If I had named this post “3 Guaranteed Ways to Build Social Media Influence”, I can be almost assured that it would have ended up substantially shared even if the content was mediocre, and certainly far from anything guaranteed.
If you write a post or an article and ask a provocative question in the title and then share that headline on a social network without any additional context, many people are going to respond to the title alone without ever clicking the link to read the post. You’ll find you’ll spend a good deal of effort responding to comments and reactions that are either answered in your writing, off topic entirely, or meant to be provocative in themselves.
It’s an interesting phenomenon, really. People want to be a resource, to build their perceived authority through traffic, links, and “curating” relevant content. So the quantity play often wins; find more things that look relevant, share more stuff, get more people to click, become a more prominent source for similar information, repeat.
We also have an amazing need to be heard, and more importantly, to be heard early if not first. When opinion is a commodity and platforms cheap, the standout move is to be sharpest, loudest, or quickest to respond. The one who’s re-tweetable. The first commenter, not necessarily the most thoughtful. The one with a witty repost that’s sharable with a click, not so much a considered commentary. It’s difficult to be heard or discovered today as a contemplator, then difficult to be taken seriously as one once you’ve given into the machine.
Good information isn’t always simple to write, consume, understand, or share. As we build more context and detail into our learnings, too, the discussions require more depth. Most importantly, real solutions to the challenges we’re encountering today – in business, in our popular culture, in our individual lives – require more than osmosis of a few quick tips in a blog post (though those certainly have their places and uses).
So the question of the day: what’s the antidote to the reaction machine we’re building? Is there one? Should we care? And why?
I don’t think there is an antidote. Unfortunately what there is more of now is clutter. I find I see some names/faces contribute to the constant comments, so perhaps one way to avoid it is to find new channels. But then you would not reach as big a potential audience. Another irony is that we tend to RT and share content from known quantities and it is more challenging for new people to break out and be heard. Consider yourself lucky!
I sure hope that’s not the case, Andrea. I want to believe that if there can be a slow food movement, there can be a slow content one. 🙂
Couldn’t agree more Amber… it’s the MTV’ing of knowledge… sometimes wonder if it’s just folks moving to fast or losing the ability to actually contemplate and discuss heady topics.
I actually don’t know, and I think about it a great deal. Are we really losing our capacity to do it, or just our desire? Or did those of us that have it never really lose it but it just gets lost in the noise and the fray? It’s really hard to tell.
Like any skill or trait — use it or lose it — darwinism at it’s finest…. but yes, I do sometimes wonder if we are losing the art of critical thinking and discourse.
So often it seems folks are just so willing to RT a stat without “doing the work” to even see if the stat makes sense or against what base it was drawn, etc.
They make statements of opinion as though they are of fact… troublesome to me. But as along as there are the big blogger brands out there tell you the secret to success is publish, publish and publish some more… that short wins and that folks won’t return to your blog if you’re not blogging daily or X’s a week at a minimum, the world will deliver just that — lots of light content with no real analytical weight.
I definitely feel a loss of critical thinking, or maybe I’m simply noticing an absence that was already there. But it’s one of the more troublesome things to me when it comes to business advice, especially. It’s easy to run to the boss or the client and toss out some stats or “research” or even a quick-shot article on how to be awesome at something. But the critical thinkers are the ones that are going to really change the momentum of the world as we know it, so I’m continuing to work hard to find them in my midst (and it’s just one of the reasons I have you around).
I’m going to jump on your thread – apologies.
I am not in the field of marketing but am a fan of seeking inspiration and thought wherever I can. And I have noticed a general trend for people to be going “broad and general” rather than “deep and pithy”.
What happened to the days when a deep well developed thought could generate countless others? When did we become people who are “inspired” by insipid generalisations? Was it in 1980, with the launch of MTV.
Now we just don’t have MTV – we have TED, we have bland blogs, countless retweets, and little regard for research and depth behind our opinions.
Thanks for sharing the MTV metaphor – it is EXACTLY the one I was searching for the other day.
We’re developing an addiction to visibility, jumbling together the ideas of reach, repetition, and influence. At what point do we trade our soul for a bigger “following”? I fear we’re all falling into that vortex…
I’ve struggled with this a LOT personally. I was fortunate to have some early momentum with my blog and Twitter. I wrote like crazy. I tried so hard to look like a successful blogger that did all the right things. But I have to be really brutally honest: I’m not good at being that writer. I can go for weeks without having something to say, and I’m not motivated to write a post about Facebook tips. I have a new business that I’m building and I definitely want it to succeed, and I know that great content will be a part of that. I’ve also got no qualms with the blogs that can and do serve up digestible content on a regular basis, but sites that I formerly would have looked to as a resource for thinking and tough topics have become light fare all the time, and I’m missing something.
I’d be a liar if I said that at one time I didn’t look around me and feel pressure to keep up some kind of “following”. But I don’t feel it anymore. I hope that’s a good thing, and I know it makes me more conscious of WHAT I’m writing and contributing, and not just how much.
Amber, I think you and I have been at this for about the same amount of time, and like you, I’ve been hitting the Reset button. Trying to apply all the “received wisdom” of other bloggers/marketers can keep anyone on an endless hamster wheel, and I keep having to return to two things:
– What/who will make a difference in MY business and for MY clients; and
– Who do I really want to get to know?
Because it’s really not about a numbers game. It’s about quality and meaningful outcomes. You know – social media as a means to an end, not an end in itself…
I’m not sure we should care. Is someone who spouts off based on a 140 character tweet any different than a blow hard who pontificates after only reading a newspaper headline? Technology just makes the audience larger, and the response quicker, but offline behaviours like this will continue to seep online as more people get comfortable with social media.
I think that’s a fair enough point, Mike. We often say that the media change but human nature doesn’t. Maybe this is just its evolution with more amplification?
Thank you for writing this post! I get truly frustrated with this phenomenon. In my role as CCO at Spoken, I track writings and hashtags around customer service, and the level of mediocrity and link-baiting in that particular field of writing is astounding. I swear that if I read one more post that says, “Listen. Smile. Act like you care. Go the extra mile”, I’m going to scream. How about some real thought, research and nuanced advice?
Like the other commenters, I don’t have a solution. The best I can do is to refuse to reTweet and share links that have great headlines but lame content. And for my part, I can choose to believe that it’s better to write one well-researched, passionate blog post a week than three vapid ones with great SEO.
I think you’ve got the crux of something here Heidi: be part of the solution. I’m with you on that. My sharing has slowed down considerably (as has my writing) as I adjust and readjust my filters. It’s not easy to find the good stuff. But I’m determined. I know it’s out there!
For a long time I have steered away from writing the basic observational posts. It can be disappointing to see ho-hum posts tearing across the web – but I think it’s also important to focus on valuing your audience. Finding or creating content that resonates deeply with a appreciative audience is very satisfying … but some days I’d like those huge spikes in attention 😉
You’ve totally articulated something I’ve been chewing on for a while…critical thinkers…where are you?? The ‘pick me! pick me!’, commenting for the sake of hearing themselves speak, and general attention seeking nonsense is wearing on me. There’s simply too much to wade through every day and I find as the pendulum swings back that I’m making time to connect with people who THINK. Having conversations that matter and digging deeper into the meaty debates is all I have the stomach for anymore. My committment – only comment when I have something to say…some sense of value and something that will continue a necessary conversation…that’s my antidote.
It’s a disheartening trend, I agree. I’m not sure there is an antidote – certainly not a “one size fits all” version of it, anyway. Like others have already commented, part of the antidote may be that we as individuals need to be selective in what we choose to re-tweet, share, etc. so that the meatier, quality content gets shared and the “fluff” is given less importance. Since people tend to follow the example of those they admire or regard as being authorities, it becomes a “lead by example” type of solution.
I find it frightening that critical thinking skills seem to be less prevalent – or at very least less exercised – now than in the past. Part of it is no doubt due to our culture: sitcoms, MTV, instant gratification on a number of levels. Part of it is due to sheer laziness: generally speaking, most people don’t want to put in the effort required to actually think things out for themselves. It’s much easier to let someone else do all the work and then “borrow” the parts we agree with. The truly frightening part is that so many people seem to have no idea *how* to think critically. It’s a skill set that seems to be taught less and less as we’re encouraged to think more and more like sheep.
My personal solution is to think more and share the things that I believe have merit. Most of the time this means that the content is well thought out, well-written and offers a viewpoint that (IMO) should be taken into consideration. Sometimes it’s the lighthearted stuff that just makes me smile or laugh out loud, since from time to time we all need reminding that life should be enjoyed. Other times it might be a bit of snark that adds a pointed emphasis to a thought/behavior/attitude that I find especially aggravating.
So to answer your questions in short: yes, we should care. No, there may not be a “one size fits all” antidote…but we can all do our individual parts to contribute to building one.
As one who is primarily in the “consume, understand and
share” column I thought I might chime in.
Oftentimes, in my role, I am simply communicating what I have read and
deem valuable to a network or customers with whom I think could benefit from
the information within. I abide in the Social/CMS
software space and I work with many customers who (even in marketing,
communications and technology roles) have very little understanding of the ideas,
philosophy and methods that the thought leaders, luminaries and market pundits
are espousing. As I re-tweet and share
these posts and articles with my network, I am able spoon feed these ideas to a
relatively reluctant audience. Many are
still grappling with the importance of digital channels to their
business/organization so a slow drip of valuable, thought provoking content can
change their world. I am also one guilty
of trying to create witty little quips to get them to bite (ha!). It is important to understand that everyone
who is curating and pushing content is not necessarily a megalomaniac trying to
create a name for themselves on the back of other people’s knowledge and creativity. I hope that this makes you feel better about
having your ideas shared. You may be
doing more to initiate change than you give yourself credit for.
Wow, not sure what’s up with the formatting…
It’s funny (and telling) that beneath your post about how we’re so busy being for the first to share, the like button says “4 people like this. Be the first of your friends.”
Ha. Yeah, that’s Facebook’s default copy for their button, I think. I suppose it’s interesting that that’s the trigger they use to get people to click. Guess there’s something to the being first thing…
Yeah. You can find that copy through many blogs, contributing to this idea that we need to be first, even among our close friends. Who wants to be last to share the meme? The cool people are the ones who do it first and start the trends, after all.
One comment I see missing here is that deep and critical thinkers aren’t universally on social media sites. I draw that statement from experience, as few of the 30-something deep thinkers I know are on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. The people who have the least to say are often those attracted to freely vetting their minds in the forum – previously they could be found gossiping, spouting headlines at superficial cocktail parties, etc.
The people who are critical thinkers and are using social media are very selective in their choice of who to follow and what to share; they don’t play the quantity game and so are less attractive to those who are in this for self-branding or advertising dollars, which you allude to above. However, they are out there and it really is they who will digest the information, innovate strategies of their own, and will be the most successful overall.