Expert Noise
I make a living off of social networking. My entire job and the creation of my company is to ensure that people can connect online with other people. Sure, I work primarily in the music industry, but the concept has spread like wildfire. A few years ago it wasn’t happening and now it is more than ever. So what’s the problem? Isn’t this what you wanted?
Here’s my current struggle.
With Social Networking blowing up the way it has, the platform for the ‘expert’ has literally spread to even the most shaded parts of the internet. I can’t even look at my computer without being given some five-point plan on how to become as awesome as the person writing it. Five points to being a better husband, five points to being a better boss, five points to being a better social networker, five points to writing better five point lists. Everyone is an expert. And it instantly makes no one an expert. Just another noisemaker.
And here’s the thing. It’s really not that I want to be considered an ‘expert’ with the rest of them, because I’m not. I’m really bad at putting bullet point lists together and I don’t really care if anyone thinks what I am doing is the best way or not. Here’s the part that jacks me up. Because of all the noise and the details of my job, it’s become increasingly important that I pay attention to all these social networking strategies. To survive I need to be ahead of the ‘experts’. I need to dig deeper, know more, execute faster and succeed loudest. Frick. No pressure huh?
When I started this thing, very few were on the social networking train. Twitter was still in diapers and blogging was for action figure collectors. So there weren’t the ‘experts’ forcing their ways into my phone, email and web pages telling me what I needed to keep up with. And I could handle it. I could focus on things that needed to be executed and made sure they were done well. With the increase of ‘experts’ out there, I’ve noticed a huge stress in my life to “keep up” which I think only hurts the end product. Not so expert.
I recently downloaded Twittelator Pro for one very specific reason. The mute feature. I like following people and checking in on people, but I realized I simply can’t handle all the ‘expert’ noise out there. I can’t do it. I can’t keep up with everything that everyone thinks I should be doing. What I can do is keep my head down and work as hard as I can to do the very best I possibly can for the artists that we work with.
So for now, I’m working on that. I’m working on getting these ‘experts’ out of my head and off my phone, and I’m working on doing the best I can for the people I need to. And I don’t need to prove to you I’m an expert to do that.
So let’s hear it, anyone else notice an huge increase in your life’s expectation since the ‘social networking boom’?
I feel like my entire life has been ramped up because of the so called experts.
You know you read peoples stuff you follow their ideas and you read their tweets and you really doubt yourself and what you are doing. You ask questions like why can’t i be that creative, why can’t I get that big of a response, and then you start playing the comparison game.
After a while I had to call it quits and stop comparing myself to others and just do what i do.
That is how I got out of the noise of the experts.
Yes they are experts but they are a unique individual who found success doing it a certain way. But it does not mean that if you copy them you will have the same success. Truly it comes down to you going out and creating and doing your thing. You become the expert when you focus on your own stuff. Because only you can do what you do.
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for myself, i’ve found that i feel (self-imposed) pressure to not be the last guy who is doing X when it comes to our church’s web presence.
don’t be the last guy to have mobile video…don’t be the last guy to have email newsletters…whatever.
for my job (which i love), it’s less about social networking and more about just internet whatever.
and i probably need to stop thinking that everything is a race when it comes to this stuff.
little different that what you were talking about, but feels sorta the same way to me.
I think that’s exactly what I’m talking about. The race to be the first has killed the quality of what’s being done.
If you had asked me 2 years ago what twitter was, what ustream was, or even what life on the road is like, I would have said, poo! I’m too old for any of that!
At first, I wanted to do it all! All those suggestions you threw out there. Because I considered you to be the one with all the “cool” ideas. I believe too many people jumped on the social network bandwagon and that some (ok, a lot) of those wagons dun took the wrong fork in the road!!
Sometimes it’s hard to cut out the noise. I am one of those people who, at first, only sticks her toe in the pool. To test it out. Then the foot, etc. There is so much out there!! I look to people like you, who have these ideas, and actually looks for feedback. And adjusts according to that feedback. You still have that core group from 2 years ago.
You know where I “hear” the noise the most?? In the chat room. When it’s time for bands like FF5 to perform!! This year it will be TFK! Although, I actually like some of their music. And I found a guy on the RAWRS fb page that is 35 miles from me! Maybe a new roadtrip friend!! Brought together by some of what you do! Sometimes ya just gotta put those filters on!
Hi Brody, to answer your question in brevity, yes. Great post and direction as usual – sets you apart for good!