1) That Facebook advertising works. Tried it. It did nothing.

I marvel at the penetration of our social media obsession. A little strip mall near my home now has a sign out front. It says, “Follow us on Facebook!” What? Why would I care to add the goings on at a Radioshack, a grocery store, and a Wendy’s to my online social existence? Why would anyone?

You have nailed this one.
I have been thinking about this lately because of guys like Gary Vee and Chris Brogan people have bought into this idea that all they have to do is start a blog, tweet, and join forums and they got it made. I think we all know how realistic this is. What I think we might see in a couple of years is a lot of people who quit their jobs to start a blog and now need more work or a lot of blogs that are just adding to the clutter.

Also another lie is that having a blog will get you a book deal. I think this is a new trend and it seems to be true for some but that window seems to have passed honestly. Not necessarily because of the publishers but because the audience has become so use to bloggers writing books now that they (well at least I) are not interested.

My only counter to that is I’ve read studies that show the $ value person “fan” or “like” on Facebook for businesses. Leveraging the people on there isn’t easy but it can have a big dividend sometimes. For The Mentoring Project, building Twitter and Facebook helped us win a grant of $20k. Without those people behind us it would have been much more difficult to win.

Oh yes the blog book deal…ugh. Because I have a blog I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked when I’m going to write a book. I usually laugh and say never. Blogging and writing a book are so dissimilar to me.

that commenting on other people’s blogs will increase your traffic..

but seriously, thanks for the mid-afternoon, thought provoking moment.

@petey – but a guest post on another blog might

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tyler Braun, Dr. j and Encounter Prayer, Social DJ. Social DJ said: RT @tylerbraun: Lies about social media I've believed http://bit.ly/barIS2 #lies #socialweb [...]

Good article, Tyler. I think that thinking of social media as the endgame is the worst mistake of all, the biggest lie. Really, I think, it’s just a megaphone, and amplifier of what you already are or think. So going in order:

1. Your blog CAN land you a job if you are the type of person that is tenacious and driven. Then again, a casual conversation in a super market with a hiring manager from a local company can also do the same thing. It depends on more factors than just having a blog…you have to know how to use it, and want to use it to land a job.

2. Introverts that use social media as a communication forum usually do quite well with the written medium, but often shrivel into nothing when trying to meet their online friends in real life. I’ve seen this dozens of times. On the other hand, extroverts that use social media tend to really embrace the people they meet IRL after forming bonds online. I’ve also seen this dozens of times. I think social media always people to recreate and communicate differently online, but really amplifies their personality when those online connections go offline.

3. There are only two reasons that I can think of that make stats significant: getting a job and doing display advertising. For the first, I stand by point 1…if this is something that you are trying to do with your blog, it can be done. Depending on your industry, most employers like the idea that you have decent traffic. For advertising, it’s just simple math, and you will get paid per thousand page views. Outside of those two things I agree…nobody really cares about stats! I’ve read blogs that get ~100 uniques/month that have better content than some that have ~100,000 uniques/month

4. I couldn’t agree more! It is definitely NOT easy. Again, amplification comes in…if you are the type of person that works hard and is willing to put time into it, social media can be beneficial and fun. If you are not…well, it’s going to suck and you’ll think it’s fairly pointless.

Now it’s time for me to quit monopolizing your comments, and get back to the very hard work of social media…

Definitely there are exceptions to the rule or “lies” as I’ve called them, especially if your name is Chris Brogan. Always great to see the work you are doing and always have enjoyed your push for real connection in social media instead of a quick fix. Thanks for the comment Matt.

A guest post on my blog will definitely reap an amazing harvest of hits…

*wishful thinking*

#3 hits home for me more than the others.

How many times do I get something on my heart from God, only to share it and be bummed because the views or comments weren’t there? That essentially means that I immediately disregard something God-inspired and replace it with a need of it being something human-approved. A dangerous game, that is…

Tyler, awesome post. I agree in part with several of your points. There are a lot of lies that people and brands are buying into in regards to social media, and it’s quite frustrating.

1. My blog helped me land my job as well as well as line up several interviews. It wasn’t because of traffic, as I don’t get a significant amount. Nor was it regular posting – I choose to write selectively and write from a case study standpoint. But the analysis of brands that I showed demonstrated that I understood the field, and knew what the heck I was talking about.

2. I agree that true friendships and connections are made offline. They can definitely begin online, but nothing can compare to a bond you make with an individual over a beer or coffee. However, social media allows you to locate more people you want to connect with.

3. I get in arguments over numbers all the time. I’ll be in a meeting with a prospective client that has 30,000 Facebook fans, and they are content, believing that they are ‘doing social media.’ However when you look at their engagement statistics, nobody posts, comments, or interacts with their page. Therefore it doesn’t have value. I can then point them towards one of my active clients, who doesn’t have a comparatively large following (1700) yet over half of their fans interact with their page now every month – obviously providing a lot of value to the brand.

When it comes to numbers and individuals, sometimes it does matter. Why, because it’s an easy metric to look at, especially for someone that doesn’t know anything about the industry. I’ve seen people hired strictly for their follower count. But what it comes down to, again, is engagement. I prefer having a smaller tight knit following on Twitter that I engage with on a regular basis. These people are also, for the most part, geographically relevant to me. As opposed to the numerous people who have a large following and simply push content. However, you will also find people in the industry, like Mr. Matt Singley, who do an extremely good job at engaging their large audience. It can go both ways.

4. Definitely true. There’s also the perception that it’s also cheap/free since ‘anyone can signup for a Facebook account.’ This perception I feel is perpetuated by the large amount of ‘social media consultants’ that are out there that have never had any campaign experience, but since it’s relatively low overhead to start (especially if unemployed), they choose to join the market. However, this goes for any industry, there will always be people that distort the perception of the industry no matter where you are.

[...] My friend Tyler wrote a great blog this week about all the lies of Social Media. [...]

Honestly that does work, at least to a degree.

Great stuff Matt.
I do think there is an exception, and I think what you do (blog tweet etc…) is a good example. As I read this from Tyler I was thinking very limited, just in the Christian blogging scene. But I will say, if you can niche yourself out and really have a solid product a lot of the stuff you talked about and Tyler mentioned can become a reality.
But if you want to be a blogger that just talks about your life, then a lot of the stuff becomes a myth.

Good comments though

The biggest lie I have so far is …….
that blogging and face booking are just for fun. a lot of people take this stuff serious.

Wow… I need coffee because when I first read your page I thought you were hat tipping Viola over on “http://naminghisgrace.blogspot.com/”… LOL

But I think you’re right. I use FB to augment contact with family, church and friends. I use my blog to get things off my chest and to point at things “I” find interesting.

Peace bro and have a good weekend.
Alan
NOPO

Many of the “social media experts” were probably day traders in the late 90′s. That should give you a clue as to their “expertise.” They write articles called, “5 Ways To Market Your Business Online” and the astound people with a list that consists of:

1. Get a blog
2. Get a Facebook page
3. Get a Twitter account
4. Get a website
5. Email marketing

It’s kind of like telling a person who aspires to be a professional photographer to “Get a camera.”

As for friends, I’m naturally an extroverted guy so when i finally got to meet some tweeps for real, it was easy (as they were extroverts too) and almost like had known each other longer than we did. However, I do see your point and usually it is easy to tell the people who are online and almost desperate to a point for attention. You’ll see them tweet something (to nobody in particular), “Hey stop attacking me for being _____” and hoping for some of their online friends to “defend” them.

Good post Tyler.