I LOVE people who “don’t get it”
April 17th, 2008 |
Spend an hour browsing blogs or watching the conversation on Twitter, and you will inevitably hear some derisive comments about someone who “doesn’t get it.” You see, in order to be cool, you need to “get” social media, and all that it implies, immediately, which is of course impossible.
Forget the digital natives vs. digital immigrants argument. NO ONE was born into blogging. Blogging has been around for a while, but has really only taken off since 2005. You would have to be three years old this year to be a blogging native. So if you’re between the ages of four and 100, you are in the same class when it comes to blogging. It sucks, doesn’t it?
The whole “getting it” meme has always been useful for elitists. It’s an update on the “Come on daddy-o! Get with it!” message of 1950s teen movies, in which of course the implication is that no way Daddy-O is going to get with it.
Social media guru
I gave a social media presentation at a PR conference and was asked, in complete seriousness, “what is a blog?” What an awesome question! And what courage to ask it, knowing the potential for ostracism. I’m sure many social media neophytes in the room learned more from the ensuing discussion than from a lofty philosophical debate on authenticity or “joining the conversation.”
The term “social media,” implies some kind of inclusiveness. If you see the world strictly along “gets it” and “doesn’t get it” lines, you’re missing lots of opportunities, and you’re definitely not an authority on social media.
| Sphere This |
Joel —
THANKS for this! Just the other day I was thinking, “Wow, ’social media’ is turning out to be just another way to marginalize people. Sure doesn’t sound too social to me.”
It’s funny. I’ve been using the Internet to talk (and listen) to strangers about everything form c-band satelliite receivers and cable conditional access (all through Usenet), to bike builds and components (primarily through forums) for more than 10 years and I still feel like “I don’t get it.”
It’s the Internet, it’s word of mouth, it’s assessing a product or solution’s potential benefit based on first-hand accounts, it’s seeing ride reports from all over the world…but it’s not a blog. Nor does this process have a shiny name to atttract the VC magpies. Ergo, it doesn’t count as “social media” in the eyes of many.
Enough — back to honda-tech.com, roadbikereview.com, ba.bicycles and rec.bicycles.tech.
Comment by Sue Radd — April 17, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
Too many of the Social Media Elite are chasing each other to be at the head of the bleeding edge.
No one wants to take the time to simply explain this stuff to the people just now taking an interest.
It’s unintentional cliquery. And it’s no less insidious than any other prejudice you live but aren’t aware of.
Comment by Ike — April 17, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
Joel, that’s so true — it is elitism. It’s been bugging me a lot lately why the community isn’t spending more time trying to interpret Social Media to the rest of the gen. pop. rather than fighting for rank.
I actually wrote a post on this topic not too long ago, feel free to join in the discussion: http://tinyurl.com/36dnvj
Thanks Ike for the heads up on the post!
Comment by Shey — April 17, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Very true. Granted mainstream blogging has been around for longer than 3 years (if you count LiveJournal and services like that), blogs are becoming a source of valid news and information instead of teenage girls discussing how unfair their parents are
It did seem to come out of nowhere. I’m not one to tout the elitist “they don’t get it” philosophy, but I’ve seen it around campus and its like hey guys: welcome to the business world. Play nice or hire a great lawyer.
Comment by Brittany — April 17, 2008 @ 11:14 pm
Joel,
I think that “getting it” is exactly what you outlined here. “Getting it” is participating, experimenting and allowing others the same freedom; and actually helping others.
Most of all, I think “getting it” is realizing that social media is a complex system where nobody can “get” everything.
Comment by Rick Weiss — April 17, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
I think you’re both right and.. well maybe being too hard on the folks who might say “so and so doesn’t get it.” I mean there is a kind of spirit to this stuff, and until you’ve kind of “got the spirt,” do you get it? I mean.. I don’t think that’s really elitism to say.. its more like expressing a feeling.. to put it a certain way.
Which is not to say that there’s not a lot of people who are very elitist about there social media, and who’s in the in crowd and who’s not… But I really can’t say too much about that, as those are generally not the folks I’m following..
Knock on wood.. everyone whom I’ve really met through social media has been very very cool.. I even have friends who “don’t get it” whom I’m trying to help “get it,” so I drag them to meet ups and what not.. and people are even good them..
I kinda think its more a question of some people being dicks, and others not.
Comment by matt searles — April 18, 2008 @ 12:07 am
Great post, thank you. I found your link through Shey Smith’s blog. I agree with what you are saying, most people aren’t necessarily interested in the details, they just want to know if, after breaking it all down, it applies / benefits them in some way.
Good stuff.
Comment by J. Phil — April 18, 2008 @ 12:17 am
Appreciate all the great comments. Definitely a wide range of meanings to the expression “getting it” that I failed to factor in this brief post. “Getting it” can mean anything from understanding a joke – get it? – to being totally lame – you just don’t get it! It’s like “dude.” It can mean a hundred things depending on context and inflection.
The social media world (whatever that is) is not-quite-a-microcosm of the real world, but like any large population, has its share of genuinely nice people, losers, opportunists, leaders, saints and sinners.
Matt, I really like your comment about “getting it” pertaining to the spirit of social media. It’s not hard to get. It comes naturally to some people, others require time and patience, and still others will never make the jump. I think you have to be open-minded and a little fearless. I’ve coaxed friends to try Twitter and Facebook, and I’ve coached CEOs to publish their first blog posts. “Going social” may some day be added to the lists we’ve all seen of most traumatic life events, at the top of which “public speaking” currently resides.
Comment by joel — April 18, 2008 @ 12:29 am
[...] Why I LOVE people who “don’t get it” – If you feel more excluded than included when you hear the term social media, Socialized’s Joel Postman has a reassuring post for you. (While we’re on the subject of TV, that’s a picture of Maynard G. Krebs, not Gilligan). [...]
Pingback by Valley PR Blog's Weekend Reading for 04-18-08 | Valley PR Blog — April 18, 2008 @ 2:17 am
I agree with the previous comment on that social media (and a lot of other things in life for that matter) come naturally for some, whereas others have to struggle.
When it all comes down to it, social media is after all, just like in real life, a reciprocal relationship between individuals. One can’t just stumble up on Twitter and start spamming with self-promoting propaganda. That would sort of be the equivalent of stumbling in to a restaurant and pushing flyers in people’s faces, no?
Social media platforms are designed to appeal to the masses so the threshold for entry is low and is designed for the “common man” to understand. Why some people have a hard time “getting it” is because they fail to realize the etiquette and finess involved in socializing using these new means of communication.
The simply don’t know how to interact and ultimately drown and give up thanks to the gradually increasing ambiguity in HOW to actually interact and behave.
To me, that’s what “getting it” is about.
Comment by Alex Drewniak — April 18, 2008 @ 2:30 am
Joel, thanks for this post. I’ve been blogging privately for a long time but about to make the crossover to a public blog and it’s scary — I am overthinking it instead of just starting to write.Your post was a good reminder to just get out there and not worry so much about whether I’m doing it “the right way.” I can refine it as I go.
Comment by Lara Kretler — April 18, 2008 @ 8:42 am
This post really put me at ease.
I just started testing the waters of social media and was beyond terrified when one of my professors asked the class to put up their own blog.
What scared me the most was the fact that I didn’t really know what I was getting into and what I was doing. I didn’t get it.
Cearly I’m not an expert, but I think social media should be approached like any other practice - by watching, listening, learning and applying.
Thanks for the post Joel….I will no longer be afraid to say I don’t completely “get” something =)
Comment by Maricel Dicion — April 23, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
[...] Why I LOVE people who “don’t get it” – If you feel more excluded than included when you hear the term social media, Socialized’s Joel Postman has a reassuring post for you. (While we’re on the subject of TV, that’s a picture of Maynard G. Krebs, not Gilligan). [...]
Pingback by Valley PR Blog » Blog Archive » Valley PR Blog’s Weekend Reading for 04-18-08 — May 29, 2008 @ 7:08 pm