PR 101 – Weekly Rant #20 – More Social Media Rules
Jeff Cole | May 5, 2010There was a large readership, but not a lot of comments, on Monday’s blog covering what I feel are the rules of social media. I guess that means people agree with the rules I am proposing.
As I said Monday, every community needs rules. Otherwise, there is anarchy. No one can do anything is a community in that kind of atmosphere. Social media is no different.
So, here are some more divided by the applications I use most:
- So let’s talk about LinkedIn first –
- If I do not know you, do not ask me to endorse you. I have over 6,000 followers on LinkedIn, all good smart people. But there is no way I will ever know enough about most of these people to provide an endorsement. I enjoy interacting with them, but that’s not a basis for a recommendation.
- Join some groups on LinkedIn. That’s one of the best parts of the site, connecting with people who have similar interests. Once you are accepted into a group, don’t be a lurker. Comment on discussions and start discussions of your own. It’s how we all learn.
- Speaking of groups, if I don’t accept your invitation to join a group, it means I don’t want to. Don’t keep sending invitations.
- If someone sends you an invitation, and you do not want to accept, do not IDK them. Archive the invitation. As I understand it, if a person accumulates enough IDKs they are banned from LinkedIn. So be nice.
- Now Twitter –
- No one is saying you have to tweet 30 times a day, but once or twice a day is nice. Why else are you on there if you don’t tweet?
- Retweet tweets you like. It is just common courtesy, plus it helps spread the word.
- This is a personal one, but I do not like people who use bots to increase their follower numbers. I have almost 8,500 followers, but I did it organically, one at-a-time. So don’t send me tweets saying you have a program that increases my followers. This is not high school; the person with the most followers doesn’t win.
- If you post a blog or something else, tweet about once. That tells everyone that it is out there. That’s okay. But only tweet once. Anything more than that is like ringing the doorbell 20 times in a row.
- Don’t use auto tweets. I was guilty of this myself last year. It is wrong and I stopped doing it. It is just not honest.
- Do not send me any tweets about multi-level marketing schemes. I don’t believe you and I will never will.
- Facebook. I admit I have some issues with Facebook. I think there is way too much extraneous stuff on it. Frankly, I think marketing attempts get lost in the thicket of Farmville, Mafia Games and other stuff.
- Now, I admit I have taken a couple of quizzes on Facebook. But, it was my decision. I do not play Farmville or Mafia games. I worked on a dairy farm as a kid. It is not anything like that game. For one, you do not get manure all over yourself and the cows don’t kick.
- As for the Mafia Wars game, I covered the Mafia a lot as a reporter. Not a nice group of people, frankly. I hate it when people glamorize a group that killed people. I have never understood the appeal. What’s next, Al Qaeda Wars? So, don’t ask me to play.
- Do not create a fan page of yourself and then ask others to become your fan. Remember that rule about not thumping your own chest in social media? Well, this is the penultimate example. To me, it is egotistical and narcissistic. You build fans by demonstrating value, not by asking.
I could write an entire blog about the dos and don’ts of blogging. I have been at it for over year. I think I will cover it next week.
Again, if you like or don’t like these rules, please let me know.
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Hi Jeff –
I was waiting for your follow-up piece before I responded. I wanted to make sure I understood where you were coming from before I admitted to disagreeing with you.
To be honest, as I read through your “rules” I felt like the piece should have been appropriately titled “things I don’t like.” Now, I will admit, a lot of the “rules” that you discuss I do not like as well. I absolutely hate when people spam me but unfortunately, spam is in the eye of the beholder. You talk about filling up inboxes but my clients and I have been accused of the naughty “S” word for simply posting multiple times to the same group. For some people I can see how this would constitute spam but for people like me and you (I’ve seen you name repeated several times in LinkedIn groups) it is simply viewed as providing value.
And there in lies the problem with your “rules;” there is no black and white. You can talk all day about what you do or do not like and I may agree 100% with you but that does not make it a rule. You stated that a community needs rules or else it will slide into anarchy. The beauty of social media is that it is a true democracy in the sense that if people decide your message is inappropriate, it will be ignored. Any other guidance needed is bestowed upon us by the likes of the FTC or the executives at your social media platform of choice.
My point is that, while I understand being irked by the way people use social media, it does not mean it breaks a rule. The fact of the matter is that someone may break one of your “rules” but be completely acceptable in my “rule” book. And there in lies the value of social media. We can pick and choose how, when and why we communicate with someone. If a marketer does not use a form we like, we ignore them. If enough people ignore them, they fail in their attempt. You may call their failure a breaking of a “rule” but I have seen plenty of “rules” broken with great success and plenty of immaculate campaigns that end in failure.
While you talk about the great wealth of connections that you have been able to acquire via social media, I like to talk about the breadth and depth of different companies that we have worked with. It has been over the course of working with those companies that I have found no steadfast rules. If your network has provided you with a different world view, I am very interested in learning who else adheres to, monitors and enforces your rules.
I honestly greatly respect what you are doing but do respectfully disagree with your opinion.
Thank you for breaching the topic,
Kyle Blades
Jeff, love your rules! so wanted to comment. I will be referencing them in my classes and giving you props. My favorite comment you made was simple. Social Media is a community and every community needs rules! (something like that!)
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
These rules seem self evident, but they are likely new to many, as social media yet is an unknown country to most. Maybe that explains the lack of comments.
Of course they are things I don’t like. The basis of all law in human society is something somebody didn’t like. I am not saying I am Solon or James Madison. These are just things I think people should do.
As with Kyle I agree and disagree with your rules. I have been looking around your site and have very much enjoyed my stay; however, I would not have found this site but not for you Linked In post inviting me here. To some, that would be considered spam. You were not presenting a topic for discussion about fiction writing, you were asking people to come receive the service you are offering.
My point is, although I agree there could be some rules on social media sites, I don’t think your list should be the starting point. I have no problem hitting the delete button or skipping over a post that is obviously of no interest to me. Do not stifle the freedom of speech, the government is already doing enough of that now.
Great blog otherwise, I will be back for a visit or two
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[...] billet fut en partie inspiré du billet “PR 101: More Social Media Rules” de Jeff Cole ainsi que c’autres billets publier dans le passé, certains inspiré de billets [...]