The Worst Social Media Gaffes of 2008

2008 has been a hell of a year, hasn’t it?  The economy went to shit, the automakers asked for a bail out and the States got one hell of a new President. For me, 2008 started out very promising, and then quickly went sideways, and kinda stayed that way for the rest of the year. Kinda rollercoastery.

There were a couple of events and phrases that popped up through the year, that I am hoping were a 2008 phenomenon and will get buried under the passage of time, like the rest of the year, including:

“Rockstar” “Guru” and people just starting out in social media calling themselves “experts”. Maybe this was happening in late 2007 too, and lord knows I was one of those who called myself a rockstar at first and then a guru for a while after that.

Here’s the thing:

If you don’t get up on an arena stage, sing or play your guts out, every night, are a household name, have groupies and can’t walk down the street to go grocery shopping without paparazzi following you and selling your picture to every celebrity rag in the USA, you are not a rockstar. Let me say it once more, so it sinks in: YOU ARE NOT A ROCKSTAR.

If you are not a spiritual teacher who has the power and wisdom to erase others spiritual ignorance and help them practice a certain religion as a discipline; if you do not have a following, an ashram, and people do not seek out your assistance to help them find their spiritual path, you are not a Guru. Let me say it once more, so it sinks in: YOU ARE NOT A GURU.

If you have a facebook page and you twitter, but have just started dabbling in the social media scene or even if you’ve been here for a while; if you cannot think strategically enough to get yourself to your destination with maximum efficiency or cannot demonstrate enough ‘thinking-it-through-edness’ to develop and implement an effective plan to increase brand visibility (or if you know what all those words mean, but you can’t explain their true essence to me), you are not a social media expert. Let me say it once more, so it sinks in: YOU ARE NOT A SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT.

The sheer volume of “new media experts” “web 2.0 experts” and “social media consultants” that have cropped up all over the place, hanging their shingles out, hoping to cash in on the wave of social media is staggering. Every 1 in 3 people who follow me on Twitter these days are “social media consultants” but, they have nothing to back it up. Where’s the honesty and transparency folks? Where’s the truth? Do they even know that’s a tenent? If they do, can they tell you why? If the person you are talking to about your upcoming social media strategy can’t answer that simple question, along with “how long have you been working in the social media scene?”  then run. Do not walk. Do not hire them. RUN.  And quickly.

This wasn’t any more obvious to me than the other day, when Chris Brogan tweeted that if he didn’t have your twitter name top of mind, you might be missing out on work and fifty-eleven billion people all tweeted @ChrisBrogan here’s mine! Here I am!. Great, you know how to Twitter, but can you produce a strategy?

Now, yes, I term myself as a social media strategist, and here’s why: I have more than 8 years of traditional public relations experience – which has taught me a huge amount about how to create effective strategies, how to reach the people, and what the public responds to. I have spent the past two years working with real social media clients, helping them to develop communities, speaking on the topic of social media, and analyzing every single new tool, service, and goofy “measurement” schtick out there. I know the ins and outs of those services and I know why it is that certain brands work better on certain platforms, and best of all, I can tell you why. So yes, I’ve got the phrase “Writer. Social Media Strategist. Loudmouth.” on my business cards. And I am all of those things. I’ve earned the right to call myself that after 8+ years.

Along with the terms that I would banish for 2009 are “Web 2.0″, “blogosphere” and “weblog”. They’re outdated, outmoded and they suck. They are no longer representative of what we do.

Web 2.0 is very 2006/2007, back when it just began. Maybe just 2007. Either way, it’s no longer the next thing. It’s the now thing. You want to differentiate? Fine, use “traditional” or “conventional”. That means that the way we’re doing things now is new. Is different than the traditional.

Blogosphere. Oh, the Blogosphere. A rip-off of “atmosphere” and, sure, I get it, but it’s very 1998. Much like “weblog”. Let it go. It’s not a “sphere”. I have…. (counting)… seven blogs at the moment. Four of which I get paid to write. Plus two of my own and one that is connected to the book I am writing. I’m about to launch an eighth on travel etc. Due to the volume, does that mean that I have my own ‘blogoniverse”? No. It means I have blogs. I write for several blogs. And we’re done, mmk? Thanks.

The other thing that I was very aware of in 2008 that I think should just go away and stoppit entirely, is the public drama/cat fights/bullshit. As one of my local Twitter connections recently put it brilliantly:

Holy Brilliant, and Amen sister!! Thank you for saying what the rest of us are thinking.

There were several public blow outs – both online and face to face, but still in the community that I was either dragged into, a part of, or witnessed, and damn am I tired of them. The social media community is a small one, and any words that are said, shouted or written, can and will be repeated. I am guilty of this myself – as well as guilty of participating in said dramas. I regret it, but 2008 was a year of personal drama for me that spilled out into my public life, what can I say, except “I apologize”?

For my part, I’m taking a break from the world and focusing on my own life for at least January – and that means few social commitments, little online interaction and more introspection and work.  It means letting go of several of the people to whom I threw drama at, who dragged me into drama, and whom I dragged, unwittingly into drama. It means letting go of the drama, of the people who cause it, and concentrating on my own development.

To those who were involved in drama I witnessed or took part in and to those whose dramas I didn’t see, just let it go. Please. It’s dumb. It’s not worth it, and it mars your reputation and brand.

Either way, whether you take my advice or not, I’m out. I don’t want to play anymore, and to that end, I will not rise to the bait, I will not lash out at those who have wronged me, whether real or imagined.

The moral of this post? Drop the drama. Be honest. Do unto others. Most of all, stop the bullshit. I’m over it, and I know others are as well.

Let. It. All. Go.

(image sources: Sam Roberts at the Commodore, by me, on Flickr; Shallomj Screenshot from Twitter)