I’m making the fifth and final New Media 4Cast at the moment. This episode will look at social media for creative people. It’ll be a good way of bringing together everything we’ve been discussing over the last year.
For this episode I’ve interviewed two of Brum’s most illustrious social media gurus Pete Ashton and Nick Booth. They both made a similar point which really struck me.
The crux of it was about elements of social media not having to be finished off, complete and polished. Whereas traditional media (newspapers, TV shows, films) rely on being produced in this way, with social media the depth comes from how these individual pieces are linked together, built on and discussed on to create something that is a whole.
The problem is, so many people are scared witless of blogging and spend far too long worrying about whether their posts are right, complete or perfect.
I was delivering a lecture yesterday to a group of creative industry types and this point seemed to hit the button. I think a lot of early stage bloggers become gripped by fear as I did when I first started. "What if people don’t agree with this?" / "What if I change my mind?" / "Will this sound stupid in 3 years".
My advice is simple. Screw it, just start writing.
4 comments ↓
Further to this, I wonder if an ego check is in order. Answer those questions with “do you really think anyone will care?”
It’s good advice - you do just have to start and polish as you go. There’s a steep learning curve but it’s one hell of a ride (and you never really reach the top) - the best thing (for me) is dragging others along for the ride
ooooer! Think I was one of the aforementioned lecture audience. When you consider - we all go through education where our stuff has to be ‘right’, then if we get involved in any form of traditional media, it’s all about gatekeepers and exclusivity. This change to being instantly OUT THERE for everyone to see is really massive.
I remember the first time I ever posted something on a discussion group (it was on the inflammatory topic of Buddhist meditation), I lay awake all night worrying if I’d put my foot in it.
It’s valuable to remind people that things are different now - it really doesn’t matter.
I would have to disagree. Audience time is precious. The vast amount of online content means that to capture and retain an audience content has to be good.
It’s common sense — quality content over content quantity is very much still relevant in digital media publishing.
I also very much disagree with Pamela’s comment about it not mattering what content is posted because things are different today. Just because we can publish instantly doesn’t mean we should say what we like at the expense of others. By all means voice an opinion - but I’ve seen some very hateful stuff online and this ‘it doesn’t matter’ attitude really stinks.
Don’t get me wrong - I love the web and the idea of self publishing hooked me many years ago - but what I dislike the most about the web today is wading through the muck to find the diamond.
Quality is always King.
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