Comments on: The Narcissism of Social Media — Shameful, Practical, or Just Practice?

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:24:01 +0000

David Crotty’s point is dead-on, if everyone is promoting, then who has time to actually engage. Furthermore, social media allows people to essentially create a universe around themselves and therefore view other’s ideas as secondary, regardless of if those ideas are better. For all the talk of Social Media, what really is happening is a proliferation of one-way conversations across a broader spectrum. For the majority of people, there is nothing social about it, if anything it’s less social and just simply louder.

By: Mitch Joel - Twist Image

Mitch Joel - Twist Image — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:38:14 +0000

As always, you raise an interesting perspective on this Kent. Thank you. I think it’s going to get much more interesting as Digital Natives take over in the workplace, because you’re right. These channels are also platforms and these platforms are not just to communicate, they are for them to self-and-co-promote.

By: David Crotty

David Crotty — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:45:21 +0000

The question is, if everyone is just advertising something (their book, their speaking tour, themselves), then why should anyone bother reading? Who goes out of their way to deliberately read advertisements? How much of social media is a room full of people with megaphones, each shouting, “Look at me!”?

By: Jo Lynne Valerie

Jo Lynne Valerie — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:20:08 +0000

Yes, yes, yes and maybe.

I’ve noticed the outrageously narcissistic vibe on all the major social media sites, and I make it a practice to tune it out. Kids, students, or those in it for the social interaction only, don’t really get why I’m there – and we’d tango together about as smoothly as an elephant and a llama. (Don’t ask who’s who.)

I agree wholeheartedly that kids online promoting (ie. posting, tweeting, blogging, etc.) their social lives and academic meanderings, may be vital practice for wielding social media as a powerful tool in their later to happen careers.

But let us not be daft: that won’t be everyone.

I am an optimist by nature, so I refuse to allow my mind to wander to where abused social media and an overly developed narcissistic society can go. Let’s just say this: everyone thinking they should have a “fan page” or that a video of themselves dancing with friends is big news, can wreak havoc on a world attempting to heal and reinvent itself.

I’m a mom and I’m an entrepreneur. I say YES YES YES to social media – with guidelines. Fortunately, I’m not the one in charge of hammering out what those guidelines should be. I’ll say FB and Twitter seem to be doing a bang up job, however.