stark REALITY check

Tag: “Aught Nine”

  • Social Media is a waste of time – Part Deux

    Please-Stop-Posting-Articles-About-Social-Media-Being-a-Waste-of-Time/ Part One


    Feel free to use this idea and graph. Just give credit where credit is due. Show a Little Link Love


    As a self-proclaimed Internet Infrastructure geek, I’ve been fascinated with the history and progression of communication tools from Gutenberg’s press, through the introduction of newspapers, the widespread use of telephones, the Internet and finally social media platforms.

    Any organization that wants to thrive in the 21st Century must learn the language of the Internet. Even if they don’t want to master the skill -it’s vital for them to understand it, then listen and respond to their customers.

    We are in the midst of a paradigm shift like the one following Gutenberg’s invention, only this one’s global, it moves at the speed of light and it’s on steroids. History shows us that chaos and uncertainty ruled the day during these major cultural shifts. One need not look far to find examples of this chaos right now, just look at the newspaper, TV or record industries.

    When things are this volatile it feels much safer to stick with business as usual and then justify your actions by reading articles such as: Why Social Media Is a Waste of Time for Most Banks & Credit Unions Sometimes business as usual means you’ll be out of business in less than five years. Telling ANY organization that social media is a waste of time is like telling a blacksmith at the turn of the 20th century to, “Just keep your head down and do what you’re doing. Your skills will always be valued because only a few people have cars.”

    According to my rough calculations in the graph above, we are due for yet another communications paradigm shift next Tuesday at 2:45pm EST.  This becomes more apparent when you add the following “social media tools” to the bottom right corner of the graph:

    Years to reach 50 million users:
    My Space 4 years
    Twitter 3 years
    Facebook 2 years


  • Alternate post comma titles considered: as opposed to, “ The Great #Indiana Initiative of Aught Nine”

    • How to gain at least 1 follower a day for the next 30 days
    • How to establish your brand on twitter in 30 days
    • Why you should care about the world’s LARGEST bridging social capital group in the history of our species.
    • How to start a global viral marketing campaign using ONLY open-source at zero-cost software and free cloud applications
    • The 30 day twitter challenge for social media nay-sayers
    • The 30 day workout to help you “GET” twitter and Social Media
    • A rebuttal to a pithy negative comment that spread virally and tainted a town’s perception of twitter-in effect slowing down the adoption of social media in the great state of #Indiana*

    After the 30 day workout you will appreciate why this new communication tool- a platform for global grassroots communication at the speed of light- is all the rage. Twitter isn’t for everyone, however it is being used by tens of millions of people** around the world RIGHT NOW, and it’s important that you understand why it – and other twitter-like social media platforms – are evolutionary game changers. Twitter can be likened to Gutenberg’s movable type on steroids.

    When Rudyard Kipling said, “East is East, West is West, and never the twain shall meet” he never envisioned twitter. If you watch the public-timeline you will see many different languages including Mandarin, Japanese and Farsi along with the Latin-based languages.
    ___________________
    IMPORTANT NOTE: If someone tells you twitter is a waste of time, they’re only telling you how THEY use it. Twitter is extremely flexible and with the varied devices, over 2,500 different user-interfaces and unique combinations of following – followers, no two tweeters have the same experience.
    ___________________
    *Backstory. A prominent social marketer in Indianapolis was quoted as saying, “twitter is the most useful waste of time.” I heard this repeated by other prominent social marketers in Indianapolis and the idea spread virally. People who think social media is simply a fad LOVE to have comments such as “Time Waster” to justify their non-participation. Shame on you.

    ** @Pistachio, a twitter power user, estimated 300 Million by the end of 2009 in a Google Tech Talk recourded in the first half of 2009.