Social media is a living, breathing, constantly changing thing because it is powered by the public. One can be very good at predicting what the public will do, and one can create brilliant strategies based on that, but no one can know exactly what’s around the corner because the next corner is just a few steps from the last turn. Because of this, many in the social media world profess there are no social media “experts,” and I very much agree.
We’ve seen countless examples of social media’s quickly evolving life. MySpace was king of social networks until Facebook took over in a flash. Google thought Buzz would be a hit because they got comfortable and took their long-standing success for granted. Somehow, they completely missed the whole privacy issue everyone understandably points out. I suspect part of this misstep was a lack of sufficient focus-grouping. They were too worried about keeping the tool a secret that they forgot the most important thing – producing a tool users would love. Even Google – a group thought to be Internet geniuses – are clearly not experts.
Just as there are no experts, I believe there are no actual “rules” for any type of social media. I think there are many best practices out there – but no rules. The very essence of social media, in my opinion, is that it’s open, free to everyone, and very much outside the box of traditional communications and marketing. If you Google “blogging rules” today, you will be given a list of over 26 million returns. How can there be so many people professing rules if social media is free and open, figuratively and literally? For example, many people suggest there is a limit on how long a good blog should be – how many words it should contain. While it makes sense that people would prefer short posts, new research surprisingly suggests the most-shared blog posts are actually much longer than you might think.
Copyblogger’s Jonathan Morrow puts it so well:
“Sometimes, it takes 3,700 words to make an idea stand out. Other times, all you need is a few sentences. What’s important is that you do your idea justice in as few words as possible. [In other words], long or short, the piece couldn’t possibly be any shorter and create the same effect.”
As Yoda might say, do what people suggest or do not. There is no rule. (Yoda is quoted a lot, but I’m doing it anyway because there is no rule that says it’s cliche.)
How do you feel about social media “rules?” What rules have you been given, and how often do you adhere to them?
UPDATE: An observant follower on Twitter pointed out a few things that are required for a good blog: respect, common sense and staying on topic. I totally agree that these must be present for a successful blog. I’m glad the gentleman shared this.
