I’m fascinated by how self-destructive the core of the internet geek community is, trashing their favorites after weeks or months.
-Seth Godin here on the Buzz Bin
Ironic isn’t it? Shel Israel did more to create the social media marketing industry than any other person with the possible exception of Doc Searls. More importantly, as business types and consultants try to dilute the value of social media, Shel continues to stand as a an uncompromising voice of reason (Image by Jim, the hyperlinkguerilla).
Yet here we are like a bunch of harpies ripping the flesh from his reputation. We’ve done this before.
We’re punishing Shel Israel — author of Naked Conversations — because he wasn’t so egotistic to think that he could be mocked? So now he’s Elliot Spitzer? And even if Shel did purchase his own URL, what would have stopped Loren from airing out his angst in a different form? It’s not like Shel could control the conversation. There’s more to this than just a bad video or two.
Yeah, Shel made mistakes, and he’s acknowledged it, too. The real blame belongs with FastCompany for not providing video training. Right now I am actively engaged in a process to learn video, and expect to make good videos in 3-4 months. That’s right, months (check out my most recent video with Rohit Bhargava). Video blogging is much tougher than any other media form I’ve experimented with yet.
Quite frankly, I’ve had my personally created videos maimed and destroyed with malicious intent. While I did not voice my anger on this particular occasion like Shel did, I identify with it. And how do you feel when people mock your creations?
Has anyone reading this blog not made mistakes? I know I have, and openly discuss them, too. Further, if you got lambasted for making mistakes, would you continue to risk? To innovate? It’s still a very new medium, and we are all learning. There will come a time when everyone has visible scars. Really, mistakes are something to be encouraged, not chastised. Through pain comes growth.
But many PR types will tell you different. Never make a mistake. Maybe we should call it corporate HR instead of PR, since it’s so risk adverse. Remember these are the same people who don’t want to adapt to social media anyway. Yet the truth is most mistakes are recoverable, especially when they are externally created. A prompt admission, a quick amends and refocus on excellence usually addresses the problem.
Want an example? How about the Jeremiah Wright issue for Barack Obama?
Move on. Enough is enough. Shel means more to the industry than a bad video or two.
HI Geoff,
How right you are.
I also want to point out again that the new media community bares a large responsibility for the drama that unfolded last week. If the new media community continues to celebrate, link to, blog about, and twitter about people who use bullying, intimidation and hate to get attention we continue to pave a future for ourselves that far more closely resembles the fox news sensationalism of the past then the brave new world of media democratization and integrity so many of us have envisioned.
One of the main web 2.0 buzzwords is COMMUNITY. Personal and group integrity are implicit in building strong and worth while communities. I believe that the democratization of media has the capacity to build a path to a brave new world… however it is incumbent upon the early adopters to be in fact, BRAVE, and shun the high school like, popularity centric attitudes that continue to push the community at large into the waiting jaws of the few bloggers who have built their reputations on ridicule and bullying.
Well said.
I would add that the only defenses I’ve seen of Loren’s attack are 1) well it’s funny! and 2) if Shel didn’t react, Loren would’ve moved on by now.
Which I translate as 1) I like laughing at people making fun of other peoples’ mistakes, and 2) if the victim didn’t react, the bully wouldn’t hit him so hard.
Most humor is laughing at the misfortune or mistakes of another – but there’s a line. That line got crossed a long time ago.
That so many of his “friends” have not stood up in Shel’s defense is rather appalling.
That so many of his “friends” have not told Loren that he’s crossing a line is also appalling.
In some ways, it says so much more about the other folks than it does Shel or Loren.
Again, well written.
Unfortunately, social media can be misused just like any other means of communication. We have to learn to live with this. Ironically, the only form of control that will work is based on the creation of trusted relationships, and we see examples every day of how that can be misused for personal or political gain (http://www.ddmcd.com/fud.html).
Geoff,
Thank you for your thoughtful post. As someone who consults with organizations about innovation, public relations and social media, and also coaches individuals and work teams to enhance creative thinking, I am really glad you stand in support of allowing people room to try new approaches and make mistakes, which are often bridges to a new innovation. If we side step the experimental part of creativity and innovation, we really short change ourselves in coming up with a truly breakthrough idea.
I see too often that many people in the tech industry (and other industries) are so consumed with “getting it right” the first time, there is a tendency to immediately jump on a prominent member of the community when it appears they have made a mistake—and I say “appears” because often, time shows us later that it was not necessarily a mistake at all, but a turn in the road to new discovery or a better way to do something. If we are censoring ourselves before we even try something new, then we lose out in the long run. We may be so intimidated, we never let a potentially good idea take flight. Maybe that’s one reason why there is so much repetition and so few real breakthrough innovations in the industry. The companies and individuals who have the guts to make mistakes are generally the ones who ultimately make the breakthroughs.
As for learning video, well, any art form takes a minimum of months, and more realistically, years to do really well. We may be able to shoot a short video for Qik or Seesmic that is “OK” as a casual, spontaneous statement, but a real, professional job requires a lot of training, or calling on professionals with years of training. It’s great that Web video is now available to everyone, but let’s not fool ourselves into believing that we can just pick up a Flipcam and immediately do a pro-level job.
Here’s to collaboration, community, and allowing people to go through the process they need to do their best creative thinking and innovate. There are ways to manage that process to allow for other organizational milestones to be achieved.
Geoff,
I never make mistakes. Ya know, I mean, there was that time that… oh, yeah, and then another time when… Oh, crap. Not only am I not perfect, I agree with your post. Good job, Geoff.
I only read the Tech Crunch story and decided I didn’t care enough to figure out what was happening. I simply don’t understand the need to attack social media workers. We aren’t politicians or celebrities, even the best known are not celebrities, so what is this need to attack us?
It just bewilders me.
Shel Israel does some great work. So he let himself get rattled. So what, he does great work.
Months? Try years bro. Theres a reason why people go to school for this stuff–and when they get out it still takes years to learn. This is an art form–don’t cheapen it. How long did it take you to get good at whatever it is that you do?
Way too many people out there making videos right now–this fad is gonna change mighty fast once enough people connect their laptops to their large screen TV’s. Shel sticking mics up peoples noses will not hold up so well on HD.
Loren was right and Shel has no sense of humor.
Kathryn: I totally agree. This was a bit of a mob mentality, and quite frankly I see it as a bit of jealousy. It’s a shame, but it’s also our community responsibility to fight off the school yard bullies.
GeekMommy: Right on. Humor would have stopped at a few posts or the voluntary surrender of the URL. This is trollish vendetta.
Dennis: Sad, but true. I, too, have the scars to prove this.
Cathryn: So true. Our culture kills innovation, and that is a terrible mistake. Your comments are a fantastic addition.
Lewis: We’ve been there together!
Matt: Loren was not right. There is no justification for acting like an absolute troll and trying to destroy someone’s reputation. It’s one thing to be critical and spoof it. It’s another thing to act with malice.
Geoff-
There was no malice at all on Loren’s part, however I saw several comments by Shel on Twitter that could be considered malicious towards Loren.
Truth is, Shel brought this all on himself. He should never have released those videos and the way he has handled this is shameful. In short, Shel has destroyed his own reputation–Loren was just the catalyst.
Maybe this will teach people to think first before they release videos online-its not for everyone-and its not as easy as it may seem.
Matt: There you go, your own blog post. We strongly disagree on Loren’s motive. Shel owned his errors, but I haven’t seen Loren fess up to his and they are egregious in my opinion… As to what makes good or bad video and how people should break into the business, thanks for a differing opinion.
Geoff
I have this philosophy that sounds like this: If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not trying anything new. Shel is the pioneer in social media because he’s not afraid of making mistakes in social media. That’s how you learn when treading the unbeaten path.
This is a very good post Geoff. No one should be allowed to critique that harshly against anyone. There are no real experts in these fields and what Shel is working on perfecting, he more than makes up in reading people and finding what they want to know and share. I don’t care about the technology, just the knowledge and Shel shares that everytime he posts something. I say kudos to you Geoff and Shel!
I’ve been offline the past few days, primarily because of wanting to take some time off, but also because I’m tiring of the continuing ‘blogodramas’. This post got me thinking again about the mini-drama’s you see on Twitter, Facebook and blogs nearly every day. In most cases these are precipitated by folks who feel that tearing down is equivalent to good humor.
There will always be people who make their living off of cruelty; it is up to us to acknowledge the good guys and not honor the nasty ones.
Thanks for the post Geoff!
/kff
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Matt, there. There are many knowledgeable video people out there who would have helped Shel or FastCompany out for a very, very low price as production assistants or newbie consultants. $30 an hour is not a lot on a W-9, and to see someone so completely inept with video expensive equipment makes me weep. If FastCompany had invested some money into an entry level production consultant/PA instead of expensive microphones, at least Shel wouldn’t have known he doesn’t need to scream into his lavalier. And maybe there would have been someone there to hold the boom pole so he doesn’t have to use it as a handheld mic.
Such a terrible waste of good equipment from someone who doesn’t know how to use it (or take the time to at least read the manual).
I gotta say, I’m puzzled by how harsh the social media community is on it’s own. I became enamored with social media because I looked on it as a way to learn from others, to widen my circle, to test out my ideas and refine my thoughts by tapping into the collective intelligence of others. But I’ve come across multiple examples where the community just looks like it’s picking a fight. It doesn’t encourage the sharing of ideas, instead it may actually cut off discussion.
I agree that Shel Israel’s videos aren’t the best when it comes to production quality, but I think the critics are focusing on the wrong thing. What a great opportunity to hear people like Jeremiah Owyang talk about communities. At least Shel is creating a source of good information from which to learn.
For me social media is first and foremost about the content. Having access to experts talk about social media and building community helps me to be better at what I do. Loren’s content doesn’t do anything to advance the conversation; instead it’s an example of some of my clients’ greatest fears when it comes to social media.
I, for one, will promise that I will be respectful in my comments, mind my tone, and do what I can to advance and continue the conversation even when I disagree with or have a different take on what is being said.
Geoff-I just watched your videos and I can understand why you identify with Shel’s situation. We’ve created a series of videos for our companies site and there was one video that I found to be particularly helpful…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo
Geoff, you are on a roll! Great post.
I guess one thing I want to say is that this isn’t about going into Social Media flawlessly and it’s most certainly not about not making mistakes. It’s about jumping in thinking you’re infallible simply because you’re participating. We often forget the first, and most important step, which is putting together a plan based on what people want as represented by their words and actions in the socialmediasphere. Then it’s about sharing content that meets their expectations. That’s all. Mistakes will happen. It’s the intent at the beginning and the actions that follow mistakes that determine and reinforce perception.
We all make mistakes. We’re human.
It’s sad people are taking sides on this.
Loren is just a tool who has no clout compared to the ‘a-listers’ that he continues to try to make a name off of for himself.
‘Shel means more to the industry than this non-humorous douche’*