Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under Valley Drama |
When Alisa Leonard, the “social media junkie” who I’ve been debating, initially emailed me, it was with a subject line “i love you.” How quickly love can turn to hate.
Apparently frustrated with the way our “debate” has been going, she sent me the following email on Tuesday:
now, while a response is in the works (you see, i get very busy with client work) i have some notes for you–
Oh, poor blessed Drama 2.0. Kid (ahem, personal inference- you are a 35+ balding man from the UK who suffers from severe blog envy, and frustrated at not being able to actionably leverage social media). First, for the record, lets get some things straight dear Drama–
At the end of the day, I’m an end-user. I’m not a marketer. Whats that?? Yeah–, you know, native to this whole “social media” circus thing. My background is in web theory and I really don’t care if you can make that actionable or not. You, I imagine, are not an early adopter of native user. And at the end of the day, I don’t really give a fuck whether or not you can get your head around how to leverage these platforms for you own or client’s benefit. I can. So when I muse about tag clouds or the goog’s social graph API (Brad Fitzpatrick is awesome– but wait, you don’t have fucking clue as to who he is now do you?) its because I’m into that kind of stuff. Just like you, apparently, are into being an ass who talks about “getting laid.”
And while you think you’re this hot shit “e-marketer” tell me then, what do you do that delivers the ROI for clients that you infer I don’t? Hm? Where is that data?
As for the beauty client, I cannot disclose that, but if you were as good an internet snoop as you claim to be, you might figure it out.
And so you don’t believe in the conversation or in social media as a platform– great, I really don’t give a damn. My question though, is why then are you a part of the conversation? Why your blog? Your blog is your marketing tool for your pathetic “e-marketing” site is it not? And its social media, is it not? Why employ a tactic you so apparently deny works? You really are kind of an idiot, and I’m sorry about that.
No fuck off, I have some musings on the social graph API to be had, and I really don’t care if you even know what that means. Maybe you can tell Google how idiotic they are then.
Apparently Web 2.0 lacks more than just monetization: it lacks a sense of humor. There’s more to life than tag clouds, social graphs, data portability and web theory, Alisa.
I’ll admit that some of the things I write are exaggerated and might even be downright offensive depending on your sensitivity. Of course, this blog is written by somebody using the pseudonym “Drama 2.0″ so those expecting Henry Kissinger are obviously a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
Normally I wouldn’t post the full text of an email that was sent to me, but after reading Alisa’s email, I wanted to make some things clear:
- I write The Drama 2.0 Show primarily for my own amusement. When I get bored of blogging, I will stop. It could be next year or it could be tomorrow. The only reason I started The Drama 2.0 Show is that a friend annoyed me into doing so after I joked about the SF Chronicle calling one of my TechCrunch comments “brilliant.”
- I’ve never used the Drama 2.0 Show to promote my personal business ventures (only one of which is Internet-related), I’ve never accepted the invitations I’ve been given to attend industry events, etc. I’m about as agenda-free a blogger as you’re going to find. I have no interest in leveraging this blog to benefit my personal endeavors because I don’t need to. In fact, half the things I write about are antithetical to my Internet company’s interests, but unlike most of the Web 2.0 kool aid drinkers, I’m realistic enough to recognize that success is never guaranteed and that my Internet company probably isn’t the next Google. Fortunately, it is currently generating enough revenue on its own to sustain itself and I don’t have any VCs to answer to.
I find it interesting that Alisa assumes my blog is some social media marketing “tactic” when it’s obviously not (the only thing I’m possibly selling by writing this blog is my soul). The funny thing is that without writing for anything other than personal amusement and pleasure, my blog is in the Top 100,000 on Technorati (not really impressive to me but still much higher than the 517,000 rank Alisa’s blog has). I’ve received quite a bit of love (including most recently from The Guardian) and I do truly appreciate the nice emails I get from readers. Apparently, for whatever reason, Alisa has not yet applied her social media marketing skills to achieve similar results with her blog.
I really hate pissing matches and I’m not too much of an asshole in real life even though I sometimes play one on The Drama 2.0 Show. But perhaps there’s a lesson here for Alisa: the modicum of “success” I’ve experienced with my blog (especially compared to hers) probably stems from the fact that I simply write my honest opinions (that appears to be what attracted her to this blog in the first place). Nothing more, nothing less. I’m not in the business of manufacturing a “conversation” to sell my readers something. WYSIWYG (hope that’s techie enough, Alisa).
Drama may be in my name, but it’s something I keep out of my life. I know there are people who disagree with my perspectives and who probably think I’m a complete idiot (I’ve always admitted that I just might be one), but I’ve never received an email as vitriolic as Alisa’s. Somewhat ironic because when I thought her feelings were hurt by some of my previous comments, I emailed her to let her know that everything was in good fun (again, I’m not a complete asshole).
Therefore, I’ll end a “conversation” that clearly isn’t going anywhere by wishing the Alisa Leonards of the world the best of luck in their attempts to subtly manipulate consumers into becoming “word-of-mouth” marketers for brands. Personally, I suspect consumers are smarter than these people think they are and the results speak for themselves.
Note to Alisa: The “e-marketing site” you make reference to is . It’s a successful, award-winning website that has been around since 1999, has a real business model and counts quite a few great companies as subscribers. As such, you should do your research before making disparaging remarks.
E-consultancy.com recently invited me to join their team of bloggers and I accepted. I do not own E-consultancy.com, although based on the site’s success I certainly wouldn’t complain if I did. I suspect that you wouldn’t either, seeing that you work for somebody right now.
If you want to spew insults, direct them at me. Don’t lower yourself by directing them to people who you don’t know. It’s just not a polite way to conduct a “conversation.” Even an idiot like me knows that.
[End Drama - Regular Broadcasting to Resume Upon My Return Home]
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11 Responses to “Blogger Drama: Love Turns to Hate”
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Drama 2.0 spikes the Web 2.0 kool aid by providing a critical analysis of Web 2.0 startups and the impact of Web 2.0 on the media industry. Other topics are explored when Drama 2.0 has a slight buzz. Read more about the Internet's version of Keyser Söze here.
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You should look into what’s happening with Adsense now and blog about it. It’s the turning point for web 2.0. Their eCPM/payouts dropped by nearly 80% from October for a huge number of publishers. Examine threads in http://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adsense/
This is more important than 95% of stuff TC and mashable writes about.
Drama,
I know you hate Web 2.0 and the all the attendant kool aid but what do you make of reports such as the recent Forrester research report touting social marketing as a cheap alternative during recession?
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=75979
p.s. i’m a new reader to the blog, but I heart it
Not sure what to make of the Social Media Debates though, still mulling ‘em over. I’m still a fan of 2.0/social media myself, fwiw…
cheers -
ah but wait! Then there’s this report… I hadn’t finished reading my onlinemediadaily newsletter yet
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&Nid=39127&p=360881
Nice response. What a low-class email she sent.
“you are a 35+ balding man from the UK who suffers from severe blog envy, and frustrated at not being able to actionably leverage social media”
gasp, is this true Drama?
Methinks this Alisa Leonard is off her medication.
I’ve been following the “debate” and shaking my head. Google themselves pretty much admitted they screwed the pooch on the whole social networking thing with their 4Q earnings report, or did all these marketers miss it?
The biggest problem right now is that marketers really have no idea how to leverage social media and know if they admit it to clients they are out of a job, so what do you do?
Technology has moved much too quickly (and often, with no business plan behind it) for marketing methods to catch up. How can you see an ROI on ads and other marketing efforts when 99% of the sites you are using for these marketing efforts have no idea THEMSELVES how to be profitable?
Right now, everything in this space is “throw it at the wall and see what sticks.” No marketer is going to admit it, and will play buzzword bingo until the cows come home, but until Web 2.0 itself shakes out what is worthwhile and what isn’t, there is never going to be a formula for marketing anything by utilizing it.
Erica: Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate Web 2.0. I just dislike the attendant kool aid (and some of the drinkers of it).
I’ll address the Forrester Research report in an upcoming post (next few days). But I will say this: if you look back over the years at all of the BS that has been distributed by these research firms who often charge thousands of dollars for their reports, you’ll see that relying on them for actionable advice is probably about as wise as relying on Tarot cards to make business decisions.
In regards to the other MediaPost article, look who OneUpWeb is. A firm that offers social media marketing services issues a “study” that says brands need to do more with their social media marketing campaigns. What a shocker!
Antje: that’s between me and my psychiatrists!
Cyndy: what should they do? How about “get a real job.”
How lame are you?!!! You’re such a fraud! You won’t post anything that doesn’t stroke your ego, will you? I doubt Alisa is censoring her blog, you unobjective fool. By the way, everyone knows you got schooled. You make a great punchline, if that’s any consolation.
oh, watch out for that IP addy…
Antje: that’s between me and my psychiatrists!
It’s between you & your shrink that you’re from the UK?
Barrett: You are a real class act. Alisa should be proud to have such dignified, articulate friends.
Antje: I don’t know where I’m from. I recently started talking with a British accent (kind of like Britney Spears) and my psychiatrists are trying to figure it all out.