Delusions of Grandeur
Earlier this week I wrote a guest post on Hypebot that discussed the issues of faking a fanbase and watering down the average value of a “like” or follow. I outlined a number of reasons that this was bad with a main one being that lies are irreversible.
What I didn’t get into was the idea of what a lie can do to the artist and their perception of themselves.
The image above (edited to protect the guilty) was a status posted yesterday by a DJ from the New England area. He seems pleased to be one of the top 2,000 DJs in the world according to TopDeeJays.com, a website that ranks DJs by their combined social media influence across all networks.
Methodology (from TopDeeJays.com):
Topdeejays uses an algorythm (sic) that measures general social media influence by combining Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, SoundCloud, MySpace, Last.fm and YouTube fans, subscribers and followers. In order to avoid mixing apples and oranges, it uses a unique measurement – TDJ points to rank artists by popularity. Take TDJ points as a currency to measure value of each participating social network’s members.
Here are the stats for this DJ:
There is a saying that goes, “if it smells like sh-t and tastes like sh-t then it is probably not a legitimate DJ ranking (I’m paraphrasing).” As you can see, there is a downward trend for every network. The truth is that this DJ purchased almost every “like” and follow, something that becomes instantly apparent to anyone that visits his Facebook page when they see such an engagement deficit. Someone with 10k+ fans should be averaging more than 3 “likes” per status even if only half of those fans were real.
The big issue here isn’t the deception of others, it is the deception of the DJ himself. Rather than be aware that he truly has loads of work to do in order to get anywhere close to being one of the top DJs in the world he is completely satisfied with a fake, masturbatory statistic because, let’s face it, this is much easier and self-satisfying than seeing that there are tens of thousands of DJs that are more well-known.
When you lie, it hurts you more than it could possibly hurt anyone else. It breeds complacency inside of your heart and causes you to rest on imaginary laurels.
Side-note: this DJ was booked for a Boston show on a Friday night earlier this year. Want to guess how many of his 11k fans showed up?
3.
THREE.
Perhaps three fans are 80% of his un-purchased “likes” on Facebook. In that case I suppose it was fairly impressive.
What The Roxy In LA Can Teach Boston Venues About Being “Social”
Nic Adler, owner of The Roxy, speaking at the SF MusicTech Summit in San Francisco, CA
Boston is a major city for live music and technological innovation so it is only natural that there will soon be a convergence. Social media forever changed the modes of communications and the techniques for concert promotion. Over the last 15 years there has been a power shift from a time when the major labels told music lovers what to buy to a new era where the customers became the voice that influenced purchases. The revolution was powered by social platforms from the Facebook wall to the Amazon reviews sections. It quickly became unacceptable for communications to be one sided and soon many businesses started having open dialogues with their customers. The competitors that did not seek to build a relationship with customers often saw business slip away. Relationships are all that keep us together in an increasingly global way of life.
You “Like” Me, You Really Don’t Like Me
There has been much discussion and debate over the value of a “like” on Facebook or a follow on Twitter. This speculation is pointless because the value depends entirely on the way a new follower is acquired and that can happen any number of ways. People (mostly bands and musicians) often ask me how to get more followers on Facebook and Twitter, even though I only have a small amount myself. I think they are hoping for some magic answer and I cannot say that I blame them. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just click a few buttons and everyone started listening to what we were trying to say?
The short answer is that there is no simple way to go out and get followers other than by continually creating and releasing content that people value and want to keep up-to-date with. The long answer is that by doing anything other than this you will greatly water down the value of your average “like” or follower and be communicating with the wrong people, or in some instances no one at all.
How can you devalue your “likes” or follows? It is much easier than you might imagine. I will go through the list starting with the more obvious actions and progressing to things that seem innocuous but can be hurtful to the relationship with not only your fans but also your friends and family.
Nothing Meaningful To Broadcast? Wait.
We now have the ability to broadcast any observation, joke, complaint or desire instantly for many people to see. This ability gives us all tremendous power and potential to cause a remarkable idea to spread. This influence can be cheapened easily by unhealthy usage of the technology and care should be taken.
Denizens of the Internet should be aware that everything they put out results in someone judging their next posting slightly differently based on their prior experience of how ideas were presented. One post pleading for a vote in a contest or a “like” can color a visitor’s immediate reaction to the more meaningful posts that follow. The same can happen when inviting fans to something they clearly cannot participate in, e.g., concerts taking place across the country from where the fans live. If the fans already had their time wasted reading about some event they could not possibly attend why would they take care to read the next update sent their way?
No matter what you write about or put online it is important to be conscious that every release will be carried with preconceived judgments and feelings by those that are familiar with your prior work.
- This is a good thing if you make what you do meaningful and worth talking about.
- You will build a following and start to connect with people that actually care and discuss your ideas and creations.
Constant broadcasting can easily become addicting for those that enjoy the instant gratification of a “like” or retweet. In an ever-connected world there is sometimes a deep desire to constantly reach out and pull tight the threads of the social web. Attempting to find this connection through a frustrated tweet about waiting in a long line to buy groceries will:
- Yield a hollow connection to others that related to your mundane and everyday “hardships.”
- Cause disconnect between yourself and those that were originally connecting with you for your remarkable ideas and creations.
Write about what matters to you. If it is meaningful to you chances are it will be to others as well. Think before you hit broadcast. Even Conan O’Brien does.
The legoman was sourced from Hazzat (no real name) on Flickr.
Ship Fast But Not Without Purpose.
There are many reasons to continually create and release new content regardless of your industry/profession:
- It keeps you sharp and forces you to not let yourself grow stagnant.
- You will learn what the users/fans like without asking. Most people will not know if they actually like something until it is presented to them.
- You may discover that your strengths are actually better used in a different direction.
- It causes continual engagement and stimulation of users/fans.
- Conversations about each release can draw people more in. Even if the release is hated by some, the loud and passionate conversation can still be of value. Facebook’s release of timeline is a good example of this phenomenon.
While shipping fast and constantly building are both good tenets you should not turn your brain off after the creating is done (is it ever?). You should ship fast but with a purpose.
Releasing something without a goal or motive could squander a good idea by not giving the content the attention and thought it deserves. You likely spent some time creating the next piece you plan to unveil so you should make sure to take the time before (or after) the creation process to identify what you are trying to accomplish with the release.
- Are you trying to gain followers on Twitter or YouTube views? Is that really the end goal or is it just the first step in the conversion process of an outside observer to a passionate fan?
- Are you trying to make money now or build social equity that can be turned into sales later?
- Are you trying for a big reaction or are you just trying to see if anyone notices at all?
Knowing your purpose for shipping a new creation is just as important as the constant experimentation that precedes each release.
Keep shipping.
Keep thinking.
Keep hitting Command + S!
(Above photo of Mark Zuckerberg’s desk at Facebook)
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