Happy Hour is Cancelled.

06 Aug Happy Hour is Cancelled.

Happy Hour is Cancelled.

What if your 'best friend' won't tell you?

It's been hard-wired since the stone age.  Our need to connect, to interact and to feel included.

And the more you have that feeling of 'friendship', the harder it is to lose it.

Life seems better. More fulfilled and inspiring.

But it's hard to take a step back and view the situation when you're so immersed in it.

So, like a 'best friend' giving you tough love, let's not hesitate.

Social Media is intoxicating - so happy hour is cancelled.

Facebook has stolen your time and, more importantly, your ability to produce quality work.

The business content most prominent on Facebook could have been produced by a six year old on their smartphone.  Not by you, of course.  But certainly by the ever-dwindling number of UK subscribers.

It has a shelf-life of hours. Minutes in some cases.

And their 'carefully crafted' post?  There's no guarantee that their 'friends' are even going to see it.

And if they do, are they accruing a network of clients that don't care to learn about the work and the process, but simply require instant gratification?

I'll frame the debate - You decide.

Computer scientist,Cal Newport has to say on his TEDx talk:

• Better off & more successful without social media.
• Social Media is simply unsavoury, addictive entertainment, not a fundamental technology.
• What the market values are activities that are rare, valuable & meaningful. Not those easily replicated.
• Social media fragments your attention.  Resulting in less than best practice.

It's a powerful and well-argued pitch.  Check it out on YouTube.

Another computer scientist, one that worked on the original algorithms for Facebook and is who is considered the 'father of virtual reality', Jaron Lanier, has a book out.  Entitled: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Account Right Now.

In it he argues that algorithmic empowerment of the worst elements of human nature is not a bug.

It is a design feature.

He explains that nastiness, outrage and extreme views are the most effective means to increase "engagement/time spent", the single metric that these programs are tuned to generate.  It's quicker to alienate somebody than it is to build love and trust.

Much of the book revolves around empathy and how social media is destroying it.  That's a huge problem he concludes because "empathy is the fuel that runs a decent society.  Without it, only dry rules and competitions for power are left."

Far be it for little old me to have a counter argument to one of the cleverest computer scientists around, but there is one point with which I do disagree.

Jaron poses that "simply going 'cold-turkey' isn't practical, not least because you would effectively be turning yourself into a digital hermit.  More than 80% of the social traffic on the web is going through Facebook servers when you count WhatsApp and Instagram.  There are no other alternatives out there."

There are alternatives!

One of which is to turn yourself into a media company.

If you're an estate agent, social media isn't the Holy Grail.  You don't need the reach of global or even national connection.  What you need is to be respected by a relatively small number of people in your immediate area.

You need to be specific, as opposed to being generic.  You need to be seen in a category of one.  Not as an estate agency competing with a dozen or so other agencies.

And being specific means that people seek out your company, your website, your podcast, your newsletter, your videos.

And, you personally.

It's not difficult, or expensive, to set up a blog.  It's not difficult, or expensive, to set up a podcast.  It's not difficult, or expensive, to create video posts. It's not difficult to start an e-magazine.

The hardest part is having something interesting, or valuable, to say.

But when you have your own media company, you control the content.  You control the distribution.  And you create a valuable asset that leaves clues scattered all over your community as to the way you think.

On the flip side of whether social media, and Facebook in particular, is bad for you, there are hundreds of social media consultants that will shower you with statistics on the popularity of any given medium.

Just because you can, though, doesn't mean you should.

Aside from the fake news, spam bots and creepy re-targeting ads that stalk you wherever you go, social media is making what you say meaningless.

As copywriter, Andy Maslen, says:

"What the internet has done is increase the amount of rubbish directed at consumers and business people.  It has given the illiterate and the idiotic equal billing with your carefully crafted campaign.  Why?  Because it is cheap."

So, if you're intoxicated, whether it be drink, drugs or social media, you really need to think about a detox.

Let me leave you with a quote from Seth Godin:

"Modern marketing has spilt.  On the one side are the roboticists. They test & measure & do what works. They do it with no interest in how people decide, or what they believe, or what story they tell themselves. Instead they treat the human as an ant in an ant farm, a robot that does this or that.  On the other side are those that seek to get to the heart of what makes us human....they know that truly understanding our narratives is the essence of doing work that matters, that connects & that spreads."

Which side of the split do you, or your business, fall?

Thanks for reading.  If you need any advice on setting up your own media company, or advice on content for your future media company, drop me a line: chris@andsothestorybegan.co.uk

or call for a chat on: (44) 07369251435

www.andsothestorybegan.co.uk