In this posting, I intend to do both. While I never intended to use this blog to wax nostalgic or gaze into a crystal ball and pass along my visions of the future, a tweet did make me stop, think, and write this post.

“I am not a personal brand. I am a person.”

There is a touch of irony in what seems to be a very passionate cry amongst a deluge of noise on Twitter when you consider:

• The Twitter in question is a professional marketer.
• The Twitter in question runs a marketing firm based around online branding through Social Media.
• The Twitter in question tweets under a handle that is the name of their marketing firm.

To coin the iconic, one-word observation from Star Trek: “Fascinating.”

My prediction for Social Media in 2010 is it will struggle against acne, cringe at the sound of its own changing voice, and start to notice the opposite sex. Yes, Social Media will grow up; and its deeply entrenched Snake Oil Sales Staff will be forced to re-evaluate their place in it.

What started as a whisper at the beginning of the year has now becoming quite the trend. Here’s a cross-section of observations my Google-search “Social Media Snake Oil Salesmen” revealed:

• May 26, 2009 from Communications Catalyst. Managed by marketing strategist David Mullen, the Communication Catalyst offered at the beginning of the summer a checklist of things to be wary of when a Social Media Expert comes calling.
• September 21, 2009 from The Buzz Bin. This blog offers commentary on integrated communications (PR, social media, interactive marketing, etc.) and offers their own opinion of “Social Media Experts” and how many of them know very little.
• October 13, 2009 from BillCrosby.com where Real Estate Investor and Social Media Evangelist Bill Crosby comes out and rants about how no one is making any real money in Social Media. (Again I feel the touch of irony that this guy came out against Social Media as an economic fix as he was one of the “brains” behind Twitter Traffic Machine, an application that completely automated Twitter. And this guy calls himself a Social Media evangelist.)
• December 5, 2009 from Logic+Emotion. This sums it all up for me, and is entitled “Life After Social Media Snake Oil”. This is a brilliant post.

These wake-up calls appearing as blogposts, tweets, and rants on Facebook appeared to gain momentum in December, the more vocal being those who led the masses blindly under the Social Media banner. This message (and this is the “I told you so” part of this post/rant…) is hardly a new one as I have spoken internationally on this subject.

After attending a Social Media event in January 2009 (that was nothing more than a tedious exercise of self-gratification), I developed a talk called ANTI-Social Media, a seminar that ruffled a few feathers in Washington D.C. but went on to be syndicated across the blogosphere and served as my audition reel for what would become my 2009 New Zealand tour.  I have struggled against the grain with this message, a message that went to print in All a Twitter. This message came under fire from some “experts” back in the Fall…

Now, only months later, these same experts have cleaned off their respective Looking Glasses and do not like the reflections thrown back at them. And as recent as yesterday, TechCrunch revealed an option that the disillusioned may take in order to truly cope with the Social Media personas they have made for themselves.

Social Media has reached a turning point; and with more businesses stepping into the arena, Old School policies are now coming into play. What does this mean? This means that having a second account focusing on just your business and less on you will be in order. There is something nice about being able to speak your mind freely while preserving your professional identity. Perhaps that footloose-and-seat-of-your-pants approach to marketing (what the gurus label as “rebellious” or “radical”) isn’t going to work so well here. This also means that removing the line between business and casual will carry consequences. Yes, there will be times, opportunities, and moments in Social Media that will allow you to get personal with your audience; but if you are not willing to draw a line between you on-the-clock and off-the-clock, you cannot cry “Foul!” when criticism flies.

2010 will be the year that Social Media will be taken seriously, and those serious about it will remain practicing it while those who have been crowning themselves as experts, oracles and mavens will be called to task. What are they doing in Social Media now? Where are the blogs they manage? What podcasts are they currently producing? What is their presence within Social Networks? Credibility and accomplishments in Social Media efforts will have to extend beyond “Chris Brogan is my friend on Facebook…” or “Robert Scoble and Jeff Pulver are part of my LinkedIn network.” What is it that establishes the expert as an expert? A true understanding of Social Media, or the fact you have a blog and a Twitter account? Finally, Social Media in 2010 will not be implemented simply to be trendy. Clients will want — nay, demand — a strategy, a plan. No longer will the mavens be taken at face value and at their word. Yes, we know Social Media is full of win, but how do you plan to implement this initiative of awesome? There must be a purpose and a goal for what you want to accomplish. Without these changes, changes that need to happen and appear to be already, Social Media will never reach beyond this Not Safe for Work (NSFW) video:

Welcome to 2010. A new year, a clean slate. Good hunting.

Welcome to Part Three of my video miniseries, ANTI-Social Media: What NOT to Do with Web 2.0. This segment is the longest one yet (close around the 20-minute mark!) as I talk about two social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter. I also give some playful shout-outs to Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble, and Jeff Pulver. For those of you who are subscribed to the high-resolution downloads, the video is going to be a good chunk of data (the joys of video podcasting) but worth the time and space!

Filmed at the Merrill-Lynch Conference Center in Washington, DC and hosted by the Washington Network Group, ANTI-Social Media: What NOT to Do with Web 2.0 are case studies on Social Media when initiatives fall short. It is clear from the demand for Social Media in the professional sector and the popularity of Facebook and Twitter that companies and organizations are anxious to tap into this potential and promising outlet. Unfortunately there are many failures that cast doubt on whether or not these initiatives truly work.

The problem isn’t the media, but how it is handled.

I put myself under the microscope in Part Three as I talk about the blurring lines between the professional life and the personal one. From Facebook, I move to Twitter where I make a connection between new school Twitter tech, old school marketing, and high school hijinx.

Feel free to share this video, and provide feedback or topics you’d like to hear discussed on In Your Right Mind at 703.791.1701, tmorris (at) imaginethatstudios (dot) com, or here at Imagine That!

If you follow me on either of my Twitter accounts, you might have noticed that my updates averaging 50 – 100 a day tapered off for a while…

Well, okay, they dropped off rather suddenly. Two weeks ago, as a matter of fact.

If you missed at TeeMorris.com my interview on Conversations with Coach Ian Scott, I can sum it up as “the last week of January.” A series of events that week suggested I step away from Twitter for a spell. I needed some downtime, some time online where there was no signal as well as no noise. What was odd about this “Twitter Moratorium” was I remained plugged in to Facebook. I took some time to get to know the networking platform a bit better. (Sadly, this was before Facebook came out with their somewhat broad Terms of Service update. Not sure if there is a blogpost from me in there, but I am now looking at them with a cautious eye.) During my break from the community, I was still working on expending my network by attending Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast here in Washington D.C. Even with keeping my toe dipped in the Social Media pool, this Twitter hiatus I found liberating. I found it educational. I also found it a bit ironic.

Why “ironic” you ask? The other reason I took a break from Twitter was because I had just closed negotiations with Que Publishing to write All a Twitter. Yes, my next book will be out this summer and it will cover something I am truly passionate over: Twitter. I guess my 28,000 updates on TeeMonster are finally going to amount to something.

Oh, you didn’t misread me — the book will be out this summer. As in June. As in to make sure we have time and ability to polish and edit the manuscript, I have roughly two months to write this book. Two months. Why the rush? Let’s just say, much like with Twitter itself, it’s a personal issue and an accomplishment I would love to achieve.

Back to that “Cone of Silence” I took a brief getaway in…

So I stepped back from Twitter to ask myself if I could seriously do this. A solid resource for both the experienced and novice user, in two months time. Was something like that possible? Could I have that much to say about Twitter? I figured I would find out soon enough as I took a seat in my studio, installed Que’s Word template, and started Chapter One.

In two weeks I produced over 20,000 words and over thirty screen captures, all based around Twitter. Today I turned in 25% of the manuscript to the publisher.

I think I’m off to a good start.

So what this means is that my MOREVI projects, both the podcast of Legacy of MOREVI and the writing of Exodus from MOREVI, have been put on hold until All a Twitter and another creative project (that I had begun developing only a few weeks before this request from Que) have been completed. I will still be on Twitter, taking notes on what’s happening around me as I forge ahead. I will also blog progress reports on All a Twitter, post forthcoming episodes of In Your Right Mind, and continue commentaries on creative solutions and ideas for the workplace. There will also be video and audio clips from speaking events that are starting to come in, and news on a future talk I will be giving in New Zealand. You can expect all that here.

You can also expect me to be ready to celebrate, come Balticon 43, the pending release of what will be the all-in-one-and-all-around-go-to-guide for Twitter.

This is going to be a fun ride, everybody. Strap in and hold on to something.

Jeff Pulver & Tee Morris at the Social Media Breakfast
Washington, D.C.

I have been called a “master of self-promotion” and sometimes been accused of being a “shameless promoter” but I look at what I do as just meeting people and having a good time doing so. Networking is something that, believe it or not, makes me nervous. When I am invited to networking opportunities, I always cringe. (Yes, it’s that same cringe when I’m called a “podcasting pioneer” which I am…but I cringe, nonetheless.) I do not necessarily want to be perceived as someone who has something to sell all the time, nor do I want to be pitched on things that I have no interest in whatsoever. Still, I love connecting with people and I love chatting with folks who are as passionate about subjects I’m passionate about. So when I RSVP-ed on Facebook to Jeff Pulver that I was going to attend his Social Media Breakfast at USTelecom in Washington D.C., I was as nervous as I was excited. Once again, I was connecting with Social Media enthusiasts as I did at Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Jungle in Las Vegas; but I was also heading into what I knew was going to be a networking event.

Now if you are not familiar with Jeff Pulver, you should check out his website where his schedule of appearances, his commentary on Social Media, and his photography are all featured. When it comes to Social Media, he is one of the pioneers and continues to spread the word about it through talks and sponsored events like the Social Media Breakfasts. If you are not familiar with Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfasts, I recommend you check out his orientation on Facebook where he explains to you exactly what they are all about. The breakfast starts with a few words from the sponsor (in this case, USTelecom who took great care of us!) and Jeff himself, where he introduces his Social Media Toolkit:

• A ball point pen
• Two blank name tags
• A sheet of smaller labels.

On one label, you write your name and a personal tagline, something that sums you up quickly and memorably. (I was particularly pleased with August Jackson’s tagline: I can haz Social Media.) The other label remains blank, but not for long as the breakfast attendees “tag” you with the smaller labels, creating a “real time-real world” tag cloud. The exercise is not only revealing in how you are perceived by others but a brilliant demonstration in how tag clouds work online.

It is also a wonderful icebreaker.

The Breakfast’s atmosphere, particularly with those who are playing along with the tagging, is extremely disarming. I never felt, at any point, with guards up or anxiety that I was coming across as overly aggressive. (Alright, maybe my networking tactics with Shireen Mitchell as captured in my Flickr account could be argued as “aggressive” but that is open to interpretation…) Those attending the breakfast had no agenda outside of connecting and communicating with others embracing Social Media; and while you might think that would be a given considering this was a Social Media Breakfast, I have attended other “social” events that were actually networking opportunities. Those best forgotten events made me want to shower under high-pressure nozzles afterward. Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast was a great mixer, and never was the social aspect of it missing. I not only made connections, but I had a great time.

If Jeff is bringing this to a town near you, attend. Whether you are an active participant in Social Media, someone interested in implementing Social Media, or simply wanting to connect with others working with Social Media, this is unlike any networking opportunity you might attend. For that morning, I joined others unified under banners of blogging, podcasting, Twitter, and Facebook, making the Breakfast less networking and more of a homecoming. I felt very welcomed and met some really incredible people. Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast also reminded me exactly why I enjoy Social Media so very much.

Jeff will be returning to Washington D.C. in April with his Social Media Jungle. After this terrific event on a very cold February morning, I look forward to warmer weather and even more promising opportunities coming in April.