Recently, I read a post by James Shelley called The Organization of Self and there was a line in it that really struck me as being right on the money:
“When people ‘become’ organizations they begin behaving like them too: they start placing their value on their market share, or how many friends or followers they have, who’s listening to them, and who endorses their carefully calculated ‘identity package.’”
Personal branding was something I wrote a whole series of posts on and though I tried to emphasize the value of your “brand” coming out of your identity organically and truthfully, it is a difficult job to not start turning yourself as an individual into an organization-sounding shill.
Look around, it’s happening everywhere. People are tweeting and promoting like they are organizations. It smells. I’ve done it myself. It’s very easy to start crossing the line.
We can get so close to the whole allure and ego-boosting tools that we lose ourselves and start to think we’re big and important. “Look at me! I have 3,457 followers and 462 subscribers to my blog.” I don’t really, but I wish I did. Oh wait… there I go.
What to do? Read your posts, read your personal Facebook status updates, read your 25 most recent tweets.
The illusion of social media is that it is making us think, and worse, act, like we are organizations.
We need more “originals” out there. That’s you, artists and people being human. When you catch yourself using social media to sound like you’re more than you are, STOP. When you catch yourself boasting at how many followers you have, STOP. When you worry about how many followers you have, STOP. When you start talking like you’re Zappos or GM or Starbucks, STOP!
It’s an illusion and illusions usually disappear.
“All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now” Bob Dylan
Print
Facebook
Twitter
Hey John,
Yup the art of illusion!
But, ya know, if we think about this in another perspective – “a good tide floats all boats”; this idea may just get us to thinking we are not an illusion and/or are becoming an illusion with/of ourselves.
Great post John!
Cheers!
Susan
(PS – I dunno – maybe it is Viernes social en Mexico too! Addles the brain some….about becoming and organization – g-d forbid!)
Hi Susan
so sorry to read about the New York City Opera – let’s hope they can pull up out of it!
Or, “when the tide goes out we see who swimming naked.”
I think I have 10 blog subscribers; I just need 500 more; tell all your friends!
I’ll subscribe Harriet just point me to your button! Loved your blog btw clean and concise. Wonderful topic.
Harriet, I may consider banning you from commenting due to your shameless plugging and your extreme vanity.
John… I hear what you’re saying and I’ve thought about it too. I guess social media doesn’t have to be accountable to anyone. People can say what they like and no-one questions it.
I’m not much of a twitterer… call me slow… but I’ll be darned if I know how to say anything meaningful in 140 characters [grin] I am marginally more active with Facebook and have increased my readership via that route… but in general I find social media the ultimate in looking sideways [something mentioned last post] I love to read what my “friends” are up to but when I start to get that sinking feeling… I stop… take a raincheck and reassess where I am on my own personal path.
It takes real discipline not to be sucked into that void. And yes… real persistence to simply be yourself. [Maybe not the path to world domination but still... for me... the only way to go] Baby steps… true to self.
Thanks John for another thought provoking post
Jean, I really appreciate your outlook on this. It seems very balanced and healthy. I know you put a lot of effort into your own blog but it always shows a genuine “you” which is wonderful to read.
“True to self.” YES. Now, who the hell am I?
John… go back and read all you’ve written so far. Who you are can’t help but come out in your writing. You will be your own best guide to go forward. And go forward you must. This is a great website with much to offer. It just takes time that’s all [or so they tell me LOL] Keep up the great work
Thanks for the encouragement, Jean. I do want to go back through a lot of the content and pull some of it together. I am also developing a day-long workshop I’ll be presenting for the first time in October on marketing for small arts organizations and artists so may be back with more posting again this summer as it comes together.
Organizations aren’t social. People are social. To me the idea of a ‘fan page’ for a business is absurd, unless ‘fans’ themselves build it. The only ‘organizational’ Twitter accounts I follow are because I know the person behind the tweets, and the voice is authentic. Why do I ‘follow’ Union Gospel Mission? There’s an amazing and passionate individual doing those social media postings and I like seeing what they’re up to. Has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with social action.
Anyone I follow on Twitter is a curator of information I find astounding and/or useful, flavoured with enough opinion and personality that I can sense the person there. I don’t need to feel we are best friends, but there must be that sense of a person I’d like. And they usually tweet and retweet links enough that I don’t need to follow hundreds of people.
Facebook, for me, is a replacement for the revealing conversations I used to overhear when I carpooled my son and his pals to hockey. Now that they are in their 20′s – and still ‘Friend’ing me – that privilege continues (often beyond what one wants to know!). Although there is a SEARCHgrads Facebook group, only about 60 people use it, and if too much conspiracy theory or self-promotion happens there, the action there predictably drops.
LinkedIn has been an amazing way to connect on a professional and personal level with a peer group as diverse and global and intense as I could ever wish for. The value in this service is in its design for ensuring connections are built through existing linkages, respectfully honoured.
But like all relationships, these need tending in order to work. Some more than others, and the tools are different. It’s easier in some ways, but the principles are the same. If you are active, if you respond, if you give as well as get, if the people you refer to others in your network behave well, it works beautifully. As in the days of the telegraph and calling card, personal behaviour trumps everything.
But always be mindful that the agenda of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is not primarily to serve us. It is important not to forget that to make use of these tools is not free, but the most intimate exposure of our connections and our behaviour to firms who need us as bait for their revenue. So long as we can balance the cost with real benefit to ourselves, that balance may work. But much of the hype around social marketing is initiated by these companies themselves, to serve that agenda. The enhancements they develop to make it easier for us to share more, and to have us believe that we, too, can make money from more use of their services, have a consumer-profile-building purpose in mind for their own profit. Most of this is completely unnecessary, and while the use of Social Media tools is necessary to reach certain audiences because that IS where they live, keep in mind that others of us are not interested in being tracked in this way. Use it wisely and with eyes wide open, and it can keep you connected through endless transitions of work, geography, and life. Rely on it too heavily and blindly and you – and your business – won’t even know what you’ve missed.
And again, here is a comment that has become a blog post. Thanks, John!
Judy, I’m reminded of my mother’s comment when I was kid and we wrote letters on paper: “if you don’t send letters, don’t automatically expect to receive letters.” I like you point about getting out of these tools, what you put in.
Glad your comment turned into a blog post for you. It’s a great topic and you covered it really well.
I too, am amazed at how the “free” tools are misinterpreted by people and how many people don’t realize how they are being used by them. Thanks for bringing that up.
[...] here – as comments on the blog postings of people I know. I have John McLachlan’s post The Illusion of Social Media to thank for this one! This entry was posted in Careers, Cultural Economy, Left Brain and tagged [...]
[...] you call it, this article on the Illusion of Social Media by John McLachlan cautions against falling prey to your own press when it comes to social [...]