5 Thought-Provoking Comments From The Community (Oct, 2011)

October 19, 2011 Author Adam Singer In links, quick bits

What has the community been thinking lately? For context to new subscribers, we’ve been sharing thought-provoking reader comments back to all subscribers as an ongoing series.

The goal is to ensure those who might not have time to visit the comments section still receive (at least) some of the thoughts from the rest of our community. We’ve received really good feedback so far from doing this, so we plan to continue this series.

Following are 5 more recent, smart comments from Future Buzz subscribers worth reading:

From Justin Goldsborough on Ragu Pasta Sauce Leaves Bad Taste With Social Media Users

Wow. Just wow. Heard about the Ra-goof all week long, and I still haven’t stopped shaking my head.

This is not a social media issue. This is a corporate culture issue. And another company giving PR a very bad name. I wonder if the person who sent those tweets also runs up to people at offline networking events, shouts a key message and throws a business card. If so, I wonder how effective it is. Well, I think I know.

It’s not just that Ragu doesn’t understand social media. It’s that they don’t understand people. It’s lazy. And it hurts PR’s rep, which many of us are trying to improve.

From Matt Kostan on Become A Good Online Marketer In 5 Really Hard Steps

Step 6: Stop being such a perfectionist!

You can read, study, and network all you want, but until you actually start implementing fearlessly – you will not truly learn for yourself.

Most perfectionists (myself included) will research and read everything there is know about a certain topic before actually doing something. As a result, the outcome may look like everyone else’s.

Start embracing the web as a playground (with boundaries, of course!) so you can foster your creativity. Don’t be afraid to fail.

At least, this is what I keep telling myself :)

From Mario Sanchez Carrion on Dumb Students? Easy Fix: Blame Search Engines, Not Schools

It’s easy to blame technology for some people’s shortcomings, like when the media talks about the Craigslist killer or the Facebook stalker. I remember when I was in college in Peru back in the ’80s and we had to camp outside the library at night to beat others to the only copy available of a book we needed for a project. I would definitely have liked to have Google back then! In the end, there will always be smart, curious and proactive people who will find a way to get things done, and the lazy and unmotivated ones who will always blame somebody else. As for who is sponsoring the study you reference, it doesn’t surprise me: when in doubt follow the money and you’ll find out why people do or say certain things.

From Tania on Don’t Be A Social Media Beggar

The numbers game really annoys me although I do understand the motivation behind it. I’ve had another writer post a uninspired comment on my blog and then specifically request I post a comment on hers (& then after the initial request, she reminded me again to please do so). Or there are those on twitter who use an unfollow tool in order to stop following those who didn’t follow back. I don’t mind if you throw your fb page, twitter handle or blog address my way, in fact I like to check out new pages/people. But let me make the decision whether I’m going to like you, follow you or feel compelled to comment on your blog. Following me and then blatently asking I follow you is not a relationship, in fact, it’s a turnoff. I am a business minded person by the way but have always believed in the pull, not push, sell.

From Andrew Hanelly on Evolve Beyond Curation: Add Context, Lead Your Category

“Curation” without context is just a list. There’s a reason museums are not stacks of paintings in a warehouse. Art in museums is carefully selected, artfully presented, and thoughtfully vetted for a reason: to provide value to the person looking at it. If you don’t add this visual and informational context, you’re just throwing a bunch of stuff up on a wall and seeing who sticks around. Most won’t.

Have ideas you want to share with the community? We select reader comments every 1-2 months for this roundup, so be sure and leave your thoughts on posts you find interesting, we read all of them. And remember you can always submit an idea for a guest post as well.

image credit: Shutterstock