Most are almost completely hanging their futures on social networking. At least that’s what it sunds like.

RM

I’m just kidding, I got the point of your post after reading the title.

You’re right, sometimes people focus more on the syndication and social networking component of blogging and forget that there actually has to be good content to share.

And, to take it a step further, I’m getting tired of people re-sharing a bunch of uninspiring regurgitated nonsense on my facebook and twitter feeds. I need to purge all of my social networks and only friend / follow the thought leaders so that I only have to read about their updates once.

I like Ian’s response:

#failure

Again, this post is not about the ShareThis button, the intrinsic value of which I do not question.

My post is about the increasingly thoughtless, shotgun-style application of social media platforms and tools. I found the example I cite to be emblematic of this larger trend. I understand that some may disagree with that.

I’d have to disagree about the ShareThis button, (which each of your own 1000Watt blog posts comes with customized in orange at the bottom of I might add) and say that I don’t think that it points to laziness, but rather the consolidation of a social media frenzy that is in need of some self-regulation. Companies like ShareThis, AddThis, and others are attempting to help users make decisions about which sites/communities are important to them and make them easily available. You may like Facebook and I may like Reddit, ShareThis allows me to send to either, both or something different entirely. This doesn’t make me (or the readers of your blog who use your ShareThis button) lazy, simply people who want to tailor which content they send to which mediums in an easy format that delivers a consistent experience.

I can’t recall who it was, but someone on twitter yesterday said something along the lines of, ” I don’t trust ANY business w/o a SM presence.” Really? Every business? The tack n’ feed down the street? The lawnmower repair shop next to it? Rubbermaid?

My point was not to sing the praises of the “share this” button, but to point out that we ALL use these items in various and sundry places on our websites. Without insight into a particular company’s corporate culture or information from its PR & Marketing departments, there is no way of knowing whether that is being used “inappropriately”.

#failure