Social Media is a Waste of Time, Part I
January 4, 2008
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Social media is a waste of time. There, I said it. Yesterday, I read a long blog post by a guy I’ve never actually met. Then I read all the comments. Then I left a comment, offering advice he asked for.
It made me no money. It gave me no leads. It helped me cross nothing off my to do list. I fell a few minutes “further behind.”
I sometimes spend 30-40 seconds glancing at new Tweets that add absolutely no value to my day. I played a Facebook brain teaser game to learn that Gene’s brain is bigger than mine (damn).
Social media is a distraction. Social media is a time waster. Social media is unproductive.
There, I said it. And I’ll admit it can all be true. Now, let’s ponder this for a moment. In Part I, let’s think about why that doesn’t matter even if it’s true. In Part II, let’s think about why that is only partly true.
The nattering naysayers want to talk about being productive in marketing and they are right to do so. Let’s compare social media marketing, which is what Ignite does as a social media agency, to other forms of marketing for a second.
- Watching television is (more often than not) a waste of time.
- Reading (most) websites is a waste of time.
- Listening to the radio is a waste of time.
- Reading magazines is (more often than not) a waste of time.
- Almost everything in your mail pile is a waste of time.
- Talking to your friends is a waste of time.
Only rarely do any of the above lead to new business growth, lead to income for you or lead to crossing something off your to do list. But marketers still try to reach us when we do all of these things:
- TV advertising
- Web advertising
- Radio advertising
- Magazine ads
- Direct mail
- Logo shirts, WOMMA, influencer marketing, etc. etc.
Let’s accept your (spurious) assumption that social media is nothing more than a waste of time. Even if that were 100% true, as a marketer don’t you want to engage people when they are wasting time? Particularly if it’s LOTS of them wasting it. 
We’ve got 72 million active social network users in the U.S. right now, and that’s growing about 40% this year. (And that’s just the social network stuff.)
As a marketer, you should want to figure out the best way to reach these people. (FYI, if someone is being REALLY productive, you CANNOT reach them through most marketing anyway.)
The best way to reach people engaging in social media is by engaging back, on their terms. You can call it amateur to amateur if it makes you feel superior, but I prefer to call it person-to-person. And if you can figure out how to do social media marketing (or let us figure it out for you), there’s nothing more powerful.
And that post that I talked about at the top? Reading that and leaving my comment gave me pretty much the same feeling as talking in person to a friend or co-worker about a problem for a few minutes. And that’s part of the good stuff in life.
Now, sorry if you wasted your time reading this. 
But now that it’s gone, invest 90 second more in the comment field, and tell me your reaction.
Comments
11 Responses to “Social Media is a Waste of Time, Part I”
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whoa. you just blew my mind.
that is an excellent concise short to the point irrefutable argument. kudos.
@Rab Thanks Ryan. Wow. That’s a pleasant surprise to see in the comments.
To me it was appreciated. Because even though the post was old and I had asked for your help, I did in the end get a response and that is what matters most.
You got yourself a backlink (even though they are no-followed, they do help in my opinion), got your name out there with other top internet marketers and showed you know what you are talking about.
I’ll modify, I just got all excited and forgot to add that you agreed!
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This was a very thought-provoking post, and for me, anything that does that means it’s time well spent. For myself, I actually do get a lot out of reading magazines like Fast Company and Wired and actually consider it a way to make money because the ideas they inspire in me help me keep up with my industry at large (in a mass market kind of way) and I enjoy the writing. That said, I also really connect with some TV shows, (Friday Night Lights, 24, PBS) and although they don’t necessarily help my business, they do prime my story telling pump (FNL) keep me up to date (24 provides Internet water cooler conversation) and truly expand my mind (PBS has been running a great series on TV’s first comic innovators and watching Carl Reiner’s earliest work is a great lesson for anyone in any business).
My point here is that while I firmly do NOT think social media is a waste of time, I don’t devalue traditional media or the potential power of advertising there. What irritates me, however, is the hubris/ignorance that’s still pervasive by many media pundits in regards to said traditional media being more important than new/social media. I hear this and the message that comes through loud and clear is, “Holy crap, I hope I don’t lose my job.” Period. I see people clinging tenaciously to their current gravy train which I empathize with (I was an actor for 15 years and understand the need for job longevity), but frankly need to say to people–get over yourselves. If you’re a good storyteller or provide value, you need to learn how to do it in any/all mediums and I won’t let you say yours is bettern than mine or anyone else’s just because your august institution reigned supreme for so many years. Do you smell that? That’s the coffee. Wake up and smell it.
So on to the notion that Social Media is a waste of time. That’s a useless statement to make as Social Media encapsulates such a broad ranging world–are you talking about listening to a podcast or leaving comments on a blog? Friending someone on Facebook or reading a Tweet? And how can you universally say none of these provide Business Value? That’s simply just crap. Think LinkedIn, for instance. That’s Social Networking, albeit fairly formal and not as open as Facebook, but when I need to contact someone for work, LI is the first place I search before Google. Why? If I’m connected to them through a friend, that’s the best way to meet them versus a blind hello. Secondly, I get to see a full breadth of their working history so I have a better context when I get in touch with them.
Or Twitter–people focus on the mundane side of what people use it for (”I’m eating brie”) versus setting up a mini-business network with your colleagues when you go to a conference so you can text everyone at once and say, “let’s meet for lunch at noon” versus sending 20 individual emails or calling everyone. This is a HUGE time/money saver.
So in other words, if you can’t use ANY social media EVER to do ANYTHING business oriented, yes, it’s not a good business tool. But don’t blame the medium for your lack of creativity or business savvy.
And also, don’t tell me how I waste my time. When people make blanket statements like “social media is a waste of time” they’re leaving out two words at the end that are critical…”for me.” Okay, thanks. You could tell me why it’s a waste of time for you so I can hear some context, but fine. That’s your call. But don’t condescend to think you know how I spend/waste my time. Time is a precious commodity and I determine the value, not you.
In closing, I’ve enjoyed writing this comment and should be working. But I never ever undervalue being inspired to think. So thanks, Jim, and I look forward to Part Two.
People are programmed to expect immediate results. If they don’t get their expected result when they want it then they label it a waste of time. I believe in serendipity. Things happen when they should happen because they happen for a good reason.
Some of my best business contacts came about because of serendipity. I wasn’t looking to meet someone, I just did. One thing led to another and I made a sale, hired an employee who increased my productivity, met someone who introduced me to someone else, or hit upon an idea based on something I saw while watching TV or surfing the Net. Wasting time can make you a lot of money if you don’t see it as a negative.
@Glen: Thanks man. Hope things are going well and you’re at peace with your decision
@John: Well said. Thanks for the very thoughtful response.
@Allen: You’re absolutely right. The things you find when you’re not looking constantly amaze me…
Entertainment activities are largely a waste of *business* time. Social networking activities done for entertainment then fall into that category - not much business reward or potential.
However, savvy marketers are spending time, and in 2008 predictably an increasing amount of time (per person and en masse) on social networking for as non-entertainment. And employees of companies that engage with consumers along social marketing channels certainly are doing it for business, with entertainment thrown in if that helps the brand objectives.
Individual techie developers are blending the entertainment and business parts of of social networking, and (gasp) sometimes in the same sentence or tweet! The ROI for these activities is part business, part pleasure, with little wasted.
Hi Jim, I agree with you. Social media is a distraction but its a distraction that can lead to new business if used in the correct manner. We recently blogged about a social media tool and provided a balanced view with what we thought were the good things and of course pointing out the bad elements as it’s what we do. Three weeks later this distraction caused us to be contacted by a major worldwide brand asking us to see them about a similar project.
Great post - I think I will go and blog about it myself - obviously referring to your article. There, that’s two minutes I was distracted from worth but I think it was worth it.
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