Back in June, David Spinks tackled the topic of true transparency in social media. People give the appearance of being nice (or transparent), but how do we really know? The answer, I think one that David and his community arrived at, was we’ll never know for sure. All we can do is interact with people and assume that they are who they are portraying themselves to be.
We all know the saying…”Nice guys finish last.” In a lot of respects, the statement is definitely true. The ones who seemingly get ahead are those that are willing to cut off their neighbors in the name of achievement. By the way, in case you were wondering, there’s a huge difference between competitiveness/achievement and just being downright evil for the sake of winning/achievement.
Anyway, after reading through David’s post again, and watching how some people interact with others lately, I’ve begun to wonder whether or not this old saying applies to social media as well. Sure, there are folks like Danny Brown doing amazing charity work using these tools, but how many know about it outside of people interacting with Danny constantly? Not enough people in my view. This isn’t to say that Danny, or others like him, should go on a promotional spree, but they deserve more recognition than they are getting.
Unfortunately, the people that do get more notice than they should are those that, quite obviously, game the system. I’m not going to name names as I’m sure you’ve had plenty of occasion to interact with them on your own. They don’t spend a lot of time looking for ways to help people, rather, their primary focus is on how many people they can drive to their blogs/Web sites, how many Twitter followers they can amass or even how high of a score they get on some grading platform. But maybe gaming the system is OK…who are we to judge?
Nice guys don’t get enough attention in my view, and until they do, count me in the camp that will be trying to promote them as much as possible. Anyway, how do you all feel? Does the good (genuine) work people are doing get recognized enough? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
Nice post, Chuck. Well said all around. And a worthy solution to promote the nice guys.
Has there been any research on what people say motivates them (us) to play in the Social Media world? And how does that square with how we actually use Social Media, our “real” motives?
Hi Steve – good questions. I’m not aware of any off the top of my head…I think we’re drawn to like-minded, genuine people, but other than that, I haven’t seen any sort of scientific evidence one way or another.
This frustrates me greatly, as I’ve seen it more and more lately. People who send me DM’s to “Check out my new post!” or “Vote for me” in the latest and greatest twitter/blogger popularity contest. They’re only angling for themselves and not trying to help others. But thsoe people are often the ones who get noticed, build a sycophantic community and get recognized.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of people who are cranking out good, thoughtful and thought-provoking content who don’t get noticed because they’re uncomfortable constantly screaming “LOOK AT ME!” all the time. I try to make it a point every week to share a couple of posts from lesser-known bloggers.
I’m not saying that the reason for doing all this blogging and tweeting is simply attention/recognition/popularity, but I agree with you that often people who are good self-promoters can get away with producing mediocre content. A lot of the really good work goes unrecognized.
Thanks, Amy. I, like you, find it hard to stomach the self-promoters, but realize they will always be out there. I don’t necessarily mind if someone flags a post in a DM for me, but only if I’ve had the opportunity to engage with them on social networks before. What is really disturbing are the number of times I get DM’s from people I’m following who I haven’t “spoken” with in weeks, but now want me to promote their content. No thanks.
By the way, you’re one of the people we need to promote more than we are! Thanks again for commenting!
Transparency is the key, and as the community continues to grow, and continues to become more and more savy when it comes to how social media works, those who are not transparent will falter. Personally, I can’t stand self promoters, but I find things like retweeting client posts, without mention that the source is a client, just as wrong, lazy and disingenuous.
The nice guys will come out on top, trust me.
Thanks, Nader. I think you are right that transparent folks ultimately win the day…just wish it wasn’t a bataan death march until it happened.
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Thanks for the link Chuck. Glad to hear the post is still driving some thought.
My thoughts on this issue have changed over time and I’m still working to find a balance. I think that because people in this space love to call others out, and condemn selfishness, people are afraid to be the least bit self-promotional. This isn’t really a good thing.
If we’re talking about transparency, then to claim to only be here to help others isn’t very transparent. We all have some sort of agenda, and we all want to better ourselves and our careers. Sometimes, a little self-promotion is necessary.
The balance I’m talking about is where you aren’t only pushing yourself and your own work. We’ve heard of all the ratios of 80% promote others and 20% promote yourself. I don’t think there’s any magic ratio, but it’s up to each of us to know when to help each other, and also when to help ourselves.
Comment is getting pretty long…you’ve given me a lot more to think about. Thanks.
@DavidSpinks
Hi David – thanks for stopping by and lending some more insight on the issue. I’m not sure what the right balance is either. I think it will evolve over time, and the folks going in the wrong direction will be weeded out.
The 80/20 ratio you mentioned above is interesting. That feels right, but some are closer to 50/50, which definitely doesn’t. Anyway, fodder for continued discussion I suppose.
Nice post written by what seems to be a nice guy. I agree with Spinks – self promotion is necessary, although people who need to do it most do it least.
Note to nice guys: no one will toot your own horn as good as you. Don’t be afraid to do it. And I also agree with Nader, nice guys will come out on top … eventually. It just takes more time, patience and resiliency – and a degree of security that isn’t validated on how many people “like” you. Stay the course and everyone will get their just desserts.
Hi Doreen – thanks a bunch for the comment, and the compliment!
Your point is certainly well taken. I should’ve included in this post that nobody will be a bigger fan of you than you. I don’t mean that in a snotty, conceded way, just that if you want to trumpet something you’ve done you can’t necessarily rely on others to do it for you.