invisible

invisible

Mashable called out Jennifer Preston of the New York Times for being a Social Media Editor who’s so out of touch that she hasn’t posted to her Twitter account in about a month. Her response is that she’s just listening. I used to make that mistake.

Her intention is admirable, but I think she’s making the mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs make when they think they’re involved because they’re listening. In the 100+ interviews I’ve done with people who are building online companies, what I keep hearing is the importance of engaging and NOT just being passive.

Why Jennifer Preston says she hasn’t engaged

Here’s what she said in response to Mashable, “What I have learned in the first month in my new role is the importance of listening. That is what I have been doing and I am grateful for all that I have learned through helpful links on Twitter and to the many people I have been talking to inside and outside of The Times.”

Why “just listening” doesn’t work online

You’re invisible unless you talk online – Nobody can see that you’re listening unless you talk — so it seems you’re not there and you don’t care.

Adding your ideas is the way you contribute – When David Pogue, the tech writer at the NY Times learns something new, he teaches others. He’s built up so much good will from years of doing that, that his followers are pretty much writing his next book for him.

You can’t experience it unless you’re in it – Imagine if your only understanding of how a swimming pool worked was by watching people swim and occasionally dipping your toe in the water. You’d think you understood how swimming worked, but really you’d be clueless.

You can’t build your community unless you’re active – Unless you use it to build YOUR community, social media is just a bunch of strangers yapping. Once you build your community, the conversation becomes more meaningful.

A few Mixergy interviewees that I learned from

Jimmy Wales told us he got the first contributors to Wikipedia because he and his people were engaged in the open source communities.

Gary Vaynerchuk told us he built his online business by being maniacal about using social media tools like Twitter.

Roy Rubin told us he had a ready audience when he launched Magento, the ecommerce platform, because before he launched it he was obsessed with creating a quality blog for the ecommerce community.

Marcus Nelson told us that uservoice, the feedback service, grew even though the startup didn’t have much money, because he was committed to engaging people on Twitter.

Tara Hunt talked about how to build “Woofie,” or social capital, by giving back online.