chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Getting Back to Your Desk

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Mauritiusweb — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:40:02 -0000

Great post very interesting facts

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

yah00 — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:34:36 -0000

yes you are light

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Guest — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:18:17 -0000

So true, new jobs, new titles all made to make one feel important. I wonder what will the next new job title will be.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Mulligan Dog Food — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:02:48 -0000

Great post and I think that it must help the people or it can help employee

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Dave Linabury — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:27:20 -0000

Ah my old friend, just because a tool has a name and business function, does not mean it cannot also be in a job title. Some examples: Computer Programmer, Telephone Operator, Air Hammer Operator, Tool & Die Maker, Network Line Tester, Cellular Manager, etc.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Bugsy — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:42:35 -0000

I disagree.

I believe a title should give a person confidence, pride in handing out their business card, summarize their skills and job, and is a title that can be justified.

At the marketing agency where I work we are working on all sorts of new goodies and this has come up a number of times, some heavy discussion on title changes.

And those are the four points that it comes down to. And if their title contains social media, that’s great! As long as they feel it is a great representation of them.

If someone is a “Social Media Manger”, that kicks butt. The last thing I want is a title that everyone else in the world has…. so my title is simply “The Secret Weapon” at the office, or “Unofficial Ambassador of the Upper Peninsula”. Both which I love, give me great pride and confidence, summarize what I do, and can be justified.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

benjaminjtaylor — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:04:50 -0000

By your definition the New York Times Social Media Editor ought to only write about platforms and tools and not about cultural and anthropological impact those tools have on society.Language evolves, titles evolve as do the needs of a business. There are companies large enough to justify "Social Media Managers" that don't fit nicely into marketing (consumer/integrated etc) departments, their new focus is on platform and community development, no small task. Most marketers in large scale entertainment businesses (of which I've worked for the past 10 years) work in television in partnership with online, that's how it works, you have online content producers focused on generating content and supporting convergent programming, editorial (blogs etc), video team dedicated to broadband video production and distribution, IS&T, Design, Photo etc... ALL working in in collaboration, as a team, with a social media manager - and it works. I'm not the social media manager but having that small team in place is critical in terms of distribution and community development.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

ladyotrout — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:14:10 -0000

Whoa and thanks. Great reality check especially when there are so many folks in our neck of the woods think that twitter and facebook are not only NEW things but the only ones! Some of them are supposedly experts in their field and they fail to see the big picture and only a few tasks that they spew onto their client base. I can only keep learning. Thank you for this!

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

trufflemedia — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:17:12 -0000

This post reminds me of a comment Dr. Seymour Papert made during the 2006 SqueakFest in Chicago: "There are no conferences on paper and education."

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As the key note, Dr. Seymour Papert, shared a story of when he and Alan Kay were both key note speakers at a conference on computers and education. Seymour, during his keynote, stated that he hoped that this would be "the last conference on computers and education" because he felt that the focus on the computer was driving behavior in education the wrong way. The comment that hit home (and got the laugh) was "There are no conferences on paper and education.".

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

janpedrano — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:27:39 -0000

The best definition of "social media" that I have found so far!!. Now, for the position titles yes they sound "cocky", but for the normal non internet-facebook-twitter-etc user, this world of "social media" does not represent an easy endeavor.

What I think this new "social positions" will accomplish (or at least try to) is to submerge the company in this new world, not only by sending links to the executives saying "this is why we should do twitter", but working with the people, showing them how to use them and making experiments with their products, services or brands in general.

Then when the company manages the social media tools as part of their day by day business, those positions will not be needed anymore, but as everything, they will evolve.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Anne Orens — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:36:18 -0000

Great post Chris, on the perils of mistaking the tool for the product, the skill set, or the function.

As someone who lived through the dark ages of CD-ROM Managers, when my publishing colleagues were hired to handle a content format rather than publication of the great stuff we were doing in something other than a book format, I cheered (to myself) when I read your post.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

BryanPerson — Sat, 30 May 2009 10:04:21 -0000

Might be time to rethink that "social media evangelist" title on my business card :)

Bryan | @BryanPerson

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Jim Bursch — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:21:34 -0000

I think my beef is with the term "social media". In my admittedly small brain, social media is media intended for socializing. Media that is used for something other than socializing is not social media.

So (again, keep in mind my small brain), when I hear about a business getting into social media, it sounds to me like they are crashing a party to which they were not invited. Imagine some schmuck you don't know showing up at your dinner party handing out his business card.

This is a semantics problem. Clearly, communications technology that was originally designed for social purposes can have other uses and applications.

Is there an alternative to the term "social media"?

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Terrnursery — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:41:00 -0000

Chris,

You are so correct in expressing concern over how some are employing or applying the name of "Social Media Specialist" in a system that works to navigate to a source, not adopt as a title. Being a user of "social tools and networks", I want to gain the best audience and exposure that is available to me, without insulting the true meaning of social exchange.

Your blogs are, to invoke my New York City unbringing, "dope!"

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Michael Bowers — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:10:12 -0000

Great post Chris. Small businesses need ways to reach potential customers and social media certainly can be a great way to engage and build relationships. It is critical that these interactions lead some place that moves the company forward. I look forward to hearing more about using social media as a tool to move business forward when you speak at the Ohio Growth Summit on June 10.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Tyler Pennock — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:41:26 -0000

As one of those people with a "Social Media something or other" title, I can say that I definitely agree with your assessment that social media skills need to be woven throughout the organization - and not living as some sort of separate practice area. For my job, I'm helping to get my colleagues as well as my clients better versed in all of these new "tools". So I guess I'm not managing tools - but I am managing the process and strategy by which my agency learns about the tools and how to put them into action. Also, right on about tying sm efforts to business objectives. We'll never get past the "fad" phase if we can't start demonstrating impact on beyond "engagement."

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Alan — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:41:15 -0000

I like the post. Not so sure I agree with the concept of not hiring a social media manager. Sure, in time, using social media will become woven into the fabric of most/all the employees of a business. However, not all businesses are nimble and ready. Many are still command-and-control. Many aren't willing to have their employees accept "yet another thing to do". Even worse, the executives at some of these companies don't even know what it is that's extra that their employees are supposed to do! They hear "social media", and say "ooo, go do that".. Wait, what?

I think a social media manager (or whatever related title you can think) helps ferret out the right and wring channels, finds out how to funnel the information collected back into the organization, identifies who are the primary recipients and evangelists of a new way of doing things (which will, in a few years, just be 'the way' and not the new way), and staying on the edge. I think you might be giving a lot of companies too much credit (and as hard as it is to believe, that's not a dig, it's just one person's take on corporate culture) with respect to their ability to react and change course.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Jamie Favreau — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:53:34 -0000

You are so right.

If you are a manager you aren't really a thought leader. I would rather lead then manage. When you lead you get a better understanding and are willing to make the changes necessary to make your business stronger.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

KatFrench — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:24:06 -0000

Thanks, Chris. After a decent night's sleep, I'm in a better place to respond rationally. Yesterday I was just plain mean most of the day, for reasons that had little to do with this post.

I agree that "social media manager" is probably a transitional role. But I would strongly disagree that it's already a deprecated role, or will be very soon, particularly in an agency context.

Jason and I discussed changing my title last fall, but in the end "social media" says I'm conversant with the technologies and etiquette of the social web, and "manager" says I'm empowered to act on behalf of my clients.

It's not ideal, but it's the clearest option at the moment.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Maggie McGary — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:06:48 -0000

LMAO--so funny and so true! Don't get me started on the whole social media manager vs. intern thing!

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

GoBusiness101 — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:59:13 -0000

"No matter your title, do your job well, but FOCUS on what your company needs most."
I do well agree with this. Thanks for the reminders.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Ramsey Mohsen — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:46:13 -0000

Amen, amen and amen. I don't have anything more to add because this blog post is dead on. If there was a Facebook "like" button on this blog post, I would of clicked it already.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Tim Jahn — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:41:32 -0000

This is definitely the time to buckle down and start using these "social media" tools to actually do something. It's going to remain shiny to those who don't understand it fully, but that's all the more reason for those who do to showcase what this is all capable of.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

Anthony A. Ampania — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:24:01 -0000

I'm with you Chris. Building character and competence creates the trust ingredient essential to any productive business relationship. Getting back to the sturdy wooden desk serves as the metaphorical foundation for technology expanding your universe, but YOU still have to be its Captain Kirk.

Re: Getting Back to Your Desk

jlbraaten — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:23:42 -0000

There is a huge rift growing between digital and old-school marketers, which is creating the need for titles such as this. The marketers that are winning are the ones that keep the title of marketer. The companies that are creating the "social media manager" positions are, by in large, and this is only a guess, playing catch up. And losing.