So something interesting happened just now. I was skimming through Google Plus, trying to figure out the value – trying to convince myself that there was more than broadcasting going on. So, let’s see. Cat rave. Cat with hat on. Cats hugging. Cats with hats on hugging and raving. And then a Gary Vaynerchuk video. Huh. Well that’s interesting. The particular person who shared this video previewed it by saying, “Why marketers are destroying social media.” That got me riled up. I was already writing my hate mail to Gary Vee, but I thought I would listen to his argument first.
Now, I didn’t play the video backwards, and maybe that was my mistake, but I didn’t hear the word “marketing” or “marketers” at all.
There is something deliciously ironic about this. It’s that kind of irony that you just long for in life – not the kind of irony that Alanis Morisette sang about in the 90s. Because, see, one of the things Gary Vee *does* talk about is that a lot of people in the online world are tweeting stuff out cuz they want to sound important or smart (or both). They’re not really paying attention to what they are saying or retweeting. They just want to get attention, and they end up looking like idiots (except picture this in not-safe-for-work Gary Vee language). So here we have this person saying, “Oh, listen to Gary Vee talk about how marketers are ruining social media,” and really, the kind of shenanigans the sharer is up to – that’s what the speech is really about. Kind of a V8 moment, right? Bonk on the head!
I have a confession to make. Yesterday’s post about feeling like maybe blogging isn’t the best way to use my time – it wasn’t the 100% whole story. Since I’ve always been pretty darned truthful with you, I thought I should fill in the rest of the story.
It’s a cold and windy day here in my hometown. I am sitting here with my heat on, my new wireless router enabling me to watch Netflix via my Wii console, and I am thinking how darned lucky I am. I am thinking about the people who are outside today, the wind cutting through whatever clothing they have on. Because this is the kind of wind that can get you no matter what you are wearing, no matter where you are. A leaf blew up onto my door and clung there a moment as if even it wanted to get inside. How lucky I am. How unfair it is that so many people do not have a quarter of what I have.
When I first started doing this whole Social Media thang, as it were, I had a lot of ideas in my head. I wouldn’t say that was particularly my fault. My brain was, well, I don’t want to say it was manure mixed with soil, but the grounds were very fertile for seeds of ideas and concepts. There were many many farmers who came up to me and said, “Hey, look, it is a new person, and her brain is ready to be planted with rows and rows of my ideas! I meant, best practices! Yes!” And so, ideas were planted in my head, and they started to bloom and grow. In a twist that only the makers of Inception could have conceptualized and made into a B-grade movie, these ideas became so engrained in how I did things that I thought they were MY ideas. I’m waiting for you still, Leo DiCaprio.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the online world lately. Well, I mean, about the big picture stuff. In various and sundry places, I’ve let little tidbits of these thoughts pop out. I’ve talked about how you shouldn’t sell your soul just because you want to get in with the “in” crowd. I’ve talked about how being mean in the online world just makes you look, well, mean. I’ve talked about how being nice is often equated to being boring. But really, there is one key issue that is at the core of all of those posts.
My biggest fear in the online world has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the safety of children. I think that on Facebook in particular, it’s really easy to do things that could have alarming consequences because everything seems so safe there on the surface. You can lock down your content, you’re talking to your friends and family for the most part…what could go wrong?