Who made the social media rules?
Since the Motrin uproar and Chris Brogan scrutiny I have been wondering (out loud to some) who made/makes the social media rules? Is it a person? By committee? By culture? I still have yet to receive an answer.
As marketers it’s our nature to test, test again and re-test…and to push the limits. When did this change? Let’s face it, times have changed with technology advancements. And not all people involved in social media are marketers (or people involved in communications, PR, SEO, etc.). And as marketers we need to understand that and move forward with new ways to market (anyone remember when SEO/SEM was new?).
Social media is new territory and we are still learning and exploring. Being social with other people or customers isn’t anything new. Being trustworthy shouldn’t be worth an award or prize, it should just be. There should always be etiquette when dealing with other people, that’s just common decency. And we should be plain smart about how we present ourselves. You get what I am saying…
Social media is already coined the wild west and these types of incidents just convince companies even more so that it is. And this untamed wildness isn’t just effecting social media…it’s spreading to traditional marketing too. If it’s not the wild west, then perhaps it’s an ivory tower because a lot of people seem to want to put themselves on pedestals.
So, I just have one question. Who made the social media rules?
And if anyone can’t answer that question, then why should we follow them? And why should people be chastised for bending or breaking unwritten rules?
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The community makes the rules, but the rules are constantly changing. They don’t change immediately, necessarily; but it’s still a great space for marketers to test what works and what doesn’t (and what doesn’t work now may work later!).
That’s also why it’s necessary to be a part of the community and not just ‘blast’ things – you’ll find out when the rules have changed! (I hope the one rule that stays constant is that people in social media demand the marketers in the space actually stay involved in the discussions.)
Are there RULES?
Or are there guidelines for each type of Twitterer.
I had an interesting chat this morning with a leading Marketeer on Twitter and they were thinking of changing something because one person had replied to them negatively about it! That person is a so called authority but who gives the right to make someone use Twitter their way? certainly not me!
I have opinions I have things I like and don’t like but that’s me not YOU, you decide how you want to use it!
I would say that the rules are created by whomever your target audience is. You have to appeal to them and nobody else.
This of course will be different for everyone, so the rules for one person or company will not be the same for another.
At least that’s how I see it!
Jill Whalen’s last blog post..Articles and Interviews – Stuff You Might Like
The rules are arrived at by consensus through the infinite loop of interaction. It’s still OK to experiment and try new things, but what _really_ matters is how you react when the group you’re interacting with decides that what you’ve done is outside the boundaries of their self-decided rules. The rules are really individual, but the “Social Media Rules” are decided by feedback of those individuals – when the majority (or at least the most outspoken) decide something is outside of their personal rules and react to it, then the “Social Media Rules” have been broken. It really is a case of trial and error – but the main thing is that when you make an “error” (which may not really be an error other than offending a group you did not intend to offend), you ract to it in a way that makes the group aware that _you_ are aware you’ve broken their rules. Whether you want to continue breaking their rules and find a different group to attract or to apologize, change, and move on with the current group is entirely up to you.
Russell Tripp’s last blog post..Forget What You Know
Social Media is ‘Lord of the Flies’ at the moment the rules are being made as we go along.
Damian Holmes’s last blog post..Vancouver Olympic Architecture review
Hi Beth,
Great post as usual.
I believe that when it comes to *social* media rules it does come down to social norms and what individuals are comfortable with. Some things are common to all while others depends on the person’s own filters (culture, personal experience, nationality). I don’t think there is one set of rules. Just like there isn’t one set of laws or one set of social norms. Good analogy to the Wild West. I think we’re still feeling out the boundaries and there is nothing wrong with that. It will definitely be interesting to watch this evolve.
Beth, Paul Chaney and I were discussing this very thought yesterday. It truly is like the first few years of “the internet” when there were no rules. We have established the way “we” should act, but there is no way to control someone’s actions. They are free to do and say what they will, and we unfortunately, are an audience to that.
With that being said, for someone to pick a side or for a mob to take a stance and pass judgement…makes me think of the line,” lest he throw the first stone”, right?
Was it right for Chris to be raked over the coals? No. Was any one person right? No. I can say though, that there were missteps all the way down the line. But you are right in saying that this is new territory and we all are learning, including Chris and Jeremiah. What I do wish though, is that the people that are or were quick to judge, and even those who were there to defend, step back and analyze, and learn and then maybe discuss-instead of speak first, speak some more…speak even more and then after the damage has been done, move on to another topic…which is typical.
That won’t happen. What will happen though is that some thought leaders might be reticent to share their thoughts and ideas for fear of retribution and rebuke and thats a shame. For all of us.
Marc Meyer’s last blog post..Social Media in 2009 is as simple as this…
[...] of social media. The only way we’re going to learn the rules is through testing (hat tip to Beth Harte). I do know that Gary V talks about social media and wine with a passion I haven’t seen in [...]
In 1998, Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf won People Magazines’ most Beautiful Person in the world. And the story was that the world wide web was the wold west, where no rules applied. If Howard Stern could get a bunch of people to write in Hank, then what good could the internet be?
That was 10 years ago. But it’s important to note that we’ve never really gotten away from the notion that we’re not in as much control as we wish. That was a high profile moment for the web being an out of control, no rules place. We’ll have more.
Rules imply control. But they also imply best practices. We need best practices. That’s where testing and learning will come in.
Matt Hames’s last blog post..Web 2.0 isn’t magic
Hear, hear!
When I first joined Twitter, I heard a lot of unhelpful “rules” — e.g. that good etiquette *dictated* that you would follow back everyone who followed you. That never made sense to me, in large part because it deviated from the way we use most other media. E.g., just because I’ve watched David Letterman for a long time doesn’t mean I think he should take an interest in me and my work.
Insofar as social media *is* conversational (like a personal letter, a telephone call, or a face-to-face chat), then yes, by all means respond/follow. But insofar as it’s like broadcast — no, you *don’t* have to follow everybody, and to suggest that everyone *must* do so is obtuse.
As you rightly point out, not everybody in social media is using it for marketing. Not everybody is using it for professional networking. Et cetera. And while there are some good rules of thumb around any medium (e.g. don’t have a disruptively loud cell-phone conversation in a public place), it’s silly to think that everybody will use a given medium the same way, whether the medium in question is Twitter, the telephone, printed books, or whatever.
The hard part is that each of us must figure out what works for *ourselves*.
Tim (@Twalk) Walker’s last blog post..Restart NOW.
Terrific post…I wrote about this to some degree – in a tangential kind of way – this morning. I’ve got to go with this: you better feel okay with how you behave…from there, you’ll get back what you put out – 10 fold and then some.
So glad to find you and your blog…thanks for writing.
Julie
Julie Roads’s last blog post..The ‘hello, goodbye’ game
“As marketers it’s our nature to test, test again and re-test…and to push the limits. When did this change?”
It hasn’t changed, Beth, nor should it. Instead of instigating witch hunts we might consider watching and learning. Declaring anything off limits just prevents us from discovering hidden treasure.
Thanks for being a voice of reason!
Happy holidays to you and yours. ~Lisa
Lisa Hoffmann’s last blog post..The Internet Changes Everything – and Nothing at All
The rules in this case are the sum of millions of individual actions, reactions, interactions, etc. An “acceptable” action helps confirms a viable path one way, while an unacceptable action contributes to where the group perceives the limits to be. It’s sort of like an unwritten constitution, where the parameters of lawful behavior are set by precedent, but can shift over time as norms evolve. And, as Arié Moyal pointed out, one culture’s boundaries are not necessarily those of the next.
As always an interesting post Beth!
I kind of liken where we are now with Social Media as to when we were all starting kindergarten…suddenly we’re all in this big room, learning how to talk and play with each other. We have little reference guides, some more than others.
I find researching Social Anthropology helps me to get some understanding of where we are, or where we’re going. Social Media is, as Clay Shirky has pointed out, about sociology; forming groups.
I think our general social behaviours are at play; just amplified.
Some good insights by commenters here, I will read again more closely.
Webconomist’s last blog post..On Social Networks for Business
Great post – I am always curious about how much our individual motivators (values) etc. play into making our own rules. After that there are people who have rules about the rules – as in “my rules only apply to me but you have to decide for yourself” or “my way or the highway for everyone”
Great post. I was thinking the same thing yesterday when reading the comments on Chris Brogan’s blog.
I think that by setting rules we are limiting the capabilities of social media, and limiting the ways people use it. One person’s definition of acceptable behaviour may not align with another person, but that’s okay – that’s the beauty of social media, that everyone can express themselves individually.
Although it’s great to hear people like Chris back up their actions and explain why they do certain things, I don’t think it’s necessary.
The community does. Does this suck sometimes? Absolutely. But the community still defines and enforces the “unwritten” rules of social media. It also can change on a dime…and be extremely unpredictable. A lot of times it is not even logical in the minds of many…but with a crowd mentality one bad idea (or good idea) can have a domino effect and spread like wildfire.
Stuart Foster’s last blog post..Interactive Social Media
Just to differentiate:
There are guidelines that are posted for new users who might want to avoid behavior that would embarrass them and get them ostracized.
Then there are RULES that are posted by self-appointed vigilantes who want to impose their Utopian ideal of how an online community ought operate.
Both are opinions, and given the subject matter are only valid for a few weeks or so.
Ike’s last blog post..Absolution
I think there are no social media ‘rules’. It’s because of the ‘lack of rules’ that the social values flourish. Authentic energy, passion and intrinsic values fuel these new social infrastructures. The language of the heart, so to speak, has finally found an easy outlet to speak up. Organizations make rules, organisms grow.
There will be missteps and there will be people who rail against them, even if we didn’t understand it to be a misstep until it was done. Just as in society there are gradients of what is deemed acceptable, I think there will always be different levels of adherence to *rules,* either by choice, potential gain or ignorance. I just hope that these dust-ups begin to have shorter life spans so that we might continue the push forward, then again, I suppose the attention it is given is up to each of us— the unofficial rule makers.
Amanda’s last blog post..A Bear of a Client
“As marketers it’s our nature to test, test again and re-test…and to push the limits. When did this change?”
I have to disagree with this. It hasn’t changed. It doesn’t exist. In my 30 years experience working w/ major brands all over the world Marketers are horrible at testing.
They will test creative before using it, sometimes, but the real reason is to provide an alibi in case it doesn’t “work.” But ask them to do a market test, which require real money, or be systematic about testing, which requires real patience, and they go on about putting all their limited budget against driving the business forward, bla, bla, bla. What they really don’t want is a failure attached to their reputation, which may well happen if they actually measure things in a meaningful way.
The rules would happen a lot faster if marketers tested and were OK that sometimes an idea just isn’t going to work. Now it’s Darwinism. As @Sarah said in the first comment, “the community makes the rules.”
James Hipkin’s last blog post..Effective Online Advertising – The Secret Revealed
There are no “rules” per say. It’s fluid and dynamic and hopefully…HOPEFULLY, it will remain a self- policing organism. The very heart of social media is to be able to band together and discuss something whether it be positive or negative. The winners will adapt to the feedback.
Dana Fosburgh’s last blog post..DanaFosburgh: RT @eklund: start spreading the news…mats has decided I am told. New blog up. I’m going to Disneyland! Say it ain’t so ! ! ! !
Marketers standing on the sidelines aren’t going to be able to keep up. The best action we can take is to be an organic part of the social community and gradually learn the rules along with everyone else.
Excellent post Beth.
Each time the game changes, the participants have to figure out the rules together. Web sites, SEO, email, behavioral targeting (this week), analytics.
And then on the offline side, TV, XM etc. all disintermediated the technologies that preceded them.
The rule creation process is the same every time. It unfortunately requires people to go “out of bounds”, to stretch the boundaries to get the community to thoughtfully consider what best practices should be.
Thus, the rule creation process is almost entirely organic (until the Feds get involved), and involves a series of individual events where we all decide whether we want it to work that way.
Today’s technology enables us to weigh in on that debate much more quickly and publicly. What seems like a “firestorm” is really just the rules assessment process, speeded up for an “always on” age.
The very first Internet company I worked for sent the very first commercial bulk Spam email (circa early 1993). There weren’t any rules about it (and it certainly didn’t have a name). But, the community determined they didn’t want that type of email communication.
While I feel bad for Motrin and Brogan for getting caught in the maelstrom, the process they’ve undergone (with all of us as judge and jury) is what makes the rules.
It’s Democracy by Blog Post. And while it’s not perfect, I’ll take it over an edict any day.
Jason Baer’s last blog post..7 Ingredients in the Perfect Twitter Profile
Regardless of rules/no rules, guidelines/no guidelines, standards/no standards, if we DONT ask these questions then how can we know what works or what doesnt work?
By asking we figure all of this out. Seeing how much of an uproar this subject created with the social media/blogging community there obviously are some unsettled questions.
Question: If you don’t address something, does it just magically go away? If you ignore something, does it just not exist anymore?
Valid questions deserve valid discussion.
I’m glad everyone is thinking about these important issues. As you said, social media is viewed by some as the wild west. If we don’t want it to be viewed that way anymore then it would do us some good to talk about things.
Over time we all will figure out what works for us here. It may not be pretty at times, some people may get hurt feelings, but the only way to figure things out is to ask the hard questions.
I love seeing the social media sphere change everyday and marvell at where it is going. It’s a wonderful time we’re living in right now. We can either make things happen or allow things to happen to us.
Here’s to the future!
Damien Basile’s last blog post..Causechat: Design- Ethics In Design
I truly believe, common respect is the guiding rule.
But everyone has the right to take a chance. It may not workout for them or their campaign, but we are always bending and changing the “rules” as we know them.
Any advertising campaign whether social or otherwise has the possibility to do great or bomb. But we must move forward from there. And to be truly honest the worst campaigns get just as much attention “advertising” as the best.
Dawn’s last blog post..2008 Online word of the year Networking. Would you Agree?
Fantastic post, Beth! And a great conversation in the comments as well.
Several have touched on it but the community and these types of situations are what makes the rules. Yes, fiascoes like these doesn’t shed a good light for Social Media on companies that may be looking to dip their toes in but on the flip, it could help provide case studies and hopefully help solidify some of these SM rules.
It’ll be an interesting 2009 for SM, to say the least.
Sonny Gill’s last blog post..Get Off Your Pedestal
Just respect people and don’t try to cheat. But what is cheating?
The “rules” as it were are going to be as diverse as the community that adopts – or shuns – them.
What’s acceptable in one arena might not be in another. Rules won’t work, because it’s all about context and application.
Black and white is irrelevant, especially in business today. The guidelines and rules for participation – save some basic (what ought to be) common sense stuff – evolves according to the community at issue. Motrin’s rules are now different than Dell’s which are different than Chris Brogan’s or Geoff Livingston’s or Todd Defren’s.
The only – I repeat only – way that we’re ever going to make headway with social media in a business context is if we quit thinking in terms of gross generalities, and start using the tenets of this space as a foundation upon which to build instead of blanket policies unto themselves.
Amber Naslund’s last blog post..Seven things…
Beth,
Thank you for writing this post. I’ve wondering, much the same as you and other commenters here have, about this idea. Recent events on Twitter have also made me question whether we somehow “forget” how the tools work when we’re using them ourselves. The very people we want to hire us to teach them how to use the tools watch Twitter to see how it works and see us swarm in a debate that in any business setting would have been held “offline.”
Liz Strauss’s last blog post..Social Networking: User Generated Content and Community
Hi Beth,
You couldn’t of stated it more accurately! Social marketing is very new, to all of us, and there will be rules made and broken before we all get to the “Utopia Social World”. Like you stated, the Wild, Wild West, but let’s hope that we don’t have to wait 100+ years to get a normalized society.
Everyone, thank you SO much for a great conversation around the “rules” of social media! Your insights and comments, as always, are enlightening and meaningful in moving social media forward.
A few additional thoughts…
If we think it’s up to the community to make the rules (as most said), then we must ask ourselves before diving in on the tackle “are we a part of this community?” What do I mean by this…
Well, lots of folks jumped all over Motrin, but might not have been in their target market. We still don’t have all the facts there, but lots of assumptions were made from Motrin was wrong to their tone was wrong. Well, how can I, a women w/o children, even know that? I am not in their market, right? I took a stab at defending Motrin, but really, I have no clue about that market and never will.
And as for Chris, if his Dad-o-Matic community & co-bloggers had no issue with his K-Mart post (and with 448 comments as of today, perhaps they didn’t. But, I don’t know for sure, I didn’t read them all…) then why the uproar? Again, I am not a dad, nor am I part of his community, so…
@MarcMeyer, “What will happen though is that some thought leaders might be reticent to share their thoughts and ideas for fear of retribution and rebuke and thats a shame. For all of us.” Totally agree and I hope this never happens. We all need to work together in the marketing/SM/PR/Communications community to make sure it doesn’t happen.
@JamesHipkin, unfortunately, it sounds like you have worked with some marketers that didn’t understand the basic importance of testing. And I am not talking about marcom folks when I say test. I mean ALL marketers…product marketers, brand managers, product developers, etc. Let’s not make a broad brush stroke that lumps all marketers together.
[...] How do you feel about rules in general? Beth Harte, of The Harte of Marketing recently asked, Who made the social media rules? Below are my thoughts, but I’d love to know yours! Maybe it’s because I’m so [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onWho made the social media rules? | The Harte of MarketingHere’s a quick excerptAnd not all people involved in social media are marketers (or people involved in communications, PR, SEO, etc.). And as marketers we need to understand that and move forward with new ways to market (anyone remember when SEO/SEM was new? … [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onWho made the social media rules? | The Harte of MarketingHere’s a quick excerptOne person’s definition of acceptable behaviour may not align with another person, but that’s okay – that’s the beauty of social media, that everyone can express themselves individually. …. Welcome to The Harte of Marketing! … [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onWho made the social media rules? | The Harte of MarketingHere’s a quick excerptAnswer one question, who made the social media rules? [...]
@bethharte I am thrilled you have worked w/ folks who believe in testing. It gives me heart that things are changing. I believe testing is extremely important.
But, my experience has been different than yours. Over 30 years I’ve worked with CPG, Automotive, Telco, Airline, and retail on three continents and without exception their POV on testing has been all talk and little action.
I sincerely hope this is changing.
James
James Hipkin’s last blog post..Hiring an Ad Agency – 4 Quick Tips
@JamesHipkin, Wow! I find that interesting…CPG, Automotive, Telco and Airline. What does that tell us? Perhaps they feel they don’t need to test given regs and who their target markets are…
I have been in the high-tech industry and we always tested. For direct mail, it used to be not only A/B splits (messaging), but sometimes A/B/C/D. The one with the most attention typically became an ad, but not until tested. Also a lot of focus groups, customers groups, etc.
Might explain why those industries struggle with social media, they never had to “converse” before with customers. But, I can’t speak for them, it’s just an observation. Bert (up above) is in the consumer industry and is very successful with SM. Maybe it depends on the company.
Thank you so much for the insights, you have my brain spinning around now.
@bethharte, I echo @JamesHipkin’s sentiments. Before my recent leap into the healthcare and pharma verticals, my online marketing and advertising experience is rooted in automotive (I’m in Detroit, what did you expect?), retail, telco, and government.
Throughout my time in these industries, the type of testing we’re discussing was almost never given consideration with the exception of some direct marketing A/B splits. The interactive marketers didn’t do it. And they have the most sophisticated tools to do so!
I hope my and @JamesHipkin’s experience is the exception, not the rule or we all have a tall mountain to climb.
Ken Burbary’s last blog post..2008 Twitter Reflections
[...] listened to bloggers, and bloggers immediately slapped them on the wrist for doing so. My friend Beth Harte blogged about how Motrin and Chris Brogan also ran into problems because they apparently violated the [...]
[...] that will weed out the doers and the talkers – but not without some bumps in the road, such as the Motrin Moms and Kmart/Izea brouhahas. This recent happening is no different and will only put more doubts in [...]
[...] How do you feel about rules in general? Beth Harte, of The Harte of Marketing recently asked, Who made the social media rules? Below are my thoughts, but I’d love to know yours! Maybe it’s because I’m so [...]
[...] listened to bloggers, and bloggers immediately slapped them on the wrist for doing so. My friend Beth Harte blogged about how Motrin and Chris Brogan also ran into problems because they apparently violated the [...]
[...] My point is this: We shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss or criticize those who defy our behavioral codes in pursuit of new marketing tactics. Beth (yep, that Beth again) nails it when she asks, “Who made the social media rules?” [...]
Damien hits it on the head with the “Lord of the Flies” analogy. Would that we could rescue ourselves…
hdbbstephen on Twitter’s last blog post..hdbbstephen: Thinking about wrapping this all up and watching some TV. Is there a CSI on tonight?
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I am totally agree with Sarah Fowler!
Community makes the rules and when we talk about Internet then it is also a community which constantly changing!
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