Inspired post by the No one cares about you video with Seth Godin.
Watch the quick 2 minute video first and come back to comment on it.
After watching that, it does beg the question once again of quality over quantity and if we are benefiting from the Internet or is it just sucking out all our time?
Perhaps the answer is yes we waste majority of our time on the Internet trying to network with others. We try to hit the follow button on as many people as we can find on twitter hoping they will follow us back. But what will that give you?
If you want to build a strong structure then you need to build a strong foundation and increase from there or you can stay small but be great and have great influence.
No one cares about you
Recently I got a reality check from my friend who’s been trying to grill into my head that when you are out on your own and things happen and you can’t pay your rent or bills that no one will care about your feelings, they will want the money or just kick you out.
On top of that, if you lose your job for example people will not feel sorry for you. And to a certain extent I agree with this because in the end we are in charge of our lives, and we either get it done or fail at it.
Personally, emotions and finances should not mix because it was you that put yourself in that situation and not preparing for the worth to happen and now you have no one else to blame but yourself.
Getting back on point…
As Seth Godin says, these social networking sites were not made because someone cares about you, they were made to sell you something such as YouTube and Facebook. The creators don’t care about you, they care about themselves and in reality you can’t blame them.
We all have life’s to live.
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Andrew
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually, I think the point Godin was making was that if you post a video on YouTube, whether for personal or business reasons, that the people who are watching it (if they’re watching it) are watching it for their benefit — not yours. So, especially as a business, you can’t expect people to watch stuff just because you hope they care about your business. They aren’t your mother who would probably watched the crappiest thing you made simply because they wanted to make you feel better. It has to do something for them.
But yes, you can’t expect businesses to care about you as a person, either. While businesses are made up of people, you are rarely more than a bunch of numbers to those people — a customer ID perhaps, how much money you bring them, and perhaps how much money you could cost them if you started talking negatively about them to potential customers. They care about you only as much as you affect their profits. And that’s fair enough — they’re businesses. For all their branding, they aren’t your friends.
I think it is very sad if you or anyone else takes “No one cares about you” literally. I certainly know that there are people that care about me: family, friends, even online friends that I have developed a deeper relationship with (not just random Twitter followers, but people I actually confide in and vice versa). And certainly there are people I care about — even strangers, as I do try to be a compassionate person in general.
However, it is often the case that we don’t know who really cares about us. Certainly even I have had “friends” that weren’t. So, it is important to evaluate relationships and even gently test them at times. If you’re giving, giving, giving to someone, every now and then it’s a good idea to stop giving and ask for something in return — not necessarily money, but certainly an effort of some sort on their part. Nothing gets rid of false friends faster! And while you may have to mourn the friendships you thought you had, you are better off for knowing who your true friends are since we can only devote so much time to so many people. When the dust settles, hopefully you will find yourself surrounded by people you know care about you. And that is a very great gift.
Well it is rare and very few people would drop what they are doing to help someone else out. Because in the end, they have their own issues to deal with and we shouldn’t expect others to solve our issues, they can help us but in the end we have to pull through.
But what we can learn from this is the real, genuine and valuable relationships we have or can have from back and forth care, loving and interest. There has to be something there that you both see eye to eye on and are willing to develop something great.