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The270 wrote
Majelly Is Where It’s At
Posted by wyliemac in September 12th, 2008
Columbus, Ohio is experiencing a growth in Social Media. And now we have Majelly, the social media site that’s circumnavigating the Columbus social media scene. I created it along with friends Jason Blanton and Dan Harris, because we noticed the growing scene and wanted one central site where Columbusers interested in Social Media can congregate and find the network that’s right for them. We also created it so that we can keep track of all of the networking type events going on in Columbus. Trust me, there are a lot of them.
Not to be jerk, but I see a lot of huckstery being touted in “social media” so I thought I thought I’d throw in my two cents here. I’m not saying Jelly is – I don’t know anything about it, just referencing crap I hear about “social media” all the time.
So is Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Manilla Phillipines and Dhaka Bhangladesh. I’m not sure there is anything remotely profound in Columbus’ “growth” in relationship to the rest of the nation or the world for that matter. Unless, I’m missing what growth means – is it anyone with a friendster, facebook, myspace, or orkut account is a contributing factor to that growth? I don’t really see anything in the mission that says anything different.
Growth to me would mean a lot of activity around marketing techniques that utilize social media. I see some of this around town here, but not enough to quantify this growth. A lot of PR firms are trying to get into the business of “social media” and most don’t get the medium or the concept of the “conversation”. Thus, they end up wasting a lot of time and blowing a lot of client’s money chasing the conversation in their usual linear fashion with misaligned content, messaging and techniques.
The other area of growth would be the development and building of actual social technologies. That area I see very little growth in. Building the “Myspace of” [insert any niche you might find on the magazine rack at Barnes and Noble] counts I guess, but is a flimsy, ill-interpreted stab at “social media”.
The reason I bring these things up is that I don’t see any effort being made on the site to define “social media”. This will help set the tone for what is being “circumnavigated” in the first place, which if defined – I suspect will not be a whole lot.
Another reason it needs to be defined is because of all the bullshit and huckstery surrounding self-appointed experts of “social media”. People will get burned (and are) and will dismissive of social media and techniques that employ it. Reminds me of the same set of smoke and mirrors that surrounds most SEO “experts”. 98 percent have no clue because it’s a moving target.
So is Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Manilla Phillipines and Dhaka Bhangladesh. I’m not sure there is anything remotely profound in Columbus’ “growth” in relationship to the rest of the nation or the world for that matter. Unless, I’m missing what growth means – is it anyone with a friendster, facebook, myspace, or orkut account is a contributing factor to that growth? I don’t really see anything in the mission that says anything different.
Funny, I was born in Manila. :D
And I’m no Social Media huckster. Just a guy with a blog. I write license agreements for a living. But yea, there are a lot of self appointed experts out there.
Like I said, I don’t know a thing about Jelly, and am not even implying there is some hucksterism at foot. Just pointing out that people should tread cautiously around those throwing around a term like “social media” without defining it.
Timely. I came across this post by Marshall Kirkpatrick this morning, which highlights some ‘social media consultants’.
In this post we highlight seven social media consultants that consistently bring tangible value to the table. These folks aren’t full of hot air – they use their blogs to offer clear examples, links, tutorials and other resources you can put to use. If the goods you can see for free are so solid, that’s all the more reason to investigate paying for these peoples’ services. We hope this list will help you get smarter and maybe save a whole lot of money and anguish.
Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value
In this post we highlight seven social media consultants that consistently bring tangible value to the table. These folks aren’t full of hot air – they use their blogs to offer clear examples, links, tutorials and other resources you can put to use. If the goods you can see for free are so solid, that’s all the more reason to investigate paying for these peoples’ services. We hope this list will help you get smarter and maybe save a whole lot of money and anguish.
Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value
Okay, I confess to not having read the whole article, and it might be a little off-topic because it doesn’t deal with Majelly, but I was thinking about this today in how it related to a “Social Media” thing I was asked to participate in last fall. The people hosting were old stalwarts, for the most part, and they wanted help getting into the new “Social Media” age. I found, however, that they were incredibly resistant to change. They invited me because I am a “successful” blogger (ie, I’ve been doing it 3 1/2 years, not that I’m rich & famous), and ostensibly they wanted my advice, but they were incredibly resistant to my ideas.
In this instance, I truly don’t think it’s my advice or “expertise” which failed, but their determination to keep with their old, failing methods.
Let’s use Walker as an example – if someone asks his advice because they want to start a forum, and then doesn’t want to take his ideas because they conflict with their old ideas, then it’s their problem.
Lately I’ve been having pple ask me for help in assisting them in generating business with younger people, and I keep saying, “if you think I can help you, then let me help you, but if you don’t want my ideas, then I can’t help you.”
I have no idea what happened with the Social Media thing from last fall. They solicited me a lot before it started, but didn’t inquire when I quit going to the meetings, and although I know they found a new crew of people when the first round quit going for the most part, I haven’t heard anything about it since then.
All of that to say, the key to finding success in the Social Media area is to listen to the people who hire to help you navigate (or circumnavigate :wink:) your way through it.
Indiana has a NING site called “Smaller Indiana”:
http://www.smallerindiana.com
It has about 3000 members, mostly from Indianapolis, and has spawned a number of offline meets and projects. I think there is a legitimate question about how cities can exploit the local aspects of social networking to help facilitate cultural and economic exchanges and growth.
I can agree with that but after a visit to the jellybean I’m sure thats not the solution! could be wrong, but the site did nothing to keep me interested for more than about 17 seconds.
Do you think there’s any more hucksterism going on with social media “experts” when comparing to “experts” of other topics? I mean, you’re always going to have various levels of experiences and knowledge with any group of experts on any topic, right? I can’t imagine anyone out there would want to talk themselves down and claim that they’re not quite as good as the next guy or gal in their field.
Anyway, I agree that the loose definitions and general vagueness that surrounds “social media” and “social networking” has left a lot of people unsure of what’s actually going on out there.
And I think it could be worth noting whether or not someone’s expertise is in the technical site of these systems, or on the “soft skills” side of utilizing the tools to the greatest benefit (or those rare individuals who are great with both sides). Sort of the difference between a “Car Expert” who is a professional mechanic and “Car Expert” who is a professional driver. The title could be the same, but their range of knowledge would be quite different.
On a personal level, I feel like I’m sort of in the same boat as Lisa. I’ve never proclaimed myself to be an expert on Social Media, but have been invited to speak both publicly and privately with various groups, organizations, and companies simply because I’ve run a fairly successful website for a few years. Generally, most people don’t want to get into the technical side of Social Media, and they’re not looking to start a revolution. Most groups and businesses are really asking for lessons or overviews of Blogging 101 and Facebook 101. Which I’m always more than happy to assist with, but I always end up feeling a little silly about the public events when the title ends up making it sound as if there’s something deeper going on. Sometimes you just have to roll with it though, I guess.
I think the ambiguity that surrounds social media creates opportunities to exploit people’s lack of knowledge. Is this any different than other topics? I would say – yes. What makes it different is the volume of demand for that information. I can remember in the 90′s there was a glut of eBay Experts who peddled their expertise. Ironically, a lot of those experts had ever sold a thing on eBay.
I personally get a lot of requests for the same. Consulting/ assistance and speaking. “Can you help me with my viral marketing”. Social media is a significant component of the tactics I employ to make a living. That said, I would be hesitant to be paid to consult or speak on social media because of the fluid nature of the subject, techniques and lesser so, the technologies.
At least tactically and in a marketing capacity, social media is like a patient on life support. You must know what vitals you should be watching in the first place, you constantly have to be reading those vitals and you constantly have to be adjusting your tactics to keep things alive. Not an easy task. In contrast, I often hear or see social media being sold as a “low-cost” miracle cure. Experience Columbus I’m winking at you here. Anyhow, the point is – it’s hard. Building best practices and educating the business public is even harder, but necessary. I’m just poking some holes in the approach here.