The Last of the Nerd-hegians
WOWWW!! Thank you guys so so much for the posts and RTs, holy hell Batman!! AOL totally caught me, and finally set the video to private. But this setting error on their behalf brought up a pretty gnarly point I've been trying to create a post on.
Warning: I am probably going to offend a few people with this post, but I hate to break it to you, I. Just. Don't. Care.
Social media is successful because the kids running it are the largest technologically adaptive generation to ever walk this planet.
Similar to the hockey birthday comparison, and the 10,000 hour rule in Outliers; success in social media is dependent upon those under the age of 30, and over the age of 24.
I know ... I know ... I just got back from the future and wow, the disdain! This is clearly an opinion piece, but MAN!! I think I am on to something ...
Those that fall in that age range have learned to adapt with less than perfect technology. Think about it, Nintendo was released in 1985, and what did we all do to our games?? Blow in them to make it work!! There was even a whole science to it.
Place two hands on the game.
Blow with slight moisture in a perfect 90 degree angle.
Sound familiar? It's okay, we all did it.
We were conditioned to adapt to technology. It is us, and we are it. People keep asking me over and over how I see the things that I do, if this medium is so much like a jellyfish; my response is always the same - you're crazy!! All of life moves like a jellyfish; social media is only a reflection of that. It is only our perception that we have balance and stability. What does all that mean anyway?? Our eyes move a mile a minute bouncing around at various stimulants ... did you actually EVER think that there was one direct way and one direct path to success and communicating a message to the masses?? This is just a more tangible way to understand that basic principal.
Our generation however was conditioned from the womb to adapt to said measures. No matter what, we dealt with the pain of dial up, suffered through olive green screen imagery; we took what we had and made the best of it. WE MADE IT WORK! That has made us CRAAAZZZYYY successful!!!
Social media is just a tool. I ask people all the time, what kind of message do you want to send? If you could talk to a few thousand of your customers, what message would you want to convey? If you don't know, you may have bigger problems than "getting on the facebook and the twitter."
Do you realize we are the last generation to ever be born without the internet? For reals ... this is it!
There is nothing to "game." I was very literally CONDITIONED to be like this. I can't help it! It's absolutely the reason why this site has taken off - I listen to people, find out what is working, what isn't and then ADAPT!!!! That's IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a very simple message I am communicating: I want to unite the nerds of the world while simultaneously reclaiming the word. Nerd TNTML style: Nerds are hot, cool, sexy, and techie.
Simple message ... free advertising of said message ... do ya get it now?? We see things like you don't. It doesn't make us special, it just makes us awesome. Stop trying to figure us out, and just let us play. We'll figure it out.
