What makes you influential on social media? Did you say “Trust?” Ahh, you must be living in the early phases of web 2.0. We are moving forward now. Social Media participation and engagement has nothing to do with “trust” anymore. It’s about who can brag more. That’s what makes you influential cause that’s who dominates media today. Anyways, to all you bragging bastards out there, this post is something I have been able to give birth because of you. Thank you for making me experience the “labor pain” cause I can certainly relate to the pain women go through now. If you are one of them, do not take this personally….I still love you but hate who you are turning into.
When it comes to change, I am pretty quick to adapt myself. But lately I have been having problem adapting. I am having problem adapting to something that pays my bills, something that I enjoy and something that I truly believe is the best form of marketing yet. Yes, you guessed it right! I am talking about Social media. You see, I have never gone out looking for work, all my work has been handed to me through referrals. I am extremely lucky cause I have never had to scour job boards, wonder what I will be doing next. This is what I love to do and this is what I have been doing for years under the radar. Why? Cause I love what I do and as far as work and paying the bills goes, I’ve never had a problem, thanks to my friends and clients who refer clients to me day in and day out (Thanks guys! you know who you are. I appreciate it).
But it seems like I have been playing the wrong ball game. I am actually connecting to people and networking the old way. They sure seem to work wonders (at least for me). Ask anyone on any social media platforms and anyone who knows me, I am a pretty nice guy. However, social media is changing so fast and the way we interact has taken such a different course, I might have to quit playing ball the old way. The new way of influence, power and networking is now defined by ego. If you can be a pompous bastard, sure as hell you are gonna lead the way. An increasing trend I noticed and thought I would share.
Now that I have started a war against “the core social media user today,” I might as well go all out. Let’s take Twitter for example. Awesome platform. We love twitter as much as we do because it gives us instant gratification. We ask a question, within minutes we get answers. Someone says “I took a shit,” and there will be someone who won’t mind asking “How big was the turd?” We love it. It’s instant. But it’s not the conversation or networking that is fascinating anymore. It’s the numbers. It’s all about what you have got to give to your followers and friends as far as “bragging” goes. “Holy Shit! I am no.1 on some twitter grader!” and there comes a flow of tweet “congrats.” You know what? No one gives a rat’s ass about it.
The changing social media landscape is starting to get scary. You know what the scariest thing of it all is – we are increasingly losing trust among each other.
So I have been wondering if I should change my game or keep hitting the balls the way I’ve been. Hell, I am 27 year old and I would like to join the “core group” or the “hip group.” But then again, I have been batting the old way for years and it still freaking works like a charm. All I do is talk, be nice (a gift given to me by mother nature) and simply interact. I never boast, brag and make myself sound like an egotistical bastard on these platforms. The question is – Do I let myself simmer in the social media that was built on trust, or do I wrap myself around ego and grill the hell out of it? You know my answer.
What’s yours? Would you like to be the “core group that dominates social media” today?
note : I wrote this post out of pure frustration after watching a few updates on facebook and a couple tweets on Twitter. If it doesn’t flow like an article should and sounds like someone just ranted like crazy, guess what? That’s exactly what it is. But the good thing is, if you haven’t noticed this “new trend,” you will now.
Hi, My name is Ritu. I am a member of SMA (Social Media Anonymous) ;-) & help bloggers and businesses utilize the social web. 
I totally agree. A relationship built on that level can’t sustain influence. BTW, once you get to a certain number, it seems like the quality of your audience/followers diminishes.
Oh I’m right there with you on this one. I am relatively new the social media scene, coming in about 2 years ago from a brand perspective, now off on my own on the outside, but it hasn’t taken me long to realize the who’s who has a sense of ownership to the entire social media universe. It’s the oldest trick in the book to get people to trust you, then use that trust for personal gain. I have posted a couple of entries on my blog related to this same feeling lately, but believe me, my posts were edited severely before I hit publish. Ritu – Just do what you do, and don’t worry about the “elite”. It’s like high school all over again, but you know what, the captain of the football team always seems to end up flipping burgers at McDonald’s or something, and the ones that stay true to who they are and quietly do what they do with pride and a little humility end up for the better.