» The Social Media Country Club
I finally had time to read the Brogan/Smith book “Trust Agents.” I thought it was “OK” at best – disjointed, repetitive, and even silly at spots (”much of journalism has a faux objectivism that can’t die fast enough”). I think it’s a good book for social media newcomers. But based on the take-your-breath-away reviews from the blogger community, I was expecting much more.
Why was my impression of this non-remarkable book so different than the biggest names in blogging? Here’s my hypothesis: The opinions were probably NOT much different than mine – but they just wouldn’t say so. Why? The “thought leaders” of social media marketing are a country club fearful of saying anything negative or controversial about another club member. The real commerce of social media is trading favors and a negative comment breaks the favor chain.
This is entirely possible, though I’m not sure dishonesty - or lack of authenticity - is really to blame here. While excellent things often become popular, so do mediocre things, and there’s no need to reach for some conspiracy to explain that. In fact, if the theory is “A-Listers become A-Listers by mutual support and all thinking the same things”, then you’d expect a high level of agreement, which is likely to be genuine.
Schaefer’s wider point is good, though: a system of “trust” where you advance by accumulating goodwill from higher-ups is likely to have many excellent virtues but originality of thought may not be one of them (unless the higher-ups are enlightened enough to trust disagreement and opposition, of course).
