BRAVO! I absolutely loved this post, Scott. It pains me to be on Twitter at times and seeing egos built by the tweet! I was joking with my husband the other night that it's almost like "high school." It doesn't need to always be about "me, myself and I." I applaud this post.
Barry Couto
· 1 year ago
Scott, I'm new to social media but I couldn't agree with you any more. All relationships that are worth anything are give and take. I own a commercial printing business in New England and we like to tip the scale on the giving side with our valued customers. In the long run, "karma" takes care of those who take care of others first. Great post!! Barry
C.C. Chapman
· 1 year ago
Wow, thanks for the kind words Scott.
I've always been a FIRM believer that the more you give, the more you receive. Helping people and sharing everything I can was just the way I was raised and I'm glad people like you notice it.
I do agree that there can be way to much navel gazing and self pimping going on. Sure, we all do it from time to time, but when it is the only thing someone does then it just gets annoying.
Thanks for this post. Well said all around.
Aaron Strout
· 1 year ago
Wow, thanks man. Remind me to talk about other people more often! Seriously though, great post. And I can proudly say that I read Becky, CC, Chris and Mack's blogs/twitter updates regularly (along with yours of course).
Best, Aaron | @astrout
Stu Andrews
· 1 year ago
On the mark. The Other-Centered-ness of a blog really makes it attractive to me.
Gary Cohen
· 1 year ago
Could not agree more. With so many options and so much great stuff out there, it is great to be able to not have to always filter the BS to get to the good stuff. The cream rises to the top. Great post. Tx - I will absolutely add Becky to my list which already includes you, CC, Chris, David, Mack and Aaron.
beckymccray
· 1 year ago
Wow. Thank you for putting me in such esteemed company. And drop back in to the Brag Basket any weekend. You don't have to wait for your next cover story. (I may have to brag about this mention, myself.)
CJ Guest
· 1 year ago
So true! I'm a relative newbie to twitter. It's pretty obvious that some who I follow just want to talk about themselves. It gets to be rather noising sometimes, but not enough to unfollow.
I like Chris Brogan's 12-to-1 rule that he uses. He tweets 12 times about something other than himself to every one self-promoting tweet. To be honest, I haven't really paid attention to see if he uses it as a hard-and-fast rule, but I agree he doesn't seem to self-promote as much as some others. Great post!
@cjguest
Chris Brogan
· 1 year ago
Piss off, you freak. I love myself and am an egotist. Yeah! I'm so awesome!
You're totally right, of course.
David Mullen
· 1 year ago
This is something that's confused me since diving into the social media sphere this year. While reading lots of great blogs, tweets and a book or two, one of the clear mantras that bubbled up to the surface was the giving nature required of social media.
"you have to give more than you take" "it's not about you, it's about the community"
...and on and on.
I have to say it sounds great. And as you've pointed out, there are some great examples of people doing just that. But the confusion set in after being around long enough to start to see trends in what some folks were blogging about, tweeting, plurking - you name it.
I'm not talking so much about newbies to the sphere. They may still be trying to figure out the "rules" of this space. But it's interesting - at least to me - to see how many A and B-listers fall into this category. To give them some credit, they do share work by other A and B-listers sometimes, but that even comes off as a bit self-serving to me. As if only those who could push a decent traffic bump their way in return are worthy of their time to share a blog post or something else.
But what do I know. Maybe I'm reading too much into that. I'm no social media expert, after all...
Great discussion starter, Scott.
doughaslam
· 1 year ago
Excellent points and reminders for us all, Scott.
For my part, I am working on a blog post: "Top 10 reasons why Monty should have mentioned me in this post"
jstorerj
· 1 year ago
Hey Scott - Great post! Love the list of folks you call out as good social media citizens - obviously you're on the list too.
One point to ponder... I agree that Aaron was the voice of Mzinga and in many cases the line blurred between our brand and his brand. So, how do companies deal with that when a social media evangelist leaves? Hopefully they have a team behind them ready to step into the void, but to reconcile the loss? As more companies adopt social media (and evangelists) in a "free agent" economy this will become an important consideration. I'd love to hear your (and anyone else's) thoughts. Thanks!
Jim | @jstorerj
Peter Kim
· 1 year ago
Hard to disagree with anything here. But isn't a public shout out very close to name dropping and perpetuating "me"-ness?
Consider this - I recently referred a reporter from the Wall Street Journal to a few people as experts in the space, which I assume was appreciated much the same as if they had been linked to in a blog post. It doesn't appear publicly as a magnanimous gesture - and I didn't expect anything in return.
Did I give or get link love? No. Did I take the "me" out of social media? I think so.
doughaslam
· 1 year ago
Peter - But now you're telling us about your magnanimous gesture. congratulations! ;)
In all seriousness, there is a balance to it. The narcissism is in the service of building our own credibility. To Scott's - and your- point, spending that credibility capital on others is important
Sharon Couto
· 1 year ago
Enlightening post, Scott.
I am new to social media and trying to figure it all out. I am old enough to remember 2 and 4-party phone lines as a kid, so we've come a long way, baby! I read and re-read your post, and I read all of your comments. (I found my daughter, Audrey McClelland and my husband, Barry, among them!) And then something struck me. I read comments. I enjoy the give and take of bloggers/Twitterers/commenters, and I always find the engagement of the bloggers/Twitterers/readers/commenters the most interesting... and where I generally learn the most.
I read all kinds of blogs. Giant ones. Small mommy-ones. I can lurk. I can answer. I can engage. And I can find that give-and-take... the honest, how-can-we-help-each-other in this vast new arena. That comes from comments and responses; honest, well-thought, helpful, intriguing, interesting, even controversial engagement. People who need people. Like the song!
Just some thoughts...
John Carson
· 1 year ago
Nice post, Scott. But you do have to include an element of ME in there too; the fact that you picked up on this subject means it has affected YOU, right? (Scott: "Hmm, how does this subject affect ME as a person?")
I agree with everything you say in this post, Scott, about social media practitioners – like marketers – needing to be more you-oriented in their communications. And, yes, Chris Brogan is a perfect example of a blogger who is all about his constituency, someone who shares a wealth of information and insight in his posts and presentations. I was fortunate to meet him in person recently at the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, and he was indeed “affable,” as you say, charismatic and gregarious, a quintessential role model, if you ask me, for the social media set.
Meryl Steinberg (Meryl333)
· 1 year ago
Thank you for commenting the obsession many have with follower numbers, blog statistics, and gratuitous name-dropping---it IS a bore. Add to that the overuse of the word "awesome" to describe everyone a writer / twitterer happens to cross paths with at a social media event. (with the exception of present company--of course).
Kyle
· 1 year ago
Bravo Scott, something that needs to be said and folks, myself included, should all look in the mirror. Here is where social media can police itself, however, because you can quickly un-follow their blogs, Twitter, etc. Something I've been doing with more regularity as of late.
The other thing I wish people would do less of is tell us about their stats...it is becoming nearly unbearable. I've even criticized myself for this, yep, nobody is exempt from my wrath. Wait, is that being narcissistic?
Scott Scotch
· 1 year ago
Very nice! Thanks for the information. Since recently immersing myself in the online community, I have learned so much that I wonder why I didn't do this earlier. And it's in thanks to this post and information I've read from some of the people you listed.
Thank you very much!
Shannon Paul
· 1 year ago
I just have one question: Why does everyone bring the funny when they comment on your blog? I'm just saying...
JP
· 1 year ago
Shannon, you brought a funny too! Seriously, I smiled. You're right -- it could be because there's a grain of "truthiness" to the post.
Scott, killer post. Thanks.
Marc Meyer
· 1 year ago
Great post Scott, In fact I had just mentioned you and some of the others you highlighted in a rebuttal of a blog post of the top 50 most important people in social media. You guys were not on the list and I thought that therefore negated the purity of the list. I agree though we need to check ego at the door.
Rachel Happe
· 1 year ago
Nice post Scott - I was reading the top of your post...and just thinking about Aaron leaving Mzinga and this is one thing Aaron does really well. But to be really specific about what he does that makes him talented at this relationship game is that he draws people out, asks a lot of questions, recognizes and promotes others, and riffs off of others' ideas.
And at the end of it all, the impression I have of Aaron is not necessarily that he is promoting ideas himself but he is promoting those who share his vision, and thus promotes his agenda but by including a large circle of others.
It's an impressive skill and one that I will miss having around at Mzinga on a regular basis.
palmettoequipment
· 1 year ago
This is the type of blogging that I have worked on for almost 2 years for my father's company- a small business in Charleston, SC that supplies land surveyors. I have built an entire social network exclusively for professional land surveyors http://landsurveyorsunited.ning.com and its going quite well. Why did i do this? not for myself but because the industry needs more empowering ways of sharing information and experience. Ultimately, I haven't done this for myself..my career is completely different (as a real estate broker in NYC). I like to praise surveyors for their work in order for other surveyors to see that their hard work can be praised and learned from if it is just put out there for others to see and share.. Hope this is what you were looking for. Great Blog! Justin
Rusty Speidel
· 1 year ago
Agree!! This point of view just launched my blog, my first post.
Dora Crow aka LaughingCrow
· 1 year ago
Hi Scott,
I'm new to Twitter, and basically I've been posting about people and links to websites that have something of value to offer. I was wondering if I was doing Twitter "right" but that's just who I am and what felt "right" to me. (A friend recently told me I was a "sneezer".)
Nice to find out that there are other like-minded people out there - thank you for a terrific article and all the links you provided here.
P.S. I found you on Twitter.
Len Kendall
· 1 year ago
Good observation. Perhaps sometimes forget that a blog is a public log and not a personal journal. I actually recall one of the basics of my a college marketing course I took at Purdue was never use the first person in marketing documents. Now that isn't to say there are no exceptions, but perhaps a blog post can have more credibility if the source isn't pointed out to be a specific person?
Sherry
· 1 year ago
As a newbie to the social media world, I hadn't really noticed this because I am taking a class on social media and I am always desperate for more information. Now that you mention it, many of the sources I have come across make you dig for the valuable information under all of the "me".
Tiffany Monhollon
· 1 year ago
One of the biggest values of participating in social media is, to me, the relationship-building aspect. My blogger friend Chuck Westbrook recently started a tribe leading people to read little-known blogs together and shine the light on great content with no readers.
There are lots of great examples of this type of share-first leadership, and what's cool is, these are the people who deserve to see their own impact grow as they help others grow theirs!
lara
· 1 year ago
HI.................... Really this post is very nice .But I am new to this social media. Though theae are excellent and valuable points. ========================== lara
All Comments
I'm new to social media but I couldn't agree with you any more. All relationships that are worth anything are give and take. I own a commercial printing business in New England and we like to tip the scale on the giving side with our valued customers. In the long run, "karma" takes care of those who take care of others first. Great post!! Barry
I've always been a FIRM believer that the more you give, the more you receive. Helping people and sharing everything I can was just the way I was raised and I'm glad people like you notice it.
I do agree that there can be way to much navel gazing and self pimping going on. Sure, we all do it from time to time, but when it is the only thing someone does then it just gets annoying.
Thanks for this post. Well said all around.
Best,
Aaron | @astrout
I like Chris Brogan's 12-to-1 rule that he uses. He tweets 12 times about something other than himself to every one self-promoting tweet. To be honest, I haven't really paid attention to see if he uses it as a hard-and-fast rule, but I agree he doesn't seem to self-promote as much as some others. Great post!
@cjguest
You're totally right, of course.
"you have to give more than you take"
"it's not about you, it's about the community"
...and on and on.
I have to say it sounds great. And as you've pointed out, there are some great examples of people doing just that. But the confusion set in after being around long enough to start to see trends in what some folks were blogging about, tweeting, plurking - you name it.
I'm not talking so much about newbies to the sphere. They may still be trying to figure out the "rules" of this space. But it's interesting - at least to me - to see how many A and B-listers fall into this category. To give them some credit, they do share work by other A and B-listers sometimes, but that even comes off as a bit self-serving to me. As if only those who could push a decent traffic bump their way in return are worthy of their time to share a blog post or something else.
But what do I know. Maybe I'm reading too much into that. I'm no social media expert, after all...
Great discussion starter, Scott.
For my part, I am working on a blog post: "Top 10 reasons why Monty should have mentioned me in this post"
One point to ponder... I agree that Aaron was the voice of Mzinga and in many cases the line blurred between our brand and his brand. So, how do companies deal with that when a social media evangelist leaves? Hopefully they have a team behind them ready to step into the void, but to reconcile the loss? As more companies adopt social media (and evangelists) in a "free agent" economy this will become an important consideration. I'd love to hear your (and anyone else's) thoughts. Thanks!
Jim | @jstorerj
Consider this - I recently referred a reporter from the Wall Street Journal to a few people as experts in the space, which I assume was appreciated much the same as if they had been linked to in a blog post. It doesn't appear publicly as a magnanimous gesture - and I didn't expect anything in return.
Did I give or get link love? No. Did I take the "me" out of social media? I think so.
In all seriousness, there is a balance to it. The narcissism is in the service of building our own credibility. To Scott's - and your- point, spending that credibility capital on others is important
I am new to social media and trying to figure it all out. I am old enough to remember 2 and 4-party phone lines as a kid, so we've come a long way, baby! I read and re-read your post, and I read all of your comments. (I found my daughter, Audrey McClelland and my husband, Barry, among them!) And then something struck me. I read comments. I enjoy the give and take of bloggers/Twitterers/commenters, and I always find the engagement of the bloggers/Twitterers/readers/commenters the most interesting... and where I generally learn the most.
I read all kinds of blogs. Giant ones. Small mommy-ones. I can lurk. I can answer. I can engage. And I can find that give-and-take... the honest, how-can-we-help-each-other in this vast new arena. That comes from comments and responses; honest, well-thought, helpful, intriguing, interesting, even controversial engagement. People who need people. Like the song!
Just some thoughts...
Hope you get the point I'm trying to make!
Expanded on it here a few weeks ago: http://blogs.gcigroup.com/fineprint/2008/09/10/...
Cheers,
JC.
The other thing I wish people would do less of is tell us about their stats...it is becoming nearly unbearable. I've even criticized myself for this, yep, nobody is exempt from my wrath. Wait, is that being narcissistic?
Thank you very much!
Scott, killer post. Thanks.
And at the end of it all, the impression I have of Aaron is not necessarily that he is promoting ideas himself but he is promoting those who share his vision, and thus promotes his agenda but by including a large circle of others.
It's an impressive skill and one that I will miss having around at Mzinga on a regular basis.
Justin
I'm new to Twitter, and basically I've been posting about people and links to websites that have something of value to offer. I was wondering if I was doing Twitter "right" but that's just who I am and what felt "right" to me. (A friend recently told me I was a "sneezer".)
Nice to find out that there are other like-minded people out there - thank you for a terrific article and all the links you provided here.
P.S. I found you on Twitter.
http://chuckwestbrook.com/great-content-no-read...
There are lots of great examples of this type of share-first leadership, and what's cool is, these are the people who deserve to see their own impact grow as they help others grow theirs!
Really this post is very nice .But I am new to this social media.
Though theae are excellent and valuable points.
==========================
lara
sreevyshcorp