When I began doing Social Media one of the first things I was told was that for every tweet sent about myself, I should send ten about (and supporting) others. I liked that philosophy. That is why I write this Social Media Social Good series because I believe we have such a GREAT opportunity to do good via Social Media. And, it’s so democratic. Anyone can do good if they set their mind and heart to it! How sweet it is. Hmmm, that would make a good song title?
For me, the “doing good” has included raising awareness on issues via my writing, radio show, and #DadChat. Naturally, my male ego desires to reach as many people as possible so I am eager to get my material read and seen. I have no issues self-promoting because I do believe in the adage that it is okay as long as I’m promoting and helping others.
Prior to the beginning of each #DadChat, I invite everyone to “shamelessly self-promote.” There is a time and a place for it. I know how many people are shy about this so I want to give them the opening and encourage them.
This is why I got so excited about Triberr, when it first hit the web. It’s an aggregate-sharing web site created by two terrific guys, Dino Dogan and Dan Cristo. Tribes are formed by “Chiefs” based on topics and interests, from which each “tribe mate” has the option of sharing every other tribe mate’s posts. All posts appear in a stream and every member/tribe mate has the choice to “approve” or “hide” a particular post.
Some of the “Tribes” I belong to
The size, variety, and focus of each tribe vary as much as anything on the web. You get invited to join a tribe or you can “follow” a tribe, or you can ask to join. It’s very open and very “inviting.”
As with every new thing, it began slowly and I was invited to join a “dad” tribe. There were about 20 other dads in this tribe and we all pretty much shared each other’s posts regularly. Later, I began my own tribe and over time it all grew.
During those initial months, I was amazed at the amount of sharing and the amount of growth in readership I was blessed to get from Triberr. It was cool plus I met so many people I probably would otherwise never have had the pleasure to know. I loved it.
Now, my “reach” is over 61 million with over 3,000 tribe mates in dozens of tribes. That means that the total number of followers from the 3,000 or so tribe mates adds up to over 61 million people. Got that? However, the sharing aspect is either less or about the same when my “stats” were a fraction of these numbers. About 2 – 3% of those aforementioned 3,000 tribe mates were sharing my posts. So, I began to wonder WTF was going on?
Being the shy, retired type that I am, I posted the following comment – there’s a comment section below each person’s post in the stream – on those posts of people in my tribes that apparently (there’s a stat that shows who is sharing what if you hover over the person’s name) were not sharing my posts. It read as follows:
Please do not take this the wrong way (first name of person), but I’m finding fewer and fewer of my tribe-mates are “sharing” my posts…I know it’s a lot of time/work, but I make a good effort to go through the stream every day and try and approve as many as seem cool and/or appropriate for my community. I think it’s a quid pro quo thing. If we do this right we ALL benefit from the aggregation. I hope you’ll consider some of my posts…BTW, I’m sending this EXACT message to anyone I see that hasn’t been sending out my posts (per the screen I get when I hover over each person’s avatar)…
The Stream…
It IS a lot of work to go through the stream, especially if you choose to read each post before sharing it, which is the ideal and what I did when I began and the stream was so much smaller. Now, I recognize people and judge a post by its title, image, and/or short first sentences that are included. You can auto-post those people whose material you simply know is right for your community.
I thought that my “comment” was respectful and recognized that everyone should and does choose what is right for their community. I don’t expect anyone to simply share my posts because I want them to!
Well, the reaction was so darn interesting. One young woman (and I’m going to judgmental here by calling her “young” because I believe her generation has a different view of many things and she looked “young” in her photo) accused me of “shaming” people into posting my material with my comment. I was floored? Was it as completely tactful as it could be? I suppose not. But, was I shaming ANYONE or demanding anything?
The irony is that some of the “biggest” Social Media people that got my comment reacted with swift and respectful replies acknowledging the need for what I was saying and saying they would “do better.” These are the big shots in Social Media yet they “got” what I was saying, did not take it personally, and responded quickly. I’ve found this behavior consistent with other successful and busy people. Again, how ironic.
Well, a day or so later, I got two separate emails from Dino and Dan – Triberr’s founders and guys I know and like a LOT – asking me to “tone it down” because they’d received some complaints. The comments appear in a stream along the side of the post stream. So, when I put up a bunch of the comments at the same time, it seemed I was unintentionally and temporarily dominating the comment stream and some people complained.
Given my fondness for Dan and Dino and Triberr, I quickly replied saying I’d stop posting the comments but I also expressed my confusion over WHY such a reaction? I will reference the “young” woman earlier when I declare that it’s my observation that there’s hypersensitivity in some circles about ANYTHING that isn’t politically correct or fits a particular person’s (political or other) views.
Later, I went through every one of the posts where I’d placed my comment and saw who had replied and who hadn’t. All but one of the replies were completely respectful and in agreement. I thanked each of them and added some to what they might have said. For all those who had not replied, I deleted the comment out of respect for Dino and Dan.
What do you think? Are some people too sensitive? Was my comment harsh? Was I shaming the person when I posted that comment? Is there a bigger issue here that I’m missing?
