We are all people … we have emotions, motivations, body odors, and a history. Some of us are funny, some of us are deep thinkers, and some of us just want to have fun. The bottom line is that when you peel back the layers, none of us are really corporate drones, regardless how the workday may sometimes feel. Making it personal is what matters.
Reg Saddler (@zaibatsu) Conversation
I had the pleasure early this morning (just after midnight) of receiving a telephone call from Reg Saddler(@zaibatsu). We talked for over two hours. I was very honored to speak with Reg, as he is a true master in the marketing industry. In our talks, a lot was more about fun stuff, like a plan to entertain you all with a road rally Webcast (as I did with CopMagnet.com). One thing that really sticks out is that Reg said “Most people do not even know what I do for a living.” Coming from a true Internet marketing master, this emphasizes this message that “I”, “me”, and “my” are not what drives success. Now I want to speak favorably about Reg Saddler as a person, and if that is not how to reach people, I do not know what is.
I, Me and My Don’t Belong in Social Networks
Now that companies have made their peace with their best assets, the people, they encourage their employees to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all of the latest social networking tools. The hardships lie in their use, and a lack of understanding that promoting an agenda is not a suitable part of social media / social networking. I have heard it described as shouting out your sales pitch at a cocktail party. That is not an image of success, and it will not create success.
These are just my thoughts … and I am just one guy. But when it comes to social networking, the agenda of serving yourself only magnifies a disturbance that likely exists in other aspects of ones life. If you live your life bugging people to hear all about “I”, “me”, and “my”, you may be well reminded of why you have two ears and only one mouth.
Why Social Networking Started: In Summary
Let’s look at why social networking became commercialized. For a time, the Internet seemed very impersonal. It was like a contest to see which corporation could have the fanciest Website with the most views. The public went with that for a while, but it eventually only emphasized the absurd big bucks corporate mentality bred in the 1990s. You may remember the visions of the Silicon Valley executive taking his pick of ladies in line at the hottest nightclub after driving up in a Ferrari. It was like a Hollywood red carpet frenzy. The image of a company was more important than the real assets … the individuals. The passion to create a big corporate image was worthy of ridicule, just as much as the buzzards on Wall Street are in 2009. Fortunately, the culture has changed, and we see the errors of those ways.
As the Internet matured, and as people became tired of clicking around for precious minutes just to find a phone number to call the huge dot com, then wade through “press 7 to hold” hell, and finally reach a corporate drone, companies somehow found a better resource in the uniqueness of each of us as individuals. It finally made sense to personalize the Internet and quit trying to imply that computers could replace real people.
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