4 Social Media User Types
▼Antisocial Media, Cancel Culture & Why You Should Quit If You Have No Strategy▼
Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It. ⬆ Images Hyperlinked ▼
I have a great African friend who reads this blog. And you can't find her online. Fulfilled, gainfully
employed, married — with children, pets, happy social life, etc. — when you google her, nothing
comes up. She has never needed Social Media. Yet some of us do. And I agree with Mitch Joel:
“Social Media, at its core, is about making whatever you are doing as shareable and findable
as possible. That's what makes it social. When I read your post I can tell...a very human
person who isn't just trying to bang out a blog post. There's something you saw, that
you thought about, that you really put into your perspective, that is really uniquely
you. You can sense those blog posts [and microblogs] from the people...trying to
bang out a ... post today, to keep their SEO in check. And it is pretty obvious,
you know. It may not be obvious to the average person. But it IS obvious.
There is something that I call the Gladwell Test: When I put something
out there, I ask myself: Is this something that someone like that —
would put out there??? I respect the process by which they pub-
blish. I respect THEIR respect of the new media & so, I often
often say to myself: Is what I'm producing of value to the
network? Or...clutter? — To...wave my hand and
say: “Look at me! I'm still here!” I write 6700-word
blog posts! I get it. I read long-form content
on the web. I'm the guy who likes 60 Minutes.
I am way more interested in reading...long
content on the New York Times than I
am...reading a bunch of Twitter [or
Mastodon] feeds. I'm different. I
get it. I know...” The majority?
Not nearly that self-aware!
That's why to differentiate
yourself, it helps to know
what it is — before
divorcing yourself
from the Social
Good luck!
Proceed,
below.
○ ○ ○
The 4 Social Media User Types
Cal Newport doesn't address it. But there are high-impact strategic business, personal, career, professional; institutional reasons to be on Social Media. And if you lack one, that's a reason to quit.
I personally have over 50. And what I've often called the Oprah-Bill Gates Reason alone is enough: Even billionaires and superstars need Social Media.
Steve Harvey famously addressed it. Google it.
As a prolific artist/tech creative, one sees people come and go.
Desperate for imaginary internet points, lacking purpose that adds value, seeking to manipulate trends, “most popular” lists and boards, and obsessed with fake metrics potheads, petty people and the sarcasm-dependent, become exhausted, frustrated, and bitter. And either keep their cool long enough, faking it, or eventually show their true colors.
I've seen them all. And the following comprise my 4 Social Media user types to watch out for:
There are alarmists with a business agenda. Professional liars trying to make a buck.
Hard to judge them.
Then there's the incurious, belligerent type.
Toxic. Trump-like. Don't develop themselves. Short attention span.
When they read, it's only headlines. Like a heat seeking missile seeking the most narcissistic, vile angle, they pick a tweet; image, and making it all about them, ignore the article, relevant links or subject matter altogether, only to shamelessly run off into rabbit holes.
Their presence on Social Media is why there's such a thing as anti-social media.
The same reason to quit unless you have a clear purpose for whatever platform consumes your time.
Often underinformed, misinformed, and easily disinformed vis-à-vis Russia, they live in a perpetual filter bubble. Lacking perspective yet blissfully unaware, their presence makes everything worse. Because half the time, they are not informed enough to even make sense of whatever is on their screens. And worse, their opinions only echo equally loud, opinionated, or ineducable members of a like-minded tribe. Take for instance #MeToo, TimesUp, and toxic cancel culture in general. Inluding:
It's irrelevant that I've fought for women all my life. Gloating doesn't help victims.
However, those of us who attended law school, and those with solid critical thinking skills understand that an allegation is NOT a fact. Lies come from any sex. Even animals lie.
We look at such movements and appreciate how easily they can be hijacked.
Alarmists don't even understand that having an opinion, signing up for a cause, or knowing someone who was allegedly raped, sexually assaulted, or sexually harassed doesn't mean parking one's critical reasoning skills.
Suffering from information disorder, they live in a world of Either/Or(s).
Either you side with them or you're the enemy. It's either #BernieOrBust. And we know how that turned out for democrats incapable of uniting in a spirit of pragmatism.
Some see a video like the one above, recognize President George W. Bush's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, call her “war criminal” and switch off.
A rational person by contrast, proceeds cautiously, knowing that:
Is there a mass shooting, a terrorist attack somewhere, a cyber attack, ransomware; toxic, divisive political rancor or need for a scapegoat?
Alarmists—previously, so-called journalists typically in new democracies in Africa and so-called Third World countries, but increasingly, America and elsewhere—specialize in over-hyping, fear-mongering, regurgitating and wallowing in petty, gossip, headline-grabbing unsubstantiated stories and problems however shortsighted the objective.
Divisive and desperate for ratings, more followers, subscribers, etc. alarmists agitate for drama.
Never solutions. Hence, whatever their influence, most alarmists are ultimately trolls.
Were time an infinite resource, I'd be OK with trolls and haters.
Click/tap here and below to learn how to spot and block them.
Otherwise, there's no point in tiptoeing around such people. Or even the Mute button, if you value both your time and yourself, — including your reputation for being authentic.
Authentic people don't Mute. Inauthentic people do.
Ruthlessly efficient and successful people who typically live by these 3 Rules, intuitively understand that haters and trolls comprise the 4 Toxic Personality Types, who don't get to define what IS important. Because they (preemptively) block them.
For further insight into my personal Unfollow/Block rule, click here.
At #iTHiNKLabs Research, we define useful information or high quality content as: “Useful, prescient, strategic, shareable content that may or may not AT FIRST appear relevant.
From Business, Startup, Tech, Security, to Career, Success, Health, even Humor, it covers the waterfront.” And the more hungry one is for genuine personal growth, the more useless they find hashtags, platforms and forums dedicated to negativity.
Useful information nourishes. Its loserville opposite, debases.
Useless information peddlers cater to spectators and aimless people, corrupting them more. Inoculate yourself from useless information peddlers. Click to watch Brendan. Or, Maria Shriver here.
...but fail.
See 47 Rules of Social Media, which includes The 10 Tweeting & Blogging Rules.
World's richest man and Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos frequently cites them as a warning to humanity.
They are the reason we have moderated blogs comments, private walls and profiles. Block them.
The latter is partly self-explanatory and is what I do, however imperfectly.
These are the people worth engaging with. And Seth Godin agrees.
I believe one is either nailing Social Media or failing. And those nailing it know a thing or two about the what Social Media Experts Never Tell Us: Part 1 and Part 2, as well as The 4th, recommended. As well as what Social Networking really is all about. And for that, we can all thank Mitch Joel.
Whatever your current level of success, this is where you want to be. assuming you have valid strategic reasons for not quitting yet.
Personally, my goal is to realize that personal, unspecified dream(s) that—like my great friend above—renders my need for Social Media null, EVENTUALLY.
Staying trapped in the Social Media matrix or consumed by digital vanity is a choice. But to each his own.
Happy to help or consult anytime. Proceed or finish below. Or engage/connect here.
5 Unforgivable Rules of Social Media
Strategic Social Networking Series
PEACE
TT
F I N I S
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