“No sympathy for the devil. Keep that in mind; buy the ticket, take the ride.”~Hunter S. Thompson
This post is a direct response to Carlos Miceli’s post about the Media Attention Whore phenomenon and all of the subsequent comments that I’ve been able to read thus far.
I sympathize with both sides of the argument against and for whoring yourself through new media for whatever end goal you have.
I’ve seen posts lately about how some folks don’t like the idea of “branding” themselves and ideas like this are the run-off of that concept. Why are we rebelling against personal branding? It’s a NEW opportunity that is revolutionizing the way that individuals can become successful business people without having the credentials of rich parents, an ivy league eduction or a 4.0 GPA.
What are contrarians to the personal branding and Media Attention Whore movement suggesting as an alternative to working your ass off night and day to create good content and promoting it like there is no tomorrow? How do you think you’ll get noticed otherwise? Simply on the merit of your personality and intentions?
I also agree that if your personal brand is shit and you don’t have any real substance or innovative nature behind what you’re pedaling, you’ll likely fail or fade away.
I try to never wish failure upon people. I try very hard not to hold people’s bad decisions against them… there’s usually a reason why people act the way they do and if they’re wrong, the decent ones try to fix their messes and learn from mistakes.
Especially if you’re trying to make a name for yourself through social media I think there’s a unique on/off switch to dealing with folks who you don’t agree with. If you think they’re decent people and producers of good ideas, try reaching out to them. Bring them back into your community and try to understand them. If they’re not receptive to that, don’t waste your time dwelling on how they’re behaving. There’s little chance their actions or ideas will affect you in the long run.
Besides, when the gods of wine and MTV tally up all your karma points, do you really want a bunch of perceived spitefulness to be held against you?
For the persons branding him or herself… do your thing! Take it to the wall! However, if you’re cutting corners and thinking the people who really matter won’t notice, you’re sorely mistaken.
We’re all accountable for our own actions. Might as well have most of those actions me made out of good will and supporting one another rather than undercutting the very medium that is getting so many of us ahead in the first place.