This morning, I saw this cartoon by Gaping Void artist Hugh MacLeod. I want to be honest, I’m a fan boy of Gaping Void. I have two of Hugh’s cartoons printed off in my office serving as cube grenades– Permanent State of Reinvention and The Hugh Train. Both serve as great talking points, tacked to my wall right beneath my “venture capital value chain” and NASA sticker. Hugh’s stuff really connects because: a. it speaks to something bigger than just the grind of labor, 2. it communicates the same frustrations and irritations that I feel about (insert topic).
When I saw this new cartoon, I was immediately swept back to a twitter comment yesterday. Casey Peters of Knoxify.com tweeted about whether digital/online/social media should be called social media or new media. His question being, is it really “new” media if there are so many opinions, experts, agendas, and conferences about it. My response was that the majority of those opinions, experts, agenda, and conferences were all self-serving and/or rubbish.
This cartoon really captures where I think we’ve come with much of social media– 97% are attention starved, self-indulgent wannabe’s, while 3% are really trying to properly utilize the power of the platform. I know this sounds harsh, but the amount of complete drivel that comes across my various communications is staggering. Add to that pool the ever-so-frequent poorly planned with no hope of generating revenue “social networking” business opportunity that lands in my inbox, and I feel like I’m struggling to keep my head above water!
So, I could expound upon the various elements of social media and why most of them are rubbish, but that would be a waste of time. At the end of the day, your platform/network/meme/etc must be life changing to justify its use existence. Society has quick and dirty flings with technology that makes the needle twitch. Sure its fun, but you don’t commit to something with negligible value-add. If you do, its a long, dark, and expensive road to nothing (dot.com bust). Society embraces/loves/worships technology that makes the needle spin like a clock!
On a positive note (finally!), there is a choice. I think it has a lot to do with ethics and responsibility. Wannabe’s sell out. They take the early easy wins to get cash, because in the end that’s all they care about… Real rock stars, the kind that leave you feeling light headed and giddy at the end of a show, are in it because they LOVE it! The money is awesome and keeps them focused when times get difficult, but they have passion and drive that transcends that. They want their music (aka product) to make a difference.
The world needs more rock stars.
PS: Hugh MacLeod is a rock star in my book.
