a tweet with a link in it and bam! Instant retweet. You just know that person didn’t have time to read the post. One time I did that and the link didn’t work (in my original tweet), yet within seconds it was being retweeted. Huh? I just don’t understand why people do that.

    1. @Sherree_W Yeah, I decided pretty early on that if I tweet something out, that means I think it’s really well-written, makes a really good point, and is worth passing along. Having established that early on, I now take that increasingly seriously. A tantalizing title can still lead to a post that is rife with spelling and grammar errors, and that is just not something I am comfortable passing along unless there are extenuating circumstances.

  4. Margie, just want you to know that Dr. Johnny Fever and I are so proud. You said “boogers.” ;^)

    Good post. I’ve been guilty of skimming and then tweeting, but that’s as shallow as I’ve gone. That’s partly why I’ve pulled back a bit on my Twitter postings. I really want to focus on the stuff that makes me think.

  5. I’m nodding, but I’m going to have to counter and I will tell you why.

    Yes, I have been guilty of retweeting my friend’s posts and going only off the headline; even at times putting a personal addition, which sometimes had nothing to do with the story. Why, because in the limited time I have I still want to support them and with people like you, I can’t imagine anything you wrote would reflect badly on me as a supporter. Maybe it’s blind trust, but I hang around here for a reason. I would like to think that what I’m seeing is what I get.

    So the question is, is it better for me to support my community; blindly at times; OR, don’t pull the trigger until I have fully read the post. Just remember, we are all working with a limited amount of time.

    I know I can be naive at times but I want to support my community as much as I can; sometimes that might mean only a retweet and nothing else.

    Second question, and maybe you know because you are probably more attuned to the numbers than I am, but I often wonder how many people are actually opening and reading my retweets?

    I will be honest with you; I am in 3 tribes and 2 of them absolutely NOTHING is going on and the third one with some well know names is pretty lame at best. Did Triberr turn into Klout and I missed the memo?

    That’s my story for today; I have nothing left………..

    1. @bdorman264 Sure, you can support your friend. What we all need to remember is we are supporting our friends, when we share their content, by ‘spending’ the trust we have earned. When they produce great stuff, we get a little more trust. When we share a flop of theirs, we lose a lot of the trust we have built up. But at the end of the day, each of us has our own bank of trust, to use as we see fit.

    2. @bdorman264 That’s an interesting conundrum. There is the issue of supporting people you care about in the online space and then there is whatever you are trying to accomplish with what you are doing on your own (assuming those might be 2 different things).

      I face this on a regular basis, but even if it’s a person I know always rakes out good content (like you) I like to be able to give my community an idea of what they are going to get when they click over. I also like to let you know, even if I don’t leave a comment, that I read your post and found it good enough to share. These little signals are really important, at least to me, so that is why I do things the way I do 🙂

  6. I know that people don’t read everything I write. Sometimes I intentionally throw in a nonsensical statement in the middle of my post just to see if anyone notices.

    However I have noticed that most of my “regulars” pay attention to the words I write and the stories I tell.

  7. Damn, finger slipped and I clicked enter before I meant to.

    I think that we can separate people into groups, you have the Sneetches with stars and those without. Those with stars are really interested in what you wrote and try to reply accordingly. Those without are more interested in getting traffic to their blog and leave comments everywhere they go in the hopes of building traffic.

  8. Ha. Well said Margie, as always. I think there are a couple of different types of tweeters out there, ones who actually read what they tweet and others who just tweet. Its paramount to read the content you are tweeting out, because as you say, it’s all about credibility. Whether I am online or offline, its my name. I don’t want to gain someones trust (followers) and then throw garbage at them. Unfortunately, I think you are right, most people don’t read.Can’t do anything about that…What we can do is generate good content, be thankful when we are retweeted, and hope that somewhere along the line, even if the tweeter didn’t read what we wrote, that it gets to someone who will and who will appreciate, and even better than a tweet >>leave a comment and >> participate in an intelligent way in conversation.

    Further conversation, or insight is always wonderful.

    In the meantime, I will be thankful to those who retweet me, and hope in some way at least some of them see some value in what I am doing or writing. After all, if there is no value, what is the point? There is none. Time is more valuable than that.

    On the flip side, I will always read what I am tweeting. If its from a reliable source, for example like you, and I don’t have the time to read it at the moment, ill tweet, because you have gained my trust, and read when I have the time to focus on the post – very few people fall into my category of “retweet in full confidence” – we have to honor ourselves, our brand, what we stand for or believe in with our content. Tweeting included.

    People, You are putting YOUR name out there, so when you tweet remember its the same as vouching for someone.

    Great post Margie 🙂 Thank you for calling it out! margieclayman

    1. @Milaspage I really appreciate your comment, Mila. Thank you for putting your trust in me.

      There are a few people who tweet my posts without reading them first, and it always makes me nervous. I’ll do my best never to send out content that would get anyone in trouble, but what if I write something that goes fundamentally against advice you teach in a class or ideas you’ve given to a friend? For example, if you’ve been a real proponent for tweeting things out if the title looks good and then you tweet out this post without reading it, doesn’t that still call your credibility into question a little bit?

  9. I am nodding and yet gonna start by calling out on calling Triberr an automated tool, it is NOT. It is an aggregate tool that allows folks who connect in tribes by either their topics or their synergy of talking to same audiences. Yes, I agree some folks just read titles and tweet, which is why I limit myself to folks I tweet their posts.

    Now that is off my chest, baby you and me been saying the same ^&*( for a long time here. I called BS on “Content is King” in blogchat only to receive an avalanche of folks (who think they know what they are talking about yet I doubt 90% of have much online exp or traffic). Now granted I only get about 40-50,000 visitors a month on each of my properties-I am really fed up with folks who don’t know ^&*( telling me “If you produce good content people will comment.”

    Really then why is it when I write about Boners BBQ & BMW, I get two comments and Scott Stratten gets 100, he is not smarter or even goes into the depth I do in my blog posts. He just built his starship sooner than the rest of use and folks just want to ride his coat-tails on being “SEEN” commenting there.

    So, Margie I stopped writing for comments and started writing for showcasing my knowledge for clients and search. Yup, I want to be found by potential clients online, imagine that.

    1. @prosperitygal There’s a lot of meat to this comment, Michele. Let me take it morsel by morsel.

      1. Triberr is not *technically* automated. That’s true. However, you can set it to be automated, and it allows you the option, quite easily, to tweet out dozens of posts without reading them first. That is what i meant – maybe I should have been more clear though.

      2. I think you raise a huge point in your note about how people in Blogchat reacted to your comment regarding “Content is king.” I am finding it very disconcerting that so many people glom on to these catch-phrases also without thinking fully about them. It’s really the same kind of issue. Folks are going to retweet things that will get them retweeted, right? Content is king, and other sayings, fall right into that.

      3. There is definitely a granite ceiling in the online world. I think it’s possible to work your way up but people who are preaching the same “best practices” that worked five years ago are missing the boat. It’s a very changed world.

      Great comment!

  10. I love that you used the word “boogers”! I also don’t think most people read much more than the first paragraph or so. THAT is one of the reasons SEO guru’s say to put all your best keywords in the first paragraph as well as do your best with a title.

    AND, sarcasm is very touchy. It rarely works in 140 characters or less and it is so often misconstrued.

    I had one post that got 10-20 times the views of any other post all because it had “Money” in the title. I experimented by adding “Money” to another title and that one also got more views than my regular columns.

    It’s all a bizarre mystery and game. As for journalism – it’s LONG been dead. Just look at most all of MSM, especially network so-called news, which should properly be called opinions!

    2. @BruceSallan1 Yeah, sarcasm is indeed touchy. I normally *try* to refrain from it but darn it, it just pours out of me naturally. It’s a serious problem 🙂

      That’s interesting regarding the “money” experiment. I wonder what other keywords would have a similar effect. Hmm.

      1. @margieclayman@BruceSallan1 I”ve done that experiment. Other words that get high traffic: Wealth, Marketing, Six figures, Easy.

        You get the picture…

  11. I think it is a very scary thing to retweet something I haven’t read. It’s the reason I left Triberr. They may have changed by now, but people were joining my tribe, I didn’t know them, hadn’t read them and yet I was auto-tweeting their stuff. So for me, it’s all about credibility.

    Another thing that’s dangerous is, as you said, Margie, so many people read the headline only and start a discussion based on that. And I have written things tongue-in-cheek, which I thought were so sarcastic that everyone would have to recognize it, and had readers who took them literally.

    Side note: The titles that bug the heck out of me are the ones that purposely deceive to get you to click through and then don’t deliver on the promise. I won’t go back to a blogger who has done that to me, violated the trust.

    And having been a journalist for three years, I have to disagree on the blogger-as-reporter issue. We had to check our facts and quotes, provide sources, etc. I have seen so much misinformation on the Web and, in particular, on blogs. Journalism may be dead, but I still trust a reputable news site on the Internet more than some of these bloggers (and people on Twitter who pass on rumors and make them seem like fact).

    Thanks, Margie. This is a topic that needed to be addressed. Looking forward to hearing other views on this.

    1. @JudyDunn Agree with you Judy! I try to surround myself with those who pass along reputable information. When I see someone sending out posts from the same people each day, several times a day…I often wonder what the “why” is. I wish more people would give a “reason” for why we should hit the links they are sharing.. A simple “I loved this post” would be helpful…Links without a “why” to me, is simply spam-like and clutter. I do know many ARE reading what they share, but they should let us know they are via a “why”. Supporting friends and followers can be done in a manner that is honest without sharing posts one has never read. Don’t you agree? xoxo

    2. @JudyDunn I definitely agree with you about the misleading subject lines. When I went through the “Vote for me for SXSW” thing for the first time last year, I saw a pretty well-known person post a title that looked pretty interesting. I clicked over and it was a preview of the SXSW panel they wanted to do. Boy did I feel like a fool after clicking over there. It taught me a big lesson though. Had I just trusted the person to post responsibly (and maybe that’s what they were banking on) I would have just been passing along a sales pitch to my community.

      Thanks for your great comment, Judy 🙂

  12. You GO margieclayman

    Thanks so much for creating valuable content. You hit so many of my feelings right on the mark and I thank you!

    So many people are auto tweeting and sharing posts via tools and not reading a thing they share. Not. One. Word. I often ask , “Would you hold a book up at a large GLOBAL conference and tell all in the room to read it when you have not even opened the book”? If you have not read it do not share it. Simple.

    Our nests are becoming full of blog recommendations that to me, look the same as ipad spam tweets. I recall enjoying Sunday mornings reading blog posts recommendations I had tagged as favorites during the week. This led me to deeper connections and relationships AND I learned much. I trusted the recommendations of a simple tweet about a post via one of my followers. Now, I see the same post shard by SO many via Triber and RSS feeds that I don’t know where to look for content. I

    have seen posts tweeted out hundreds of times and gone to read myself only to find a post I could not believe had been shared by even one person. Remember when you would see many tweets about one post…you just knew for sure that the work had to be fabulous.

    We as a Social Media Community directing the future of how Social Media will continue to evolve, must be careful. The posting of blogs and articles without due diligence is turning into another #FollowFriday nightmare. The recommendations are becoming meaningless and spam like.

    Let’s de-cutter our nests, they are simply not looking so fabulous anymore. Give us something to believe in when your tweet a link to a post. This is not about trusting someone to always provide good content. This MUST be about having integrity. This must be about placing value on recommendations. Value your community by valuing what you share with those in it.

    Say it with me….if you do not read it, do not post it!

    xoxo

    Dabney

    1. @Dabney Porte Thanks for your great comment, Dabney.

      That’s an interesting point you raise about tweeting the same kinds of posts by the same people every day. I’m very fortunate in that the people whose blogs I follow tend to be pretty diverse, so I don’t feel like I’m reading about the same thing, or if I am reading about the same topic, the takes are radically different and valuable in very different ways. For example, Gini Dietrich and Lisa Barone both wrote posts about Pinterest. Same topic, sure. But their approaches were very different, and both were extremely valuable, so I shared both.

      Of course, had i not *read* the posts I wouldn’t have been able to say what the difference was.

      Decluttering the nests – amen, sister.

      Thanks again!

  13. Margie, I’m so glad you wrote this wonderful title. And yes, of course I read your title before tweeting it and submitting it to Stumble, I’m surprised you would even consider suggesting otherwise.

    Thanks for all the great titles you contribute to the blogosphere. When it is your title, I tweet it as quickly as I can, because I always know my Twitter audience will like your title’s. One of the most challenging things in social media is finding enough great titles from other people to share, which makes me appreciate the few consistently great title writers, those rare folks I can always count on for tweets, without resorting to feeding quotes to my audience. Somehow quoting someone that died 200 years ago just doesn’t have the same personal from-me-to-you feel that a title I read and selected myself adds to my Twitter stream.

    Keep up all the great titles! But if I can make one request: please write a few more titles. At only 30 to 75 characters a piece, I’m sure you could write more than one a day.

    Cheers!

    1. @Wittlake haha 🙂 Well, there’s just no way to please everyone. Writing one title a day isn’t enough for some folks and is way too much for others 🙂

      Thanks for your funny addition to the conversation, Eric. I’m glad you like the titles I generate 🙂

  14. Margie Hi,

    first please accept my apology! One of my followers made an insulting comment on your post “Women aren’t mean enough to win.” and I did not react to neither i did not protect you and I should. I apologize for that from deep down my heart. Truth to be told i did not react for 2 reasons: a) i was having last two days of hell meeting with my client from 9 am till 1 am next morning and b) i decide to ignore it and simple let him go. But I should, as your online friend if i may call myself I should be there for you. Did he read the post, I doubt he did and this is something that I neither anyone can controle it.

    Now with regards to your question if we read the posts. I do read every post in my tribe. Did i ever tweeted out something from triberr without reading it frist. Yes I did. Is also fair to say that this happened few times and only with the authors that i really trust. If triberr comes back on automatization would I switch on auto posting. No I would not, i never did and i never will.

    Next thing is i dont comment on all posts, my reason for that is simple, if I go and make a comment on every single post of yours, soon your visitors will get a feeling that we have an agreement between us to do so. I will give you an example 12most, how many times I heard from other readers a comment that 12most looks more like networking site then a blog. Every day same people were commenting on every single post and comments were reflecting more then a simple support, you could see that “friendship” spirit it. Many times you could see private jokes going on that had nothing to do with posts. I agree with that to some extend I need to say so. Dont get me wrong, but i do think i will bring more value to you if I comment on few of your posts then on every single one.

    But I do guarantee you that I read every single post of yours or any of my colleagues in Triberr. I heard so many times how Triberr is open, random and supportive, well I dont buy that BS. Random is paradox to supportive IMO.

    I take Triberr as a place where i have collection of posts from some of my favorite bloggers and nothing more. There is no rule that i need to tweet your post just because you tweeted mine.

    Stay brilliant as you are Margie, coz you always give me a reason why not to quite twitter 🙂

    Respectfully,

    J.

    1. @jureklepic You Jure, are such an example of one who lives out loud with integrity. Thank you for sharing so much of you with so many. I value you as a friend and as a professional. Your posts are ones that I can trust, knowing that you put out to your followers only what you have read and feel may benefit others. I am shocked that some will demand that you post their work simply because you are in a “tribe” with them. This is an example of how a good tool can go bad. Sadly, some fear the “bully” behavior of others and many have told me that they will post links out of fear of making others angry that they have not done so. Your leading by example and being true to who you are and what you share is teaching many so much about social media and relationships. Keep rocking your fabulous my friends. The world is a better place for you doing so. #YOUmatter xoxo

    2. @jureklepic Jure, you really are an amazing person and I feel so privileged to know you. The situation you allude to has been taken care of, but it’s nice to know that folks like you have my back. That is a gift for which there can be no price, and certainly “thank you” doesn’t quite seem to do the trick.

      That’s an interesting point you make about commenting. I follow a lot of blogs where the same folks comment and get into conversations with each other. Sometimes I feel like I can jump right in and sometimes I feel like I’m on a playground and the cool kids are standing in a closed circle. I don’t let it bother me though. I think it’s the job of the blogger to incorporate people who may be new to the site while also playing with people they know already. Otherwise, how can you ever get to know new people?

      You’d better never quit Twitter. I don’t know what I’d do without ya!

      ((hugs))

  15. Many comments are just mindless (almost automated) spam

    Next level up are people just shoving content out, through their social networks. Sure they look busy and will get some engagement

    But you’ll get quality engagement and insight if you spend the time really curating and adding value

  17. Hi Margie,

    I’m nodding. Ok I’ll date myself. Remember Randy Newman’s song Short People, if not go to You Tube and listen to it. According to http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6188

    This song is widely misinterpreted, which generated a great deal of exposure for the song and controversy for Newman. On the surface, the song is making fun of little people, but “short” is meant in a figurative sense, intending to poke fun at people who are short-tempered and small-minded, which is quite the opposite of the literal meaning. A lot of people didn’t get the joke and thought of Newman as a bigot. Many radio stations refused to play it. Of course if you even listened to it you would get it. Just like reading. Most people even people I have worked with consider themselves too smart & think they get what you are trying to say before you say it and know content before they read it, lol. Jokes on them.

    Yours Truly,

    Gaga

    2. @Gaga Funny you bring that up. As a little person I still find the song extremely offensive. Even if Randy Newman didn’t intend for it to be that way, he should have known that it would be used that way. That’s another reason why it’s really important not just to read things but also to absorb and think about them.

      Let’s put it this way. Let’s say you read a post and you feel like it’s saying one thing. You share it and 17 people say that they can’t believe you shared that post knowing that they suffer from that very problem. Are you going to be blindsided by that? Now, in the end, we share things that we like and that we hope other people will like, but ultimately, in the online world, we must also weigh how what we share could be received.

  19. Thanks Margie,

    I read the entire article, usually do and that’s why I have so few RT and actual tweets of my own. I am forwarding a link for this article to a Journalism teacher at my school. You make many excellent thought provoking points worthy of consideration by all ‘posters’.

  21. I completely agree Margie, that we can all do better. I think it goes back to the “captain of the ship” analogy that most of us as leaders try to adhere to. I am ultimately not doing a service to my reders and tweeters, the writer or myself, if I don’ actually read through what I am sending on. If it’s crap and I pass it on, that’s my-bad. The fault lies with me, and tarnishes my credibility.

    I’m not a journalist or a a writer, but it is an issue when we struggle to get catchy headlines and first paragraphs to pull people in, but they don’t stick around for the meat of the meal.

    But it is like everything else we do in life. We have a choice. We can choose to not make the time to read and just send on all comers. Or we can back it down a notch, and take time to read.

    Who knows? We might actually learn something worth passing on.

    @martinamcgowan

    1. @Doc_1 Very true. People will not necessarily think less of the blogger. Bloggers can write and share whatever they want, and if I don’t know or trust the writer, I really don’t care what he or she is doing. But if YOU share something really disagreeable, I’m going to look at you and say, “Man, what were you thinking?” great point, as always.

  22. Hiya Margie,

    I agree. The end.

    I’ve decided we are some how connected on a deeper level than just through cyberspace and I should be on your “meet in real life” list since our minds travel along similar wavelengths. hee hee

    But I digress: on your article~~>It’s like the constant fight of trying to be in the “popular” crowd–everybody’s doing it. -And this is a problem. If I read something worth sharing, I share it; it doesn’t matter to me if the person has 20,000 followers or 20 followers. Who cares. Why is it so difficult for people to seek out the truth and leave the BS behind? AND- why does someone’s ranking automatically mean they’re brilliant and an expert on something…?

    Keep on keeping on Margie-I’m listening. *squish samiches*

    Tracy

    1. @tracyschutz Thanks Tracy. I’d love to meet you in real life too. Let’s work on that! 🙂

      Was there something else in your comment? 🙂

      I take great joy in sharing posts by authors that my community may not know. I don’t do enough of it, in fact, and I worry that’s another obstacle with Triberr. Building tribes is so hard what with the “bones” and all that jazz. By the time you tweet out everything in your tribe, how do you have any time to actually find new people to read? After all, as folks have said here, we all only have so much time. How are you going to use it?

      It’s definitely tricky business.

      1. @margieclayman Yes- using our time…I often feel torn between checking in everywhere to be social (and because I really do care about my online buddies), and actually checking in on the same people’s websites to see what’s new and what they’ve been working on. Oh yeah, and getting my own work done and spending time with people in person too! haha There are so many hours in a day I guess.

  23. Dear Margie –

    This is my pet peeve too. People who comment who have not read what I have written and go off on their own self promotion.

    Some of them have the nerve to put that same comment on three or four posts. Long comments so my spam filter does not pick them up. They mean nothing.

    I spam them. They are looking for a link since I have comment luv and a do follow blog.

    Ditto anyone who says things like Great post. Keep up the good work. They are gone in a minute too.

    Why don’t you do that too?

    1. @miraclady I actually don’t get a whole lot of those types of comments. I’m very fortunate that way. I also hesitate to do so because you never know a person’s full story. Maybe they don’t know English real well but were able to muddle their way through my post and wanted to say something. Aksimet does a pretty good job for me (knock on wood) of catching comments that are pure 100% blatant spam.

  24. Yep. I’m nodding, alright. Yes, with the Triberr thing, you do have to be careful. That does make me nervous sometimes, but I agree with you on this.

    Case in point – we all know SOPA is a big deal right now. Well, I signed an online petition against it. No issue. Not more than 10 minutes later, I see another petition talking about SOPA , Google, and the US Chamber of Commerce. The petition was for Google to drop from the Chamber because it (the Chamber) is supposedly a cover for some tiny group of rich tycoons.

    There is no way in this world that I am going to jump on a bandwagon that I have no clue about because someone lumped it in with the SOPA stuff. That is crazy!

    So yes, “A-list” or not, crap is crap. People need to PAY attention and stop worrying about GETTING it. Nice post!

    1. @BrandonPDuncan Great example and well said, BD. Thank you very much for that. Interesting that posts about SOPA get involved in this dilemma, huh? 🙂

      1. Well, I’m only referencing as an example. I was glad that CopyBlogger did the post on it. They broke it down in a way I would never have been able to. But, staying ON TOPIC (lol) like you discuss here, someone who wanted Copy Blogger’s attention, yet stood behind SOPA or PIPA, could have easily retweeted them and made a contradictory ass of themselves. Funny stuff. 🙂 @margieclayman

  25. Great stuff, as always @margieclayman . There seem to be 2 camps out there in blogging/social media world. Those who are just starting out (or spin their wheels for a long time) who latch on to the idea that this work is easy and when you connect with an “A-lister”, and do all of the things that sound catchy (usually said by someone perceived as an “A-lister”) that things will work out for them. They don’t read.

    Then there are those, most of whom read your blog I think, who know they need to dive deeper. People who put relationships and well thought out strategy ahead of tactics, parlor tricks and trying to get in with the popular crowd. They do read.

    Ultimately, we are all our own brand. And anything you promote comes back to you. Quality matters in social media, fine wine and chocolate. 🙂

  26. Nodding. This is what’s interesting about social media sharing: we tend to tweet what we agree with. People click on what we share with the same regard as if we’d provided a signed endorsement–and with even more anticipation if we comment to our sharing. Then they read it. “Seriously, she’d share this tripe? That wasn’t worth the screenspace, much less my time.”

    Now our avatar becomes a mindless “tweeting head” they scroll past to find the “good ones.”

  28. LOL…I’m nodding….I’m nodding….

    Great post!! I think that so much of this issue has to do with an ever decreasing attention span combined with an increase in distractability. Because of this phenomenon, if the message isn’t quick, quippy and quorect (just checking to see if you’re paying attention ;-)) it’s getting misunderstood….or just plain missed. Back in the day (WAAAY back when) we took speed reading courses before entering high school and I knew, even in my young and inexperienced mind, that there was a trade off for skimming through reading material…a risk…the potential for misinterpretation was high if you were staring at the middle of the page and skimming straight down the middle…Today, it’s even worse…the need to do and be everything at once while texting, facebooking and tweeting at the same time…it’s a recipe for disaster when it comes to comprehension and retention.

    Thanks Margie….

    Claudia

  29. Wow! Margie, All I have to say is between this post in my inbox this morning and another, email, I wrote another post! Sheesh, you’ll have to read it when it goes! (Lord only knows! -with my connection issues!) The nastiest humans I’ve ever met in my years and years, the most back-stabbing individuals I was ever foolish enough to trust, the most cut-throat and dishonorable humans I have EVER met, have been women. Period. Mean? I didn’t add my two cents only because there were thousands of dollars, but in the same as your line of thought, shared here, some of that money wasn’t in dollars and cents! But, please let me say again, Mean? Who would be so ignorant and inexperienced LIVING to think that the meanest thing on this planet is a woman. As it is so much right here, on my mind, I have to say it… it all comes back to Rule #1 of Social Media (and LIFE)…Be right. So-o-o, one would think, to borrow that nifty phrase from @ShakirahDawud, “Seriously, she’d share this tripe? “… Unless you want to be “she”, I would suggest you be prepared to stand by what you say, do, write, tweet, post, whisper or scream in the middle of a town meeting. Be right.

  32. I just about nodded my head off. Sometimes I see people retweeting so quickly I can’t see how they had any time to read the article. Granted, I have a slow internet connection so it can take me awhile to get an article pulled up. There is so much information floating around, I want to do the best I can to provide real value to the people I’m connected to. I don’t always succeed, but it’s something I am working towards. Thanks for a great, thought-provoking post!

  33. Nodding. I’m amazed by the idea that some people just write responses and then just post them, regardless of the post’s content. Do people actually do that? Do I sound super naive here?

  35. “What if what you are sharing is sheer and utter crap?” If it’s post from you, all your fans read your posts, from beginning to end. However, I could understand that people would want to RT your post right away, before they may have had a chance to read it themselves. Nothing you would write could be, “crap,” so, you’re a “safe” bet. As for the rest of the posts out there in cyberworld? Yes, I’m nodding my head. Read before RT/sharing. x

  36. “What if what you are sharing is sheer and utter crap?” If it’s a post from you, all your fans read them, from beginning to end. However, I could understand that readers might want to RT your post right away, before they may have had a chance to read it themselves. Nothing you would write could be, “crap,” so, you’re a safe bet. As for the rest of the posts out there in cyberworld? Yes, I’m nodding my head. Read before RT/sharing. x

  37. You’re absolutely right, Margie. If Im being 100% honest I havent read every single word of this post. But we lie to ourselves and we say we did.

    So the question becomes, why are people sharing/commenting/taking-action on content they havent even read? There has to be some other factor.

    Liking? Authority? Aspiration? I think all these play a stronger role than actual content. Humans are funnt that way 🙂

  38. NOD. You know I don’t mind the “Comment with saccharine niceties” as much as the people who comment/post/tweet and tell you what they think of your headline and it is lame or just out of context because they didn’t even read it.

    Welcome to short attention span theater…we are….Hey wheres the popcorn.

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