As we move into the 2nd decade of the 21st
century, the world has embraced cyber land and
the tools of Social Media at such a rapid pace. It’s
as if we all fell down the rabbit hole with Alice and
now are part of the looking glass! A world where
all can step up, live in public voice opinions 24 /7. We are relying more and
more on being out there having a social media presence”.
Treating social media tools like friends as if our lives depend on them! The
gentle art of articulation and discussion are being drowned out by what could
be seen as white noise and narcissism!
We are all now compelled to adapt to methods of communication based on
a 24 hour global clock and going viral apparently is marvelous for at least
the next 24 hours or longer if one is keen “to guild the lily!”
The whole thing is frankly exhausting and begs the question is it is effective
who is paying attention to what and why? We may all have become enraptured by
the Mad Hatter as we all go fast, too fast and just maybe miss the message. The
timing becomes blurred out of context and right timing has long gone or is way
ahead of us and yet to arrive!
SLOWING DOWN AND GENUINE ENGAGEMENT
Going slow thinking planning seeing and genuine engagements seems to be
a forgotten art an endangered species! It could well appear genuine
dialogue appears to have gone missing, replaced by sound bytes visual
updates 140 character conversations, and endless causes that leave us
outraged at the injustices in the world!
Oh and ALL the bright and colorful things one is being encouraged, to ‘
Like, without having to spend a thing! Clearly an endless conundrum for
those trying to sell their products on mediums such as Facebook”!
It seems these evolving and endless new platforms on “the information
highway” could well be careering out of control, to a point where the
genuine message could well implode and loose complete perspective
KEVIN AND THE SOUND BYTE KIDS
Recently an ex Australian Prime/Foreign Minister, was seen prancing about
in the pages of old media in a flurry of self promotion, speaking in a vox pop
style interview on the joys of twitter! A chap it could be said that has clearly
lost his percieved place podium and position on the world stage.
See link below an “interview” (with Rachel Nickless, at the The Australian
Financial Review, Fairfax!) Kevin spoke of his prowess in the Twitter
sphere. He speaks confidently of his skills and expertise in the new world of
the sound byte and his own words “keeping it real!”
http://www.afr.com/p/national/work_space/kevin_rudd_my_secret_tips_on_twitter_iP358rjJKZJKnxr0pXm07K
READ THE LINK ABOVE FIRST FOR CONTEXT BEFORE
CONTINUING ON VITA! IT IS INDEED A SOUND BYTE SO WON’T
TAKE LONG!!
KEVINS TWITTER REACH AND TAKE OUT MESSAGE
“Kevin Rudd has a whopping 1.19 million followers.” KR’s reach
of followers on Twitter could well appear very impressive at first glance;
however the reality is highly inflated as he clearly is unaware of how many
dead accounts he has as followers and the extraordinary amount of spam
bots that are there as well!
As I have mentioned to him and others best practice is to keep ones account
lean clean and current! For that amount of followers you need staff and
like any filing cabinet it needs constant vigilance, to keep it current!
KEVINS RUDDBOT
One wonders has Kevin lost his Rudder or dealing with his own inner
demons. (I) “fight my Ruddbot instincts every day.” Hmm I wonder
whether “RUDDBOT” will be added to the world’s dictionaries.
As an aside The Mad Hatter said: Yes, yes-but you would have to
be half-mad to dream me up.!!
KR could be seen as very canny or disturbing, as he speaks fondly of his
favorite tweeters the “Belieber and Directioner” generation in the
AFR. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Direction
He admires them for their “dedication and passion” to pop idols it appears!
KEVIN AND THE TRUE BELIEVERS
One wonder whether he’ s just become aware or sad, of the lack of adoration
dedication and passion with his own fan base at the structural level, of the
“true believers” Party,after he was branded “Kevin07! Clearly this
became the case during the ensuing period he was the Labor Prime Minister
in Australia! It could well appear he lost his followers/fan base in the Labor Caucus
and now searches for a new followers/fan base from a vibrant new generation that
are dedicated to the sound byte and momentary trends!
KNOWING ONES MEDIUM AND GENUINE MESSAGE
Clearly this “vox pop” approach is a fabulous example of confused branding
and pitching content in the wrong medium! One has to ask are the “Belieber’s
and Directioner’s reading the Financial Review”?
KEVIN A BAND BOY OR JUST A PIGEON
One begins to wonder does he want to join a boy band, be popular and pithy,
at sound bytes and generate a new following in 140 character sentences, in
the hope he will recreate himself in a new image.
According to some “One Direction” have given“boy bands a new
lease of life! The link above gives their back story! (Added on the off
chance one is not following them ha-ha that is amusing indeed)
All very curious with a very confusing take out message from Kevin, one
wonders what on earth he was thinking!
He mentions that he feels “a sense of identity with“One Direction’s” stuffed
pet, Kevin the Pigeon”. Pigeons are well known to
defecate on people and statues worldwide and generally thought of as a pest!
One could suggest he may well be defecating in his own back yard!! We
wonderwhether Kevin the ‘pigeon” will rise again and have a statue of
himself erected or create a new product range of his own stuffed toys!
His observation that Twitter is important because “[It] helps keep in touch
with the zeitgeist without relying on others,” is a valid point! To embrace
the new is good however one wonders how effective Kevin’s take out
message is working is it narcissistic desperation or meaningful dialogue?
“When the Zeitgeist, God in Time,” which India calls ‘Kāla’,
“moves in a settled direction, then all the forces of the world
are called in to swell the established current towards the
purpose decreed. That which consciously helps, swells it, but
that which hinders swells it still more, and like a wave on the
windswept”
Vita