No, I am not a scientist, and really this experiment started out very innocently. I wanted to find out what great books there were available (as a gift) about Social Media. What is it? Why do it? What results can you expect? Is it fun? SOOOO, I thought that certainly the best place to find out about Social Media might be through, well, Social Media – and in this case Twitter (and a quick try on LinkedIn). I know I could have used a search engine, but I wanted to hear from all of those people that I trust and respect. I was not prepared for the onslaught of silence that I received. AND I didn’t just send one tweet, I sent FIVE – yes 5 – I will repeat 5. See below:
- Can anyone suggest a great Social Media book that I can buy for someone for Christmas? Gotta be encouraging and easy to read!
- Still looking for info on good books on #SocialMedia. How it works, why do it and what to expect. Any help?
- Want to buy a good book on #SocialMedia. How it works, why do it and what to expect. Any suggestions?
- You know I find it interesting that I essentially tweeted the SAME Social Media info request 3 times and got 1 response. Why? worth a blog
- I am going to try this one more time. Looking for a book on #SocialMedia - how it works, why to use it, gauge its success. any suggestions?
Hard to understand? I even hashtagged it! I got a grand total of 2 responses. The first one came from HRmarketer.com, which also happens to be the company I work for. Congratulations team – you were watching the Twitter conversations just like we tell our clients to do.
Then on my last Tweet, @Herzwords contacted me with a great suggestion. I would have thought that if the companies who have solutions surrounding the confusing world of Social Media, would have been contacting me with suggestions of the books, ebooks, articles, white papers that they have. Not good.
Now like with any experiement, we review the process, and create a Hypothesis/conclusion.
- Well the very sad part is that all of my followers, really are not interested in helping me, or don’t have the information to help me. (I am hoping for the latter).
- There is so much “noise” on Twitter, that something like this is just a flash in front of everyone’s eyes. (hence the reason for hashtags?).
- Those Social Media experts out there DO NOT KNOW what they are doing.
- Those Social Media experts out there DO NOT PRACTICE what they preach. (to me a much worse offence).
- There aren’t any good Social Media books out there, except for the two that were suggested to me.
- Social Media is all a FARCE. It doesn’t work! It is a waste of time! It keeps many people busy doing a crap load of nothing!
- Insert your own conclusions here.
The result of my Social Media Experiment? I still don’t have a good book to consider buying AND I have lost a little faith in the power that is Social Media.
Labels: social media, social media marketing