Annoying

Just a girl.

Just me.

Just Regular Decker.

So after last week’s post, I continued to watch the branding that is so prevalent in everything posted on Facebook and the like to try to get to the root of the question chilling in my mind: Who are we selling?

With this in mind, I stumbled upon and blog post from @waitbutwhy called 7 Ways to be Insufferable on Facebook. The 7 ways include different approaches that people use to mask what the author of the blog claims to really be: image crafting, narcissism, a need for attention, loneliness, or a chance to induce jealousy. While the tone of the article was pretty feisty I was surprised that the descriptions and explanations were spot on. Extensive attention was given to “The Brag” outlining the ways that people veil their attempts at social engineering with trite Facebook posts. Enjoy:

 “So at best, you’re just really excited about your life and you need to tell everyone, and at worst you’re specifically hoping to make people feel worse about their lives and jealous of yours. Somewhere in the middle would be you calculatingly crafting your words as part of an un-endearing and transparent campaign to make people see you in a certain way.”

Reading this blog helped me start to see what people, and…after some Facebook-post-self-inspection, I am trying to sell through social media. @waitbutwhy illustrates this with this little Venn diagram:

I am really surprised how accurate this idea is when it comes to the posts that I see every day while meandering through Facebook. Posts abound, but regular people are now joined by businesses that have taken the plunge into social media; many—way too many—without regards to the specifications in @waitbutwhy’s diagram. While I won’t attempt to dive into the possible motivations of my own or my friends’ posts, I nonetheless had a light bulb moment. This week, not only could I suddenly put my finger on the reason certain of my friends’ posts tend to make me roll my eyes, but I could also clearly see where business go wrong in the same way. 

If businesses or individuals post content or updates that serve only them (Ex: “Like us on Facebook” “I’m doing something cool in my life and I want to make sure it’s posted with an appropriate picture to suit my current image to get digital attention”) value is not being shared or exchanged. People and businesses alike will be blocked sooner than later if they continue using social media in this way.

Interestingly enough, we can easily see a veiled brag, a plea for attention or a self-serving comment or post among our friends for what it is, but in general it is more polite to look past it or quietly turn down our dose of them on our feed. When this comes to businesses the same rules need not apply. Businesses trying to push traditional marketing through the social media sieve will easily be spotted. I often see image crafting or attention craving coming through from businesses and marvel at how they think this is helping them in any way.

I think businesses would do well to abide by the advice @waitbutwhy was willing to lay out so indelicately:

Strive to be un-annoying and you will keep your Facebook friends.