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Why I'm Sick of Social Media

Tony Wanless

| January 19, 2010

Image by: Podcastingnews

I'm not, really, but I needed a catchy headline to suck you into reading this.

It's one of the things we have to do to become popular on social media. Which is why I'm cutting back on it this year.

Not eliminating it – horrors – but just reducing my usage of it and my time spent on it.

You see, the truth is I have realized I don't really want to be that popular. I like blogs, because they (sometimes) have something to say. But today, success in newer social media appears to be measured in raw numbers, and I disagree with that. That's why I've been pruning some of my connection lists.

When I see someone with 42,000 followers on Twitter, I burst out laughing. Is the ego really so fragile, that we need that kind of number to affirm that we exist? I don't need 42,000 or even 5,000, mostly irrelevant, followers on Twitter. I have trouble managing 1,000.

More: A gathering social media backlash?
More: The bizarre postmodernism of Twitter
More: Social media lesson: Making camp

Also, I don't want to have mindless conversations with hundreds and hundreds of Facebook "friends", many of whom I don't know, simply so I can boast to the few people I really do know about how popular I am.

And, even though I've been using it for more than about five years, I don't want to be a LinkedIn LION so I can spam my contact list with blatant messages to buy my stuff.

Rampant Commercialization

This might sound strange coming from someone who was singing the praises of social media a mere year ago. But during that year, social media became an essential part of business marketing. So, now, conversation too often means a torrent of flat out marketing and advertising. It's becoming overly commercialized.

Admittedly, I use social media as a networking platform for (subtle) business development, as well. But these days, I find myself killing 75 per cent of my social media messages because they're screaming marketing and are meaningless to me.

For example, I really don't want to be a "fan" of every business that happens to find my name on Facebook. I've done many in the past week and so have begun to ponder what this fan thing really means.

Maybe I'm being too precise, but does vaguely knowing a business make me a fan of it? Isn't a fan supposed to rave about you? The point of all business marketing is to create raving fans who will refer you, but I don't think shouting at me is going to make me that kind of fan.

In understand that much of this shouting is coming from people who don't really get it, and just see it as another cheap advertising channel. But I use social media to follow what people I know are doing and thinking, not to be screamed at by some guy in Detroit who's pushing a dubious online marketing system.

Time for Triage

So this year, to keep my sanity, I think my social media usage will be a version of the Triage system used in medical facilities: The stuff that's most important to me will be noticed, while the rest will be ignored.

I don't think I'm alone in wanting my media, social or otherwise, to be relevant.

Am I?

Tags

Great article Tony, reminds

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-01-21 14:01.

Great article Tony, reminds me of the book I read recently titled "Grooming, Gossip and the evolution of language" by Robin Dunbar. He talks about the number 150 beyond which we need a structure to follow things and keep things on track. Social media is a great tool but it has to be used intelligently and provide value to your audiience

learn to separate the signal

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-01-21 13:33.

learn to separate the signal from the noise. build intelligent robots and filters that throw away the stuff you don't want and return to you the yummy streams of knowledge. upgrade your heros. hang around people with more to say. fuck stats, make art. ;)

To buggy whips. It's not as

Submitted by Tony Wanless on Thu, 2010-01-21 10:51.

To buggy whips. It's not as simplistic as your generational argument. I can handle information, no problem. What I can't handle is useless information that wastes my time. As you'll notice from the other comments I'm not alone in this thinking. And, apparently it has nothing to do with age. Too much empty information is like too much sugar that adds empty calories to your food. It makes you fat and sluggish. As tommyhump says, perhaps we all need to go on an information diet.

... & buggy whips will

Submitted by Yves (not verified) on Thu, 2010-01-21 01:04.

... & buggy whips will return! Are you serious? Social networks are redefining business relationships, becoming vital profit centers, ... so they are far from being a sunset phenomenon. Granted it is a challenge to adapt to the personal intrusion into your personal life that social networks like facebook et al. represents ... but to the next generation ... it is not an intrusion! As soon as Twitter/Facebook/Digg etc get too intrusive, they scale back without a thought in exactly the same way you handle someone that just talks on and on and on ... you avoid them, cut conversations short, or tell them in a fit of candor that they are verbose. Social media is part of normal conversation of the 21st century & although it may seem odd to people born in the 1950's, 1960's, or even 1970's ... it is totally normal to people comfortable in a sea of information from friends and acquaintances. Being uncomfortable with social media instead of talking on the phone or meeting them is equivalent to those people, familiar with the telegraph, being uncomfortable with that funny thing called the "telephone" ... in the last century. Sure your being overwhelmed ... welcome to the information age!

I believe the problem isn't

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2010-01-20 18:44.

I believe the problem isn't social media, but users' lack of understanding of the role of social media. Old school advertising = shouting at a large-as-possible audience in the hope somebody will buy your stuff. Proper social marketing = making available to customers the information for which they're looking. Great article, Tony; you would have loved SEMA's online marketing conference social marketing info. Same idea. Don't shout at people - get them what they need, and if you do it right, you might make some money. Nathan Tiessen Internet Business Manager www.kmstools.com

Tony: Couldn't agree more:

Submitted by DavidAllison (not verified) on Wed, 2010-01-20 15:42.

Tony: Couldn't agree more: Quality over Quantity every time. However, I don't think we should be too quick to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. It's really the same as it ever was (thanks David Byrne) and we must choose our communication channels wisely, and use them well. If we mentally toss social media into the same bucket as all other media, and, depending on what we are trying to accomplish, pick and choose which channels make the most sense, we won't feel too scattered. No brand needs to use all the tools...just the ones that make the most sense for the job that needs to be done. Social media presents a variety of options to choose between, just as print media provides a lot of options when looking for a platform. You are wise to restrict your efforts, but let's not start a nasty rumour that social media is a time-waster. It's a time waster if used improperly, like anything else. Just my humble opinion, of course. You have hit on a popular theme at the moment though; the issue of Monocle Magazine I was reading last night declared that Twitter was dead. So you have Tyler Brule in your camp! For my mobile business card, send the word DAVID as a text message to 82442

Why I'm sick of social

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2010-01-20 14:35.

Why I'm sick of social media: no proofreading. Case in point: this article.

Thank you, Tony. Its

Submitted by AngelaCrocker (not verified) on Wed, 2010-01-20 14:01.

Thank you, Tony. Its gratifying to see someone with your reach and influence echo what I've been saying for sometime. Social media is a social activity - its about making online connections with real people who you may know in the real world. Its impossible to keep up with tens of thousands of fans, friends or followers in a meaningful way. I applaud your efforts to cull your herd to a manageable level and join you in encouraging others to take the same social media reality check.

I've made an executive

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2010-01-20 13:58.

I've made an executive decision to remove all Twitter, Linkedin and other social network sites for 2010. They are a sounding board for someone requiring ego praising and attention. I noticed on Twitter that Lance Armstrong has about 100,000 followers and every time he goes anywhere or eats something - the whole world can find out where he is or whom he is with. I am wondering what a kind of person requires this type of attention. I had to ask myself why I set up Twitter, Facebook in my own name, only now to realize this is a time consuming ordeal that provides nothing for the "self". The ego really isn't being fed when it's"meeting" people that we DON"T know - and really don't care about us. Seriously, I have more mountains to climb, places to run and many things to do in my life that provide me with value. Social networking will soon be out the door as FAST as it came in. I value my privacy and don't want anyone to know what I am eating for lunch... or that I'm typing this naked.

HI Tony I totally agree.

Submitted by NatalieSisson (not verified) on Wed, 2010-01-20 13:06.

HI Tony I totally agree. Social Media can be a huge time waster or a massive benefit to you personally and for business. I think the trick is, that I'm finding anyway, is to set limits on the amount of time you're on the various social networks, so check in for 20-30 mins - engage and leave. In the morning you could spend 30-60 mins reading all your relevant blogs and websites to catch up on the best news and information and then spread that to who you think will benefit from it. It's actually really fun if you get connected to interesting and amazing people and they do the same back, before you know it you have meaningful relationships on line. It's still evolving and changing and I really enjoy seeing how that changes our behaviour online and how we adapt. Interesting times ahead! Natalie

Quantity without quality in

Submitted by cfxcreative (not verified) on Wed, 2010-01-20 12:52.

Quantity without quality in social media - like most marketing - is pretty meaningless. It's like blanketing an entire city with mailers when they're only relevant to a particular neighbourhood. I, too, went through and cleaned out my networks to make room in my news feeds for relevant - and welcome - information. Great article. Love the headline. Definitely got my attention! Carly H. Franklin Principal CFX Creative / BOOST Social Media www.cfxcreative.com / www.gimmeaboost.com

See? Some good can come of

Submitted by jbucher on Tue, 2010-01-19 15:33.

See? Some good can come of an old journosaur getting up on his hind legs and bellowing. Great post, Tony. I can see your points about the mindless tit-for-tat of "friending," following, and "fanning," but just because you're being authentic doesn't mean your social media cohort has to be small enough to fit in a Bino's. When you throw a pebble in the water, don't you want it to send ripples through as big a community as possible? John Bucher Digital Editor, BCBusiness