5 Social Media Trends that Need to Die
October 31, 2008
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In the spirit of Halloween, I want to do some grave digging for some aspects of social media that are really starting to stink. These things are all, in my opinion, superfluous, outrageous, and annoying. Sure, plenty of them are still palatable to social media marketing, and though there is some life left in these zombies, their time is just around the corner.
Email Forwards - These social media dinosaurs are nearly extinct, but they will still not cease to annoy me from time to time. Sure, they are the foundation of how things started spreading virally in the first place, but times have changed and so have technologies. While I don’t think everyone’s parents need to be on Facebook or Twitter yet, I did tell mine that I would no longer read any epic email of some “heartwarming” story or awful joke. There are better platforms out there for aggregating content, and while I know most marketers are hopefully smarter than this by now, it still makes me cringe every time I see [FWD: This is hilarious!] make its way into my inbox. I don’t need any attachments, I don’t want propoganda, and I certainly don’t want some enormous PowerPoint presentation to remind me to vote. Send me a link on Twitter, and maybe I’ll read it, but please, stop clogging up my inbox.
Rick Rolling - Sorry Rick, but I do want to give you up, and I do want to say goodbye. Rick reached his peak recently when he was up for a Best Act Ever award for MTV Europe, and voting took place online. Quickly, voting was hacked and sites like Best Act Ever sprouted up in hopes that Web 2.0 could make this joke never die. Please, Internet, I beg you: Let it go. The first few times I was RickRolled, I laughed, said oh you got me, and shook my head. I even scored big on April 1st by grifting my friends multiple times, and YouTube made it easier. But seriously, it is no longer funny. Other things that need to be buried along with Rick: Dramatic Prariedog, Chocolate Rain, and funny raps.
Wannabes and Killers - Plurk, Rejaw, Scribefire, and other self proclaimed platform killers are doing their best to stay ahead of the game. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of people moving to Twitter and getting used to it for there to be a “Twitter Killer” just yet. Sure, Twitter is hardly perfect, but it has time to improve. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel before the darn thing even starts rolling. Part of the reason Wordpress and Blogspot are so successful is because they have suffered through the test of time. With new platforms emerging left and right, people are going to check out what’s new– but if others aren’t there to participate, the killers themselves are the ones who are bound to die. If you don’t believe me, check out Jim’s post on Twitter Killers. New social networking sites might be the ones who suffer the most, because when you are trying to compete with giants like Facebook and Myspace, you’re not going to have much luck. If you are going to go for it, at least try something different.
“Pimped Out” Profiles - MySpace is ugly enough as it is. Please stop making it uglier. Putting up sparkly icons, silly fonts, ridiculously large pictures and dreadful color schemes are the cardinal sins of profile creation, so unless you are 14, please keep it clean. There are more examples to count out there, but please don’t give me any more reasons to NOT visit your profile. If you think you can stand to see something really scary this Halloween, check out SoyBuddha’s Myspace profile. I sincerely hope this is a joke, but if it isn’t— dear Lord help us.
Denying It - When I tell people what I do, I get one of two looks: a smile and response of “oh, cool!” or the look a puppy might give you when you explain to him in detail the tenets of quantum physics. Social media is nothing new, and if you aren’t using it yet, you’ll go on surviving, of course, but you’re going to be in the dark completely in a few years. Most of the news I read comes to me from “citizen journalism portals” like Digg or Reddit, and if you ask me if I’ve “seen that video,” the answer is yes, yes I have. You don’t have to be a social media snob to appreciate what social media tools can be good for, but stop denying that it is happening. I had a friend who swore that Twitter was “stupid” for several months, but now he’s louder than I am. Sometimes social media is excessive, but we also can’t deny that it is happening faster than we can possibly imagine. Don’t forget, though, social media is merely the tools we use– we are the builders. So don’t be the grasshopper in the snow.
photo via: Qole Pejorian on flickr
Comments
9 Responses to “5 Social Media Trends that Need to Die”
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This post literally made me laugh out loud. Your right about the Rick Rolling… it’s over and the pimped out myspace profiles are just terrible. I canceled my myspace account a year ago for the very reason that it had turned into one aesthetic catastrophe after another.
Genius Halloween post Jeremy.
Brett Tilford’s last blog post..Relational Capacity and Teams
Right, I have to agree with some of those things…
Except the Rickroll thing, im sorry, but for me The Rickrolling phenomenon opened up my views on Rick Astley, and since I first was rickrolled ive bought 3 of his albums and Im loving it. Rick Astley has LOTS of talent. Have you ever heard Never Gonna Give You up without anyone singing?
It sounds Terrible, Rick Astley’s voice gives it the go that it needs to be a great tune. Many of Rick Astley’s songs are timeless, and are just great.
Im 18..im a dude, and you might think I should be more into Metal, things like Iron Maiden and whatnot, but no. Rick Astley is in my sight, and he is gonna stay on top for a long time. HE has a awesome voice, and truly deserves that award.
Over and out.
Hi there Jeremy,
The great thing about the Internet is that opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and they’re mostly full of shit.
Our site at bestactever was designed to get Rick the award he was already nominated for (check the date the domain was registered) and to help organise the chaos of people already voting for Rick Astley.
I have little intention of continuing it past that time.
You know what really needs to stop in social media? People like you ranting about what they think is best for it. Social media is a democracy (not a dictatorship) and if people want Rick Astley or lolcats or any other kind of meme as a form of Entertainment - thats what they get.
Sorry but you’re wrong.
- V4R
Fwds by way of email might be getting less, but unfortunately these annoyances continue cropping up on social networks and getting passed around as full articles or as links to videos etc. If it’s viral, it’s chain mail and none of that is cool. Before Facebook cleaned up its act, there were so many stupid applications that were nothing more than user collectors, and they’re still around. One of my FB contacts is a sucker for sooooo many of them and still sends me invites to them, even after I’ve given the last one a bad review. And let’s not forget the not so fun/super/advanced wall crap, I got rid of those applications because all they get used for is sending viral crap AKA chain letters. Then there are the “Add friends!” groups on Facebook. and “Let’s set a world record!” or “The largest group on Facebook!” and the notorious chain letter experiment “Six degrees of seperation” groups. Fwds by email might be getting less, but unfortunately viral isn’t kicking the bucket any time soon and is the most annoying thing on the net besides other types of spam, trollers and flamers.
Capri’s last blog post..FrontPage
Well, I think you hit the nail right on the head dude. Very good.
Jif
Jones
www.internet-anonymity.net.tc
SoyBuddha’s MySpace Profile is going to be my new default answer for why MySpace gives users too much control. My eyes are still burning.
Cory O’Brien’s last blog post..World’s Largest Lite-Brite Helps Asics Sell Shoes
Oh..i get it. you made a ironic post by using many flaming and linkbaiting techniques play along in what may look like a just a rant.
there are many problems with your opinions. more in the part with the “platform killers”.
Rejaw is nothing alike to twitter but to pownce.
Plurk is actually already third place in social messaging just behind friendfeed and it don`t even has an API. so i guess it may be around for a while.
Scribefire is the first of its kind in terms of blogging software and it is #1 in the mac and linux since it is integrated to firefox. it is #2 in windows because it is pretty much impossible for it to compete with the power Windows Live Writer. but other than that being #1 in two OS platforms and #2 in the main OS platform is quite an acomplishment.
so yeah. your logic is quite bogus.
Thankfully I was never Rickrolled.
Unfortunately, I’ve just been “SoyBuddha”ed.
Pass the Dramamine, please.
Ray Schiel
Ray Schiel’s last blog post..Blogwell / San Jose Recap: “8 Great Case Studies on the Best Social Media Programs at Large Corporations”
How about this for #6: Everyone and their dog suddenly being self-professed “social media experts.” They’re popping up like bad mushrooms EVERYWHERE.
olivier Blanchard’s last blog post..Adopt a Leadership Attitude: Only you, not Washington, can determine your business’ future.