Web 2.0 Myths & Why It's Time to Go Back Home
Lately, is seems everyone is on the Web 2.0 and social marketing bandwagon. It reminds me of those eager beavers that come to any old forum and think everyone there is their potential customer. Spam here...spam there...spam everywhere.
We Internet marketers are getting a bad rap because of some stupid marketers who think it’s their job to simply reap as much profit out of anything they can get their hands on.
Marketers everywhere are developing software to spam MySpace users to get more friends on their list like FriendBot and MySpace Promoter, just to name a few. It’s automated software to abuse the add a friend privileges on MySpace for the purposes of sending out promotional messages to a massive friends list.
MySpace is now in the process of suing a spammer who allegedly inserted viruses into spoof log-in pages that gave him access to those people’s friend’s lists. What will these idiots think of next?
Squidoo contributors are complaining that ”Internet Marketers are Taking Over”. They accuse Squidoo Lensmaster’s of artificially boosting their rankings and putting their Internet marketing topics in the Top 100. Reading through that crazy thread (Margaret and the Scammbuster are a piece of work, aren’t they?), it’s clear that innocent people are being accused, while the true scammers often go unscathed.
There are tons of ebooks coming out on how to spam social bookmarking sites. Ick! Read this article by CNET News branding Internet marketers as nasty creatures polluting Digg, a popular bookmarking site. And they’re right! There are plenty of Internet marketers acting like the whole Internet is their playground they can do anything they want on it.
No matter how much people tout Web 2.0 and the marketing potential it carries, it’s an INFORMATION vehicle, period. Try to change that and you’re sure to annoy a very vocal group of annoyed users.
I’m not saying social networking sites shouldn’t be used, but put your used car salesman in your back pocket if you do. If you want to use social networking as your opportunity to market to your heart’s content, create your own social networking site. Then you decide the rules. Marketing messages are always best saved for your own web space where you have the run of the house and your visitors expect you to market to them. Why force it down people’s throat in a place where you don’t belong?
We Internet marketers are getting a bad rap because of some stupid marketers who think it’s their job to simply reap as much profit out of anything they can get their hands on.
Marketers everywhere are developing software to spam MySpace users to get more friends on their list like FriendBot and MySpace Promoter, just to name a few. It’s automated software to abuse the add a friend privileges on MySpace for the purposes of sending out promotional messages to a massive friends list.
MySpace is now in the process of suing a spammer who allegedly inserted viruses into spoof log-in pages that gave him access to those people’s friend’s lists. What will these idiots think of next?
Squidoo contributors are complaining that ”Internet Marketers are Taking Over”. They accuse Squidoo Lensmaster’s of artificially boosting their rankings and putting their Internet marketing topics in the Top 100. Reading through that crazy thread (Margaret and the Scammbuster are a piece of work, aren’t they?), it’s clear that innocent people are being accused, while the true scammers often go unscathed.
There are tons of ebooks coming out on how to spam social bookmarking sites. Ick! Read this article by CNET News branding Internet marketers as nasty creatures polluting Digg, a popular bookmarking site. And they’re right! There are plenty of Internet marketers acting like the whole Internet is their playground they can do anything they want on it.
No matter how much people tout Web 2.0 and the marketing potential it carries, it’s an INFORMATION vehicle, period. Try to change that and you’re sure to annoy a very vocal group of annoyed users.
I’m not saying social networking sites shouldn’t be used, but put your used car salesman in your back pocket if you do. If you want to use social networking as your opportunity to market to your heart’s content, create your own social networking site. Then you decide the rules. Marketing messages are always best saved for your own web space where you have the run of the house and your visitors expect you to market to them. Why force it down people’s throat in a place where you don’t belong?
4 Comments:
Alice,
I agree that there are a lot of slimeballs out there abusing the system. I also agree that it's a great idea to start your own social networking site (for example check out Pligg if you want to start your own Digg-type site).
On the other hand, I don't think that your message, influence and social participation need to be kept at "home" on your own site. We're entering the de-centralized era of the internet. Your message must travel beyond the confines of your own site.
There are a lot of legitimate ways to do this:
*Contributing valuable content to blogs, podcasts and social networks
*Participating in a conversation rather than exploiting it
*Offering a widget that others will want to post to their site
*Syndicating your content through appropriate portals
*Making it easy (and worthwhile) for people to bookmark and submit your content with social sites
It's about optimizing your content for social media to help it travel and be found by your target market.
Web 2.0 Search Engine is the ultimate resource for Web20 tools @
http://www.web20searchengine.com
(thousands of web-based applications like www.txt2pic.com for making custom logos & graphics).
I agree with you Alice.
I love all things two point oh - when it's actual living, breathing people using it.
It's when the stinky spammers figure out hot to automate participation that everything get's wrecked.
Hey Jason,
I guess I didn't say it clearly because I agree with you. I meant that if you wanted to market the heck out of yourself, start your own site. Social networking is more subtle approaches, just like you've outlined. And when I said "where you don't belong" - I meant the used car salesman types don't belong there. Great tips!
Kelly - I agree somewhat, but there are still live human beings stinking it up. Even small-time spammers start somewhere.
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