Thursday 6 September 2012

Social Media Engagers Connectors Bludgers and Grubs

If you are involved in social media you will come across many characters who see themselves as leaders, at least in their apparent circle of 'influence'. Unfortunately many social media 'leaders' are not so social.

The appropriate dictionary definition of social in the context of social media is: "Attitudes, orientations, or behaviours which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour)." - Wikipedia

Obviously if you are using say Twitter to distribute information or ideas the reality is; once you get above a few dozen or so connections it will be extremely hard, or too time consuming to constantly interact with everyone.

One social media platform that describes itself as "social media rocket" fuel however almost demands by its design and style of operation a level of intimacy, co-operation, trust and reciprocation that is higher than most other platforms. If you are interested to take a look… it is:


One of the unique features of this social media platform is that you can offer rewards through missions to those that will help you achieve goals in other areas such as Facebook, Twitter Goolge+ etc. This is where the true individuals show their colours. Here is a recent mission I offered:



I won't mention individual players by name however my heading mentions four characters. In reverse order: 


Grubs: They are types that sponge off others, (e.g. in EAve. don't complete missions and just take the reward and run). This group also wants you to everything for them, share boring crap, help them become more notorious by voting them up silly competitions, offer nothing of value… other than that they see themselves as some sort of star or as "giants in their own lunch boxes". These characters often move away from what makes them popular in the first place and expect us love them for who they are rather than for the information they offer. I even saw one guy who offered tech advice do a video scolding his audience for asking what he considered dumb questions. He then started doing personal life videos and wondered why no one wanted to watch.

Bludgers: Well they sort of do stuff however always the minimum. They, in the case of EAve. as an example will do a few likes on a page that you want promoted however thats it. I even did a mission and gave away a large reward for doing nothing, just for being a shareholder and what did a get, a couple of guys didn't even leave a thank you note. These are not my idea of desirable social media types.

Connectors: Well they are numbers freaks. They want to have the most of everything, the most followers, the most accolades, the last word in every exchange and the biggest you know what on the planet. They spam, they manipulate, they just want bigger numbers. Often these types will have in their message or agenda a great idea you just must get involved in and they will flog it to death. These types see you as a potential customer and someone that can help get them what they want.

Engagers: These are the people we all seek. They believe in working for mutual benefit, they'll swap information and advice. They will complete task you want done as they understand the value of mutual leverage. They communicate and they are great to deal with. Many of these characters I believe would be great to meet face to face. These people without knowing it almost compel you to help them through their shear strength of character and demonstrated high levels of personal ethics.

So think about how you appear to others. What do your social media actions reveal bout you? Where you fit? I hope its in the social media engagers category.


25 comments:

  1. I was notified about this post on FB
    It was your very attractive headline which sucked me in!

    I wanted to see the grubs and bludgers named
    (Who would be shameless anyway about it) so I could avoid them or use EAV's block wizard on them

    (It has happened to me)

    By accident, I hope! I found out just how powerful EAV's block is!

    You should do a mission to this post and see what happens!

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  2. Great post.Hope that others see me as engager

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  3. Very nice article. Since I have been trying to become more accomplished in my Social Media skills, I found this article to be rather stimulating. I for one try to use a cause and effect technique to tell me if I am being productive or not. Since the field of Social Media is moving so fast, and because their is a lag effect on everything you do, this method has not proven very effective. I find myself moving through being a connector and an engager. It seems that EA rewards quantity as in connections. I am trying to balance expansion and engagement.

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  4. Your definition makes me kinda mix of bludger and engager me thinks.

    Add sense in terms of really adding sense which draws me in and thrills me . . . and I can easily 'overdo' in terms of sustain comments.

    Offer me kinda 'Week-end shareholder dividend' or 'Because you are great' and I'll take it and - as time is precious - do or forget to hit the 'like' button. As introvert I avoid 'public' thank-you's and shout outs.

    So . . . hmh . . .

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  5. Thanks for this post Richard. It is something to reflect on. Yes, striving to be an engager.

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  6. Agree with your categories. I dont have a blog or any other agenda - playing EA as a game.

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  7. Hi Richard, great post. There will always be the abusers online, but they kind of shoot themselves in the foot in the long run. I think that too many people use social media to just pump out offers, "business opportunities", and so on, rather than politely engaging. I believe that Empire Avenue is a unique platform that requires engagement in order to succeed. Thanks for the post.

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  8. Nice post Richard. I do agree with the categories you have given. I do see a lot of people just taking the eaves and not helping at all with what was required of the mission. It is unfortunate.

    We all want people to engage with some real intent. But unfortunately Empire Avenue is a platform that does not really encourage this. It encourages spammy content and people doing these 'missions' solely for their own benefit.

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  9. Nice post Richard. I do agree with the categories you have given. I do see a lot of people just taking the eaves and not helping at all with what was required of the mission. It is unfortunate.

    We all want people to engage with some real intent. But unfortunately Empire Avenue is a platform that does not really encourage this. It encourages spammy content and people doing these 'missions' solely for their own benefit.

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  10. Love having names for some of the behavior types. Thanks, Ric.

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  11. Love having names for some of the "types". Thanks, Ric.

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  12. omg Richard... this isn't a user friendly text :/ sorry...

    borrrrrrrrrring, I almost fell asleep

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  13. omg Richard... this isn't a user friendly text :/ sorry...

    borrrrrrrrrring, I almost fell asleep

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  14. Very well put Richard.

    I suppose I fall within the connector and engager definitions. Although I'm not a connection monger, I will link up with someone for a potential future outreach and engagement.

    I'm sure some people are also miscategorized in some cases. Participating in missions on EAv is tricky sometimes, especially when you are protecting a brand, image, and it's related content. I will often sacrifice my personal network scores by using accounts not connected with EAv while still keeping things relevant and content specific.

    Rather than RT a music video via my business account connected with EAv, I'll use @nightclublinx, an entertainment related account for such efforts. Rather than post a message about XYZ charity using my business connected account, I'll use @TheLinxGroup to keep things in perspective. The same goes for Facebook likes, comments, etc.

    Naturally, this adds no value to my personal score on EAv but I hope it builds upon a future engagement with the individual I'm completing a mission for. Creating a group on EAv helps to filter quality social media engagers. You set a great example to us all.

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  15. Very well put Richard. Mission thieves should be shot... ok maybe that's a little exaggerated, but c'mon... EAv doesn't make it cheap to run a mission!

    I suppose I fall within the connector and engager definitions. Although I'm not a connection monger, I will link up with someone for a potential future outreach and engagement. I tend to do this with marketing and social media people as well as oil and gas industry aficionados.

    I'm sure some people are also miscategorized in some cases. Participating in missions on EAv is tricky sometimes, especially when you are protecting a brand, image, and it's related content. I will often sacrifice my personal network scores by using accounts not connected with EAv to fulfill a mission, while still keeping things relevant and content specific.

    Rather than RT a music video via my business account connected with EAv, I'll use @nightclublinx, an entertainment related account for such efforts. Rather than post a message about XYZ charity using my business connected account, I'll use @TheLinxGroup to keep things in perspective. The same goes for Facebook likes, comments, etc.

    Naturally, this adds no value to my personal score on EAv but I hope it builds upon a future engagement of trust with the individual I'm completing a mission for. Creating a group on EAv helps to filter quality social media engagers. You set a great example to us all.

    (shameless plug) invest in (e)UECTT :D
    http://www.empireavenue.com/UECTT

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  16. Couldn't have said it better, and that "boring crap" cracked me up. I always try to finish the missions best I can, I just wish others would as well. After all, it's not real money, so why cheat?

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  17. What do you call someone who offers shareholders "a large reward for doing nothing," and then complains about those who did nothing? A wee bit disingenuous?

    Don't get me wrong, I love EAv missions, and I strive to leave a thumbs up and a comment on every one I complete, but some types of missions don't let you do so after you hit the mission button, and some users are not aware of these expectations. When I first started completing EAv missions, I had no idea that comments and thumbs up were expected on every one. Is there a rulebook that explains this?

    As in your example above, it is better to explain in the mission requirements that you want a comment if that is what you seek.

    And then we have to remember that this "social media rocket fuel" powers an inefficient engine. Some of the actions we buy will not appear--the technology can fail, not all users will understand our expectations and, yes, some users will exempt themselves from the rules of fair play. I figure a thumbs up, retweet, or like from a bludger or grub probably wouldn't have been worth what I paid for it anyway.

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  18. Nice article !! Thanks to share !!

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  19. As you must know I have been running missions daily for months... it has helped a lot for spreading DES awareness. People are people and yes there are all sorts on EA... thanks for a great post :)

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  20. Nice "G" rated labels...I have heard some of your first two categories called other, less flattering names.

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  21. Thanks Richard. As in all of life, the social media universe, and Empire Avenue, those same types of people appear everywhere. Engagement is the best choice, and it offers rewards beyond money or eaves or numbers, the form of relationships with people. In the end, people matter. Numbers and those other score cards do not.

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  22. First of all thank you very much Ric for letting me in your EA community. Also, thank you for this post! Nice "definitions" :-)
    Off to share it all around...

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  23. Great post Richard. Thanks from Germany

    Hansjörg

    www.der-bank-blog.de

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