March 24, 2008
Who Cares?
Posted by Kevin | Print This Article
Cindy is obviously a much nicer and more succinct person than I am.
Twitter asks, “What are you doing?” and Cindy’s one-word response is, “Why?”
My two-word response is, “Who cares?” (And that’s censored down from a three-word response.)
Seriously. I really don’t care what you’re doing right now. I don’t care that you’re stuck in an airport line (and “boy doesn’t security suck”); I don’t care what you had for lunch; I don’t care how many pounds you gained or lost this morning; I don’t care that you’re having computer troubles at work; I don’t care if you find something funny or sad; I may be a mean ol’ SOB but I just plain don’t give a flying $%^&.
BUT — here’s the thing: I COULD CARE about all of the things I just mentioned if they were written in an engaging, thoughtful, and meaningful way that used the scenario in question to engage ME and strike a chord in ME and make ME think about something, anything in a new light and ponder how it might apply or in any way affect MY life.
Which is pretty damn near impossible to do in 140 characters or less.
And if you think that all the capital ME and MYs make ME sound selfish, then you are completely missing the point — not just of this blog post, but of COMMUNICATION in general.
Here’s my point: I’m not anti-Twitter. I don’t care enough to be anti-Twitter — never joined, never subscribed, never had any interest other than the occasional bemused look at people’s “feeds” on their blogs. If you think it’s a great tool and resource for your life, then terrific! Use it to your heart’s content.
My point is that it represents exactly what is wrong with “social media” in that it is all SOCIAL and not enough MEDIA. By “soclal” I mean social like a bar or a cocktail party, where the conversation goes something like this:
YOU: Say something witty, engaging, and downright near profound
SOMEONE ELSE: Says something else while you wait for them to shut up so you can talk about yourself again
When folks scoff at the concept of social media, it is exactly this sort of thing they’re talking about. Don’t believe the legal questions and roadblocks that get thrown up; what they are really saying is, “Isn’t that stuff just a bunch of small people with big egos who like to talk about themselves?”
In his comment on Cindy’s post, Jamie Notter said, “People said very similar things about blogs a few years back.”
Guess what? They were right.
While people lately have been posting ad nauseam in the clump about “fear of social media” what seems to have been completely missed is that sometimes people have bad impressions of social media … not because they’re “afraid” of it … but because social media has EARNED those bad impressions.
All too often it’s a bunch of people talking about themselves, posting videos and podcasts that amuse themselves, continuously segregating themselves into those who “get it” and those who “don’t.” They’re not communicating; they’re talking.
Which may be a surefire way to amuse your friends, but I wouldn’t recommend it as a communications strategy for your association.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Pingback by Social Value | High Context Consulting on March 25, 2008 @ 8:23 am
Tell us how you really feel, Kevin.
No really, I love your complete honesty. Now, I’m going to go get a drink of water, in case you’re interested. 
I agree with you re: Twitter. I don’t see it.
Mickie, I myself am enjoying a nice single-malt right now, in case you’re interested.
Okay, I’m lying. It’s actually the Scotch that the ABC had on sale. God, there’s just something about social media that makes me want to be completely honest!
You two are too funny! I’m just a-twitter with excitement.
Well said, Kevin. There has to be more to life than telling my ‘friends’ about my spilled latte!
I am not going to lie, I am on the fence with this one. I am on Twitter, but probably check it or post once a week at most. I don’t have it set to text my cell, because I don’t want all those text messages. At the same time, I like to check it out to see what my peeps are up to.
I think it can be fun and engaging at times, but I don’t see loads of value except for situations where you would like to tell specific groups short messages, like a conference about a meetup, or a sports team that practice has been rained out. True, you could do that in other ways as well. But this way does seem effective.
Matt, like I said, if you like Twitter and find it useful, then more power to you. David pointed to an interesting use for it as well with his friend in Cuba. I was really using Twitter as a metaphor for what I see as the real problem with “social media” and the real reason some people look askance at the concept.