What’s wrong with this picture?
Nothing too terrible, really. Just a callout on the “About Us” page of a major consumer products Website. Pretty standard stuff.
But you will notice the “ShareThis” widget. Which is not itself too offensive but is emblematic of something that’s been bugging me a lot lately.
Laziness, namely.
As it has become easier to widget-ize, chiclet-ize, communit-ize or otherwise adorn a website with social media bling, I see an increasing number of companies – many in real estate – darting toward each shiny object on the social web, while forgetting that what matters, ultimately, is quality content. Smarts. Cred. Candor.
So I don’t think I’ll be ”sharing” the Rubbermaid press page on Facebook. And who will? The QA team? A plastics fetishist?
Maybe I’m overreacting. But my point, anyway, having been in the trenches with lots of companies trying to play in social media, is this: Doing one thing well is better than being everywhere half-way, being gratuitous, or asking those whom your brand touches to do silly stuff.
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This post made me chuckle – well said.
I agree, Brian, that many businesses are trying to glom on to each and every social media tool & toy to come down the pike, and many are just doing things to do them without regard to effectiveness. There are many things, however, like the “share this” button that are dead useful.
Now, I don’t know from which site you’ve pulled this, or in what context the company is using it, but “share this” is fabulous for retweeting a blog post that someone found informative or interesting, or for sharing anything, for that matter. If something is made easier for a consumer of information, how is that a bad thing?
I don’t think it’s lazy in the least. I think it’s smart.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll click the “share this” button on THIS blog post (located just above this comment box).
Well said.
In “social” media, I think that the social part requires just that – being social, interacting, engaging.
Having a button doesn’t make a company social, it shows them to be lemmings and unoriginal. I’d be much more inclined to interact with a company that had a regularly-updated, candid behind-the-scenes blog or twitter account run by a person.
I can’t build a relationship with a button; but I can with a person (and sometimes with a really, really good product or service).
Following what seems to be working for others is easy. Actually doing it well is much more difficult.
@Melissa
I agree: the ShareThis widget is useful, but that was not what this post was about.
I appreciate that, but the very tool that you cite is one that you, yourself use.
I fully agree that it’s unnecessary, and frankly a bit annoying, when companies overload with gadgetry and social media knick-knacks. There are many sites, like yours, whose content IS good, on which chiclets, widgets and the like are put to fine use.
The problem lies in folks’ content, not with their inclusion of tools like the one you’ve chosen to highlight.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ryan & Stephen and Brian Boero. Brian Boero said: New on 1000watt Blog… Social Distortion: http://bit.ly/11wu03 [...]
This is a classic example of “drive-by” social media. Companies who know the SHOULD be attending the social party, but dont care enough about it to put any real effort effort. There is a technical marketing term for these kind of strategies that dont commit entirely to the effort.
#failure
I just want to harp on your use of the ShareThis button. It’s the best thing ever. It is so awesome, I’m contemplating getting it tattooed on my forehead so everyone can share me. Oops, that sounds wrong. Maybe that would be an inappropriate place to use the ShareThis tool. Kind of like on a PR page for Rubbermaid. Drat, I guess you’re right. As soon as I realized you weren’t talking about the tool, but the usage for it, everything became clear. Thanks Brian!
Instead of singling one another out, let’s examine the possibility that, maybe, just MAYBE, the company who’s using that widget has actually found some use in it.
My point was not to sing the praises of the “share this” button, but to point out that we ALL use these items in various and sundry places on our websites. Without insight into a particular company’s corporate culture or information from its PR & Marketing departments, there is no way of knowing whether that is being used “inappropriately”.
The devil is in the details. Get them wrong and the deal is wrong. Clearly, Rubbermaid has got it wrong.
Aloha,
Keahi
I’ve been noticing the exact same thing, and I’m equally irritated by it. It’s opportunism, really. Let’s put it in there and just *hope* someone really likes our tupperwear press release enough to tell the world about it. The fact that they’re straight-PR ad copy is annoying, too. Maybe, just maybe, if it was insights on the plastics industry or news for their shareholders, or ANYTHING of value, it would be worth tweeting, to someone, somewhere.
I can’t recall who it was, but someone on twitter yesterday said something along the lines of, ” I don’t trust ANY business w/o a SM presence.” Really? Every business? The tack n’ feed down the street? The lawnmower repair shop next to it? Rubbermaid?
Hi Brian,
I’d have to disagree about the ShareThis button, (which each of your own 1000Watt blog posts comes with customized in orange at the bottom of I might add) and say that I don’t think that it points to laziness, but rather the consolidation of a social media frenzy that is in need of some self-regulation. Companies like ShareThis, AddThis, and others are attempting to help users make decisions about which sites/communities are important to them and make them easily available. You may like Facebook and I may like Reddit, ShareThis allows me to send to either, both or something different entirely. This doesn’t make me (or the readers of your blog who use your ShareThis button) lazy, simply people who want to tailor which content they send to which mediums in an easy format that delivers a consistent experience.
@erin
Again, this post is not about the ShareThis button, the intrinsic value of which I do not question.
My post is about the increasingly thoughtless, shotgun-style application of social media platforms and tools. I found the example I cite to be emblematic of this larger trend. I understand that some may disagree with that.
But Brian, you have a share this button…
I’m just kidding, I got the point of your post after reading the title.
You’re right, sometimes people focus more on the syndication and social networking component of blogging and forget that there actually has to be good content to share.
And, to take it a step further, I’m getting tired of people re-sharing a bunch of uninspiring regurgitated nonsense on my facebook and twitter feeds. I need to purge all of my social networks and only friend / follow the thought leaders so that I only have to read about their updates once.
I like Ian’s response:
#failure
It’s really getting out of control isn’t it, and especially with Real Estate Agents.
Most are almost completely hanging their futures on social networking. At least that’s what it sunds like.
RM
I kind of agree with RM that we as realtors can’t hang our hats on social networking but feel that it definately has a place expecially when information that is useful can be exchanged. PR