Christopher S. Penn's Awaken Your Superhero - Latest Comments in How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Josh Peters — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:29:22 -0000

@Joe in a recent issue Dick relaized just that. That Batman wasn't Bruce Wayne, but that Batman was a symbol for the city. I think he'll be on the right track now ;)

As for the narcissism I think it's just a natural thing that is sometimes hard to deal with and easy to do without thining. We always talk about what we know best, and we know ourselves better than any other subject. So maybe the narcissim stems from spending too much time on the networks without a goal in mind.

I just read today that Facebook now accounts for 4.1 minutes of every 100 minutes spent online (& 1/3 of all social network traffic). Which when considering how big a place the internet is that is a TON of traffic. Maybe people are spending more and more time on it and other networks, running out of things to do / say but don't want to get offline so they turn to themselves and begin indulging in the one subject where everyone is an expert. Ourselves.

Just a thought.
Thanks for the great post,
Josh

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

phr0ggi — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:06:41 -0000

Awesome post. Totally on point about how social media *should* be approached.
If only more people got the "social" bit in social media.
(BONUS POINTS for the Batman reference!!)

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Marc Meyer — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:45:13 -0000

You're right. We work for others. More work comes when we do great work for others, not when we do great for ourselves. If you're all about your personal brand, good luck with that.

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Amber Naslund — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:04:20 -0000

This evokes a thought I've harbored for years, but always gets me shot at when I articulated it.

If the work behind the brands is amazing, the brands develop themselves. A little nurturing and guidance maybe, but enduring brands transcend themselves by being something amazing. Doing something valuable nearly always speaks for itself. The credit happens naturally. And oddly, the people driving some of these amazing efforts online are quick to shine the spotlight on others. Which, in turn, causes us to remember *them* all the more vividly. Funny, that...

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Beth Dunn — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:46:55 -0000

...and by doing, we become more and more defined by those actions.

"We are what we repeatedly do."

Thank you for the mention, and the compliment. :)

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

TimWalker — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:21:24 -0000

I like this a lot, Christopher. It reminds me of what Kathy Sierra is always saying -- it's not about how *you* kick ass, but about how you help your *users* kick ass.

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:41:57 -0000

This does seem like the most effective solution. However, as I noted in a comment on Mitch's post, you really can't just deliver value, you also have to be known as the person who delivers the value. Otherwise, it's just anonymous charity, which is a great thing, but might not have the intended results.

Re: How Batman will help you beat social media narcissism

Joe — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:37:51 -0000

We'll see if Bruce was right, now that Dick Grayson is Batman...