A couple of days ago, I was strolling through my Tweet Deck until I came across a ijustine tweet with a link to a recent Justin Kownacki's article entitled, "Are You Waiting Until You're Popular Before You Start Being Relevant?". The title alone struck a chord to me. His words defiantly brought life to a continuing situation in my life: what is my path to success and how I can implement it in social media and in other mediums? Am I socially irrelevant? It only took me only two minutes to decide to write a response to this insightful article. I am here to confess to you that:
1. I am a shameless self-promoter sometimes. Who else is going to do my dirty work? Me.
2. I tweet celebrities and other famous people (in their own right), seeking some form of self-recognition and acknowledgment from the people that I admire, when nine out of ten, they don't response back.
3. Twitter and other micro-blogging platform feel like continuous beauty pageants. Everyone including myself, is seeking their fifteen minutes of fame in the most constructive or ludicrous ways possible. I personally was not the most popular girl in high-school, so I may already be at a disadvantage.
4. Setting yourself and your personal or professional brand(s) is harder now since more and more people are now signing up to Twitter and other social networking sites and creating new blogs at an astronomical rate. Your Twitter account or blog is like a resume/cover letter with hundreds of thousands of hiring managers grossing over it to see you are worthy following.
5. Twitter has now socially integrated into my own personal life. So for people who think I have no life outside my laptop computer, you can just stuck it.
6. Despite my pleas for self-recognition, I fear overexposure. Case in point, Justin Bieber. I still do not know why is he is a constant trending topic on Twitter.
7. Fear should be a sin. Like what Kownaski said in his article, what is stopping you from being the real "you"? I do not have a definite answer, but the plot thickens.
Despite these confessions, I am more grounded than I had thought. I do not compare the Twitter backgrounds or the tweets or writing styles of successful bloggers and social media experts to my own brand because everyone is different. There is no point in trying to be someone else or be another ijustine or aplusk. What I do envy, however, is the self-recognition and support that these people get on a daily basis. I just want to be known for my visionary talents. When you seem like you have a good foot in the door, another obstacle crashes on top of you. Despite my fears and problems, I see the brighter side of the rainbow. (To Be Continued).
What are your fears and anxieties using social media tools to enhance your business or brand?
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4 comments:
Christina: I think you hit on two major points in that last paragraph.
1) "What I do envy, however, is the self-recognition and support that these people get on a daily basis."
What you see as recognition and support, some of these people see as a smothering unreality that prevents them from having meaningful discussions with most people. I've seen Justine go web-silent when she's home in Pittsburgh, just so she can go out for a cup of coffee without being besieged by strangers who think they "know" her from watching her online.
As for support, it's easy to get when people already idolize you; it doesn't mean they're seriously considering your ideas so much as they're rubber-stamping them.
2) "I just want to be known for my visionary talents."
If that's the case, then be a visionary. Apply your talents. Become known for your actions, and you won't have to worry about becoming known for anything else.
Having a revolutionary POV or a game-changing idea is great, but unless it's actuated, it's just an idea. The people I mentioned in my post, and hundreds more, are known and respected because they took their ideas and made them work.
Even Justin Bieber. *cough*
OMG, thank you for your response! I did not know you were going to contact me back! :)
I guess what is comes down to is that I should just be take and let my visionary talents shine without worrying about fame and self-recognition because that will come overtime. Everyone starts somewhere. It is just sometimes I can get too impatient and wonder off somewhere I should not be.
I don't know why sometimes I want self-recognition, but I guess it makes me happy to see that others really think my ideas are respected. I still have a lot to learn about social media and social media marketing in general.
Thank you so much for your response. I greatly appreciated it.
Christina
Christina, I dropped by to thank you for your lovely comment, got to reading your blog (happy you're back!), and appreciated your up-front honesty and introspection... I think everyone wants recognition of some positive type ... but it's also a matter of degrees, which Justin balanced very objectively. And I was happy for you that Justin replied. Even if I don't know who Justin is ... sorry about that, Justin, you seem like a good guy ... anyway, promote yourself, Christina, but with Justin's words in your ear ... and looking inside yourself for support ... I've been in a couple of situations where I thought those closest to me would be happiest for my achievements but they turned out to be the ones most envious, most problematic ... strange how that is ....
Kitties, you do not want to get me started with my parents sometimes.. I tend to ignore them. hehe.
Anyway, I agree with you Kitty. I will try my hardest to listen to my heart (and Justin's words) and put my ideas in action, the right and most productive way. This situation is not over. I will come back to it soon. This is all a learning experience and I hope to carry your and Justin's advice to my own personal life. Thanks.
Christina
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