The Holy Trinity of Happiness
You Can Do Anything on Twitter
The other day my frenemy, Kerry McKibbin, posted the video below on Facebook and it made me and a few others wince with pain. The video pokes fun at what they call the “YouTube” generation. What they are referring to is the large number of pseudo-famous people who post videos on YouTube or tweet on Twitter who, for one reason or another, go viral overnight and then take their unexpected, short lived, accidental fame as expertise in whatever it is they got “famous” for. Here’s the vid.
DISCLAIMER: I Do not own the rights to this video and clearly neither does the poster of the vid. NBC Universal may at anytime remove the content, sue the crap out of the user who posted it from YouTube and repost it on their own channels/sites. Please don’t hurt me, NBC.
The ghosts of Antoine Dodson, Hungrybear9562 (double rainbow guy), and, I’m sad to say, a lot of people I’ve met at various social media events, conferences, outings rattle their chains as I write this. The vid satirizes “Twitter famous” people who, by virtue of their sizable followings, feel entitled to whatever it is they want. The character played by Daniel Radcliffe very poignantly explains that he got on the show by complaining to his many followers on twitter that he deserved to be on the show – the online equivalent of a spoiled kid tantrum or… terrorism.
It’s funny and yet so painful because it’s true. It’s the real dark side of the two-way conversation that has been opened up by social media and just about every “influencer” I have met is guilty of doing it to some degree at some point; myself included. I hang my head in shame at the admission of it but I did catch myself in the past and made my amends where necessary. Lalawag calls this phenomenon “Social Media Entitlement Syndrome” and there are a few variations to the meaning of the term from that most excellent article. I encourage you to read it:
1. Feeling and behaving as if one should be granted certain privileges (event access, free products, job offers) because he/she is well-known in social media.
2. Expecting all-access to an individual’s private life because he/she occasionally posts personal items in social networks.
3. Acting like it’s acceptable and normal to piss (bombard w/comments, tweets, DMs) on someone’s social stream.
4. Demanding that people retweet your content, and resenting them if they don’t.
5. Assuming that because you correspond with someone via social media, you should be invited to every social gathering that person plans or is involved with.
Some of them are more poignant for others, but you get the picture. If the video didn’t make you cringe enough, finding out that you’re guilty of one of the above will rub salt in the wound. I’ve noticed something of a binary divide in people you find on twitter and other social networks: people are either thought leaders with something to show for it (i.e. a book, a career in an related field, training, a popular blog) or they are noisemakers (read: social media bums) who are all over twitter but tend to have none of the aforementioned things coupled with a very vague twitter bio that mentions their love for cats and food.
Suck it up, social media sweetcake.
The thing is that even before I saw the video I’ve noticed and been aware of the issue but not given it much focused thought. What I can tell you is that the issue itself is in part responsible for my far less frequent posts on this here blog. You could say I’ve lost my joie de vivre for posting for the sake of posting about my life. It all started when I changed the direction of this blog to be more about the reader than me as much as possible. I try to post about things that are within reach of a reader rather than brag about that super exclusive event I was invited to. If I go to something like that (although lately I haven’t had any time to do it for some time now) then I usually offer readers an opportunity to join me there or reap some benefit from the sponsor of the event. Still you’ll notice that my posts have been going mostly in the direction of marketing, advertising, SEO, futurism and so on.
This all goes right back to the Social Media Elephant in the Room and it’s no wonder why there is an ever growing cohort of people who just can’t wait to declare social media “dead” because they see, like you may be starting to now, what was described above. However social media is still big business even if the adoption rate is still a bit slow among bigger companies who are accustomed to outbound communications. The value is still that two-way channel of communication that can make or break a company in terms of marketing and increase accountability. However, the dark side that is entitlement remains and it’s hard to tell if it’s going anywhere any time soon.
I too have noticed this, more so after I got very ill and was offline for over 2 weeks. When I came back I noticed this with a Facebook page I was a regular and contributed content to. What I find is that it is not the person’s true fault for this but the people that give them the attention for being well them. I do recognize the people with true talent that use social media to get their talent noticed.
Two sides of the coin for sure. One dark, one light.
I don’t agree that the video is about people who are “famous” in social, “influencers,” etc.
Quite the opposite. I think it’s about how 20 somethings now BELIEVE they’re famous / awesome / special / good at something — without any grounds. It’s about people who aren’t famous but who think they are famous. Or people who aren’t good at something but who think they are.
For me, the thesis of the video is that Generation Y has been brought up by parents who unfailingly cheer their efforts as opposed to their achievements. It’s about a generation that was told that being famous doesn’t require any kind of particular talent (Kardashians) and that anyone can be a star (American Idol, Antoine Dodson), all while wrapped in the false warmth of internet hugs from digital friends.
What the video speaks to is that this type of “you’re-the-best-no-matter-what-I-love-you-you’re-so-special-because-you’re-special-you-can-be-a-star!!!” parenting as well as shifting cultural norms have resulted in a Generation Y afflicted with dangerously inflated self-confidence and corresponding false sense of entitlement.
How this generational phenomenon plays out in social media is only a part of what the video is mocking.
I don’t know if it’s about parenting in specific as a cause to the entitlement. There’s no way all parents have been that encouraging. God knows my parents were nothing like that. School of hard knocks, I tell ya. When I was a kid we ate peanuts and didn’t close schools down because some kids were allergic to this that or the other. School yard fights were just a fact of life, and…we walked to school uphill both ways? I think it’s just that a lot of people see social media see an easy way to get attention or the ability to write their own ticket with what they think will be an easy job.
Fair that not all Gen Y parents are like this, but there are differences between Gens X and Y.
Gen X: grew up in a time of uncertainty, divorce, latch key kids, AIDS, friends became family, Challenger disaster, hole in the Ozone layer, recession, etc.
Gen Y: grew up in a time of instant fame, economic boom, encouraging parents who told their children to question authority, the internetz as a means to curate one’s own identity, self-promotion, “you can do anything” culture, etc.
I think this results in a generation that believes they can do anything….even if they’re dangerously unqualified. That’s what the video is about. It’s not about people who are famous on twitter. It’s about people who think (wrongly) that being on twitter means they’re famous.
“ It’s not about people who are famous on twitter. It’s about people who think (wrongly) that being on twitter means they’re famous.” Exactly.
Very interesting article. I didn’t grow up with my parents telling me how wonderful I was and special but I definitely grew up in that generation (born in 1980.) Self-confidence comes not from someone telling you you’re great but by actually accomplishing things. Remarkable concept I know. Likewise going on Twitter or Facebook and screaming you’re talented doesn’t make you talented. You actually have to work at things.