I feel it is time to write a quick post in defense of my craft.
There are some professions that draw ire and vitriol from everyone: car salesman, politicians, lawyers, insurance salesman. I would add “social media professional” to that list as well.
I have seen innumerable tweets, blog posts, and videos that all decry the so-called “social media expert” or anyone working in social media as hacks who know nothing about their craft and are trying to brand themselves as being professionals in a domain which they do not really understand. Much of the objection and hatred is pointed at the fact that several people who brand themselves as social media professionals do not have any formal training in social media, do not really engage in social media for any reason other than building their brand, and, most importantly, do not actually work in social media as their primary profession.
I, Sameer Vasta, am a social media professional.
I realize that this is not a popular thing to say. I realize that social media professionals are just as loathed as PR professionals in some circles. I also realize, however, that painting everyone that makes their living around propogating the use and adoption of collaborative web technologies as useless hacks because of the actions of a few is ignorant and baseless.
Like me, most people working with social media love their craft and feel like they add value to what they do, beyond all the hype. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself.
First, my primary profession involves, and has involved for some time, advising organizations how to adopt new and emerging web technologies in order to make their work easier, more effective, more productive, more transparent, and more collaborative. This is not social media marketing (and the fact that social media has now become almost synonymous with marketing makes me shudder) and it is definitely not social media posturing. It involves the study of organizational structure, organizational culture, and patterns of human communication. It involves extensive audits of current communications channels, alignment with organizational mandates and visions, monitoring of measurable outcomes and indicators, and research on web tools and techniques that fit into corporate culture.
This is not a case of telling my clients to start a blog or tell them to start Twittering. In fact, most often, it is telling them why devoting resources to creating and maintaining a Facebook fan page may not be the best idea; that pushing your news feed to Twitter but failing to engage in a human way may be more of a reputational risk than not having a Twitter account. It is about creating strategies for listening and engagement, and about empowering individuals in organizations to see the value in conversation online.
Second, my educational background has, and continues to, guide my work. When I was in school, studying online engagement wasn’t an option. Instead, I studied social and cultural anthropology, with a research focus on the intersection between technology, community, and popular culture. I went on to pursue a graduate certificate in corporate communications (granted, I didn’t finish that certificate and opted to enter the workforce) and subsequently spent time working in user experience, interaction design, copywriting, and community building.
Those things aside, I think the biggest problem most people on the web have with social media professionals is that there seems to be a lot of talk — people using tools to build their personal brands as social media “experts” (the use of that term makes me shudder) — and very little action. For those of you that have that concern, I’d recommend you look away from the people talking about social media online and look at the people doing great things using new forms of communication and collaboration.
Maybe writing this post makes me a new media douchebag. Maybe the fact that I’m talking about social media on this site (something I rarely do because it is not my primary objective here) makes me one of those people that postures instead of acts and that everyone hates.
That’s a risk I’m taking. Somebody needs to speak up and defend those of us that really care about new forms of communication, really care about helping organizations listen and engage with their stakeholders.
My accountant once told me that he sometimes pretends he’s an architect when he meets new people, because so many people hate accountants. I don’t want to have to pretend I’m an architect when I meet people just because a few bad seeds are soiling the reputation of my entire profession.
In times of economic downturn and financial hardship, organizations downsize and consolidate in order to save money.
Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to reflect upon the things I love and how I want to spend more time doing those things. While some of the things I love happen online, many, many do not.
In order to save time — to spend my limited resources more wisely — I am downsizing. Consolidating.
New portfolio.
From today onwards, if you want to follow any of my blogs, please subscribe or visit the following places:
I Tell Stories My principal weblog where I share stories, insights, and thoughts on the way we interact with each other, the way we interact with the world, and the way we interact with our own personal ups and downs in life. And also other fun stuff that has been playing on repeat in my mind. (Subscribe to the feed here.)
Squandrous My playground, my tumblelog where I share links, images, photos and text that inspire me and make me think. Also, a dumping ground for half-baked thoughts and comments which may or may not eventually turn into full posts on I Tell Stories. A wondrous way to squander your time. (Subscribe to the feed here.)
Of Public Interest My joint project with Darren Chartier: a podcast about public governance in the age of participation. We update it once a week, and most of the time, it’s just us chatting about things we read or things that interest us when it comes to the social web and public institutions. (Subscribe to the feed here.Subscribe on iTunes here.)
You may have noticed that I have abandoned Feedburner as my RSS feed service. There are many reasons for this, but if you are still subscribed to a Feedburner feed, please do renew your subscriptions as they will be expiring shortly. Thank you, and sorry for the inconvenience.
Supporting cast.
You can still find me at a bevy of other social services out on the web, but I’ll only really be active (to varying degrees) on a select few:
The web is a great tool for discovery, and an even better tool for sharing. In that light, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite sites on the web I’ve discovered this year — sites that I hope will pique your interest as well:
The Big Picture: I’ve always been a huge fan of photography, and this site is not only a remarkable showcase of photos, but an excellent site for visual news reporting as well.
Swiss Miss: I’m not sure why I hadn’t discovered this site before, but if you’re looking for links to all sorts of well-designed fun things, Tina’s site should be your first stop.
Blank is Like Blank: Obscure similes and metaphors make me smile, especially when they’re also funny. This site hasn’t been updated in a few months, but browse the archives, there’s a lot of gems in there.
Textism: I used to read Dean Allen’s site a few years ago before it disappeared. This year, it came back, and the content is just as beautiful as the minimal design.
The Art of the Title: A great title sequence design has always been the first sign of a good movie or television show. This site showcases some of the best title art out there. Design geeks everywhere rejoice.
1001 Rules for my Unborn Son: You may not agree with all of them (though I do agree with most) but this list of rules and accompanying photos and quotes is definitely an excellent conversation starter.
Give Me Something To Read: There’s a lot of information out there on the web, hidden in well-written but hard-to-find articles. If you’re ever stuck in front of your screen, looking for some mental nourishment, this site presents five or six links each day to some of the best writing on the internet.
That’s a quick look at some of the sites I discovered this year (check out last year’s list for the sites I discovered in 2007) that have kept me entertained over the past twelve months. Have some suggestions for new sites I’m not visiting just yet and might make it on to my 2009 list? Leave them in the comments!
Some days I pretend that Nora Young and I are best friends. And that Jesse Brown and I hang out at pubs together, and I go to concerts with Tariq Hussain.
Then, I wake up and thank god for the CBC.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is one of the best public broadcasters in the world, and they’re also one of the most important bastions of Canadian content on television, radio, and the web.
What many people don’t realize is that CBC Radio, an oft-forgotten part of the broadcaster’s arsenal, is a shining example of the variety, breadth, depth, and quality of CanCon and equally represents the diversity of the Canadian population.
Saving Canadian Content
There is no shortage of amazing shows on CBC Radio, appealing to people with varying interests: contemporary and classical music, technology, literature, current events, humor, and more. CBC podcasts are among the most downloaded episodes in the entire iTunes catalog.
So why is the Canadian government even considering cutting funding to one of the most interesting and valuable parts of Canadian culture?
In a time where the CRTC is increasingly concerned about new media and the preservation of Canadian content, why would the government choose to cut funding to a broadcaster that is actively using new media to push quality Canadian programming — and one that has already proven successful at using the web to engage people around the world with Canadian issues and debates?
Listening to Quality
I’ll leave you with those questions — to be honest, I don’t have much of an answer. In the meantime, if you’re not already listening to CBC podcasts, here’s a few that I particularly enjoy:
Search Engine: All about the internet. And stuff related to the internet. Which is almost everything.
Spark: Technology, culture and everything in between. Including some recent awesome guest spots by Merlin Mann.
Radio 3 Sessions: Live recordings by Canada’s busiest and best independent artists.
Best of Ideas: A podcast about ideas. Because people ideas can change the world, and perhaps, are the only ones that ever have.
Best of The Current: If it’s relevant and current and affects you and your daily life, it’s going to be on this podcast.
That’s just a small sampler of all the amazing programming available on the CBC.
Do you have any particular CBC shows, podcasts, or memories that stand out for you?
This week, supporters of the open data movement celebrated a major victory in Toronto, as Mayor David Miller announced that not only would the City release all its transit data to Google Transit by mid-2009, but that the City of Toronto would explore options to “open source everything” that it does.
The announcement was made at the City of Toronto Web 2.0 Summit, which started off as an extremely frustrating exercise because the morning featured a panel by city councillors that had no clue what they were talking about. I’m glad I suffered through the panel and stuck around, because Mark Surman’s luncheon keynote was exactly what the mayor (and the rest of the city) needed to hear.
Mark’s presentation is embedded below, but I do recommend you all to visit his post so you can listen to the audio of his presentation as well — not only because he gave me a shout out, but also because he’s remarkably engaging. His keynote obviously made an impact on the mayor, who made his bold promises based on the challenges that Mark outlined during the talk.
Torontoist has a great breakdown of the Summit, but for some more insight into building a better Toronto through participation on the open web, check out some of the posts by some of the luminaries of the Toronto web community.
The moment was the culmination of a lot of our hopes and dreams for a city that understands the power of open, the meaning of participation and a signal of a more effective and responsive government of and for the people of Toronto. Will Pate and I have offered our assistance to make this vision a reality and we hope others will join us.
Some kind of “next steps” to keep moving the discussion and planning forward and encourage participation — there are, as we saw at the event, a lot of talented individuals inside the government who could easily be the point persons to manage something like a wiki (which if the two days had included workshops or similar direct participation could have been frameworked) to solicit ideas and keep the citizens who wanted to engage and share informed of what was on the agenda (and recruit organically from their local circles - build momentum). It’s a challenge of course to coordinate in government, but “idea labs” are something that should be on the radar.
So I ask, what do you think about the premise, the conversation, and do you want to participate in this conversation (or maybe you are already having it)? A couple of us have floated the idea of having a conversation at MaRS the morning of Dec. 11th.
Toronto has always been a hotbed for web-savvy people that are engaged in civic issues (see Metronauts, SustainabilityCamp, OpenCities, OneBigLibrary, etc.) and it’s great to know that the City is now committed to listening to those people.
There are exciting times ahead for this city, and I’m glad that I’ve been invited to be a small part of the excitement ahead.
A recurring complaint: “there’s too much content out there on the web and it’s impossible to go through it all and find all the good stuff, so there’s no point in trying.”
If that sounds like you, here’s some advice: stop consuming and start creating.
If you can’t find good stuff, make it.
The 90-9-1 Principle says that only 1% of all users in any online community actually create content. The rest only consume content or occasionally edit existing content.
You can join that 1% at the top of the pyramid. You should join that 1% of content creators.
Creating content is good for you. It makes you think critically and creatively. If you create good content, you’re more likely to find and consume good content as well.
You don’t need to know how to write well or produce professional video. You don’t need to make a killer web application or change the way people think. All you have to do is commit yourself to creation, and commit yourself to creating things of value. The rest is up to you.
Preaching to the choir?
Maybe you know all of this. I’d argue that most people reading this blog are already avid content creators, or are at least working towards that goal. So here’s a better question for you:
How are you encouraging others to create and add value?
Are you visiting lesser-known blogs and leaving insightful and encouraging comments? Are you contacting the creators of your favorite freeware applications and telling them how much you appreciate their work (and maybe send them a few bucks)? Are you helping your less web-savvy friends post their amazing illustrations online?
Everyone has the potential to create, and create great things. We all need to encourage people who are willing to take that potential and turn it into action.
Are you creating? If you are, then are you also helping others create?
I’m ducking out of town for a few days, and will be otherwise preoccupied for a few more — not much time for blogging until Monday or Tuesday.
I do, however, have a lot of neat links sitting in my proverbial shopping cart, and I wanted to share them with you before I ran off.
Time to empty my cart.
Instant Photo Frame: A photo frame that’s cheap, easy to assemble, and looks like a Polaroid? I’m sold. Anyone want to get me one for Christmas?
The blogosphere is alive, well and kicking: Despite the fact that he uses the term “Blogging 2.0” and using almost anything “2.0” makes you lose a ton of credibility in my book these days, Duncan Riley has a point. Blogging isn’t dead, it’s just that the verb “to blog” is dead because the blurring of boundaries.
Um, don’t blog, or something: I’m not sure how this whole “blogging is dead” meme started, but Zeldman says it best when he asks, “when do we stop reducing the web to a vulgar and trivial competition between head boys, and start appreciating it as a maturing medium for real thought and expression?”
5 Additional Contacts Every Web Worker Should Have: From experience, I know for a fact that it is almost impossible to be a freelance web consultant without having someone around to take care of your legal paperwork and your finances. And if you’re working in web communications, you don’t want to worry about the technical stuff all the time — hire someone to manage your hosts, servers, development, etc.
What The F**K is Social Media? One of the best presentations on social media and its importance to companies and organizations I have ever seen. Humorous, and directly on point.
Flip Mino HD: Yeah, I’ve got a video camera. Yeah, I don’t need a Flip Mino. But hey, it’s a pretty camera, it’s small, and it’s HD. Guess what I’m buying myself for Christmas?
When Books Could Change Your Life: The two best books I ever read, I read before the age of twelve. Turns out, according to this article, some of the most important books we’ll ever read in our lives will be read before we hit the heart of adolescence.
Why Can’t Johnny Jump Tall Buildings? I’ve been thinking a lot about parenting these days (don’t ask) and one thing I remember growing up was my dad’s insistence that I can do better, no matter what I did. He was right, but it’s interesting to read articles about high parental expectations and compare them to my dad’s high expectations, which I think actually helped me in my development.
GOP should ask why U.S. is on the wrong track: I’m no Republican, but every time I hear Ron Paul speak or read something he’s written, I gain more and more respect for the man. I may not agree with everything he says, but I have to acknowledge his political acuity and deep interest in making the country a better place.
Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence: Chris Brogan gets it right again. “Not every employee needs a blog, and not every employee should be outward facing from a web perspective. But the folks who have jobs that put them in contact with people like me? I think you need a web presence, please.”
Oh, and before I go: KVETCH IS BACK! Now, it’s powered by Twitter. Awesome.
Alright, I’ve dumped out my shopping cart for now, time to check out. See you all in a few days.
A few thoughts I threw together based on the questions I asked two days ago and your answers. Obviously, this is a lot of big-picture kind of thinking and a lot more thought needs to be put into the details, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I’ve got so far.
I recorded this after three straight days of traveling trying to get home from Mauritius — stuck in planes and airports — so my apologies if my voice is a little raspy. You might have to turn the volume up a bit. Okay, a lot.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your insight. I’ll pass along more information about the reason I embarked on this project in a few weeks.
I’m in the process of applying for a small work gig and they’ve come back with a few questions for me. I was wondering if any of you had any insight that you can share on the following questions:
What do you foresee the most “socially-successful” institutions will be doing with their users/web presence in 5/10 years?
What could be done in the space of 1-2 years to see overwhelmingly positive results from a social media strategy? What could backfire?
How would you go about convincing an overworked researcher that using social media is a good idea?
Can’t really share too much context right now, but if you have some thoughts please email me or leave me a comment on this post. I’ll email you back and give you more information personally.
Thank you so much for your help. Looking forward to your insights!
We all hear horror stories about bad PR professionals annoying bloggers by their untargeted pitches, and complaining about PR seems to be something everyone has to do at least once in their blogging life cycle. I get a ton of pitches and press releases (mainly film-related) from PR and marketing professionals. At least 95% of them are useless or poorly-targeted.
Today, I’m not here to complain about bad PR pitches.
I’m here to commend and celebrate someone that gets it right. That person is Darren Barefoot.
Darren is the “head geek” and founder of Capulet Communications, a Vancouver-based PR firm that understands how content creators on the web think. I’ve had a few chances to interact with Darren with regards to events or clients he has been promoting, and each pitch I’ve received from him has been personally tailored to my interests and the ideas I interact with on a daily basis.
He’s able to do this because Darren reads my blog and follows me on Twitter. From that, he’s able to understand what makes me tick, and more importantly, what intrigues me. Instead of getting pitched on things that have no relevance to me at all, Darren’s able to feed me information on issues, events, and companies that pique my interest — and more importantly, is able to wrap that information in a personal context.
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