Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter

Update: Jeremy’s entertaining and informative presentation is available.

Karaoke-pal Jeremy Wright gave the keynote at this year’s Wordcamp on how and why social media can fail.

He’s promised to post his camel-filled slides online and I’ll update that soon. For now, here are my rough notes.

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Social media failures

Believe it or not social media can’t do everything. It often fails. Jeremy Wright outlines a few reasons why below:

Overinflated sense of self-worth

Because of hype social media practitioners feel like they’re the shit… but there is an echo-chamber effect. Not everyone is on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc. Not everyone cares about how good at it you are.

Spam

Comment spam, DM spam, etc. are all a pain in the ass and cheapen the value of social media. It’s very easy to be overwhelmed by it too.

Mob mentality

Social media can amplify a backlash (i.e. Motrin, Nestle).

Some people go out of their way to be “social media terrorists”

Twitter interns

Big companies try to do this on the cheap. Lame

No strategic direction, no support

The drive for followers

Some people get “follower envy” and want to accrue followers by sometimes annoying and idiotic ways (auto-follow, spamming, etc.)

@aplusk vs. @cnnbrk

The Social Media cult…

“If you don’t use Twitter, I’m sorry but you’re an idiot” - @unmarketing

The social media community can be a bit of an echo chamber. Sometimes the community aspect is great, but other times it shuts out divergent views.

Acting like we deserve it

Are we owed anything? Uhm, no. Stay humble and respectful.

Automation is EVIL

It’s deceiving. Autofollow, etc. SUCKS!

Broadcasting is NOT engagement. It’s SOCIAL media not social MEDIA.

Assholery as insight

Being a jerk doesn’t make you right…. it just makes you an asshole

Hypocrisy

Don’t be a hypocrite. People will call you out on it.

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Stay away if…

• someone is talking more than listening
• you’re being more media than social
• more tweets than eye contact
• leading with a business card…
• watch out for the word “leverage”

Tips:

• Listen more than you talk
• SOCIAL media, not social MEDIA
• Give more than you get
• Don’t paint the old as new
• Don’t steal
• Things look easier from the outside

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