Guest post by Geoff Livingston
There's a new bad pitch that's taken over the interwebs. It's called "Vote For Me."
It's an epidemic. From the Washington Post's DC Tweeps, to Pepsi's Vote for My Idea Contest, to get my panel "accepted" for SXSW (sorry Kevin & Richard), we are getting spammed in every direction. We, the marketplace at large, have grown weary of all this screaming for votes that land in our feeds, our emails, our message boxes, and in comment spaces. (Facebook statuses? Forget about it.) And while it's a part of our social networking craze, it's nothing but noisy clutter.
For the magazines or products behind it, this is complete self-promotion--and for the request-makers, it feels like desperation! If the Post isn't bad enough, there was Fast Company), Pepsi Refresh and nonstop pleading for panels on SxSW are committed through the present to this kind of format, it's time to voice our frustration. This kind of spamming cheapens the person, the charity and the events, our feeds, and worst of all, it cheapens our relationships. Even when it's a charitable organization you're working for, it is still made to seem cheap. It’s time for popularity-based vote for me craze to evolve into a more productive form of crowdsourcing.
If people want votes, they need to start focusing on the people that care about them or their beloved causes rather than taking shotgun approaches inside a ton of handy social networks. How will this make this for a better society? What kind of results do you anticipate? Why should I care about you over the next guy? Or at least give me a pitch besides same old sad old "Vote For Me Please."
Hopeful panelists, tell us some detail about your content? Is there content? What's in it for us and the rest of the crowd? Is there learning or is it just promotion for your product? Why is this panel going to be any better than the thousands of others that pass before our eyes online every single year? You better let us know in 140 characters or less.
Just because people are social, doesn’t always mean they will support every contest or panel, even if it's for a good friend. Quid pro quo, dudes. Show some value or no votes for you. Or cheeseburgers...
Twitter @badpitch and @geoffliving
Excellent post. I've deleted tens of emails, DMs and Facebook messages requesting votes without really thinking about it. But, now that you've decided to bring it up, I'm realizing just how many have gone into the trash folder.
ReplyDeleteThanks; I'm now annoyed with something that I hadn't before thought twice about.
I want toast now, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about these types of contests because I find they are always disproportionately in favor of the larger orgs, who will have more money and resources to pour into getting their name/"Vote for me!" pitch out to others than the smaller orgs who could really benefit from the concept of crowdsourcing. So, it just becomes yet another platform for the big money to beat out the little guy, no matter how much good (or lack thereof sometimes) they are really doing in their communities. But, I also don't think that these types of contests differ much from the traditional forms of outreach available to an organization. For example, how is sending out an appeal to your community for a gift, an action, etc. and competing against hundreds of other organizations, locally and nationally, doing the same thing at the same time any different from trying to shout the loudest/attract the most attention in an online voting contest? Your still, in effect, trying to vie for attention, one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's nice to know I'm not the only one feeling spammed by this movement.
ReplyDeleteMost of these challenges have dropped the ball with a misplaced focus. It should never be contest solely focused on reaching a “winner.” Whatever the prizes, whatever the recognition that goes to the winners, it should simply be a small portion of a much larger effort in building community that intends to help all projects move further along their goals.
ReplyDeleteA rising tide, lifts all boats. Start there.
I see Pepsi & GE as big offenders in my book. They greased the wheels with some $ and expect everyone else fight over the scraps. Both entities poorly built websites that promote their brands first, and only subsequently thought about the features needed to manage a simple popularity contest. These are multinational corporations, putting up millions of dollars into a publicity generating pot, and that’s the best they could do? Very disappointing.
Let’s not waste time of these thousands of participants in a giant tease. If you’re going to build one of these things for your organization, do it right. Make the focus around sharing information and connecting with each other first and for most, and only then bring in the “challenge” to jump start that process.
Ernesto: I love it. I think Crowdrise does a nice job of building leaderboards based on positive action, not popular tweeting. That's where we need to go.
ReplyDeleteYep. Either tell me what's in it for me, at least tell me what you provide for me that I owe you this courtesy.
ReplyDelete-Derek
"Vote for me" is the exact same thing as "Read my Tweet". They're both "Pay attention to me, Me, ME!!!"
ReplyDeleteIt's gotten to the point that -- in Boston at least, if not elsewhere -- would-be vote getters are adding tips to Foursquare locations, so when you check in, you get a "Hey, vote for me!" popup.
ReplyDeleteThis, for me, provides two benefits: First, it teaches me that the offending promoter is less interested in providing anything of value, and more interested in increasing his visibility; second, it speeds up the point at which I stop using geolocation services, which is getting nearer.
Great article. I've not enjoyed Pepsi asking for access to my relationships, though I was very active in getting their first one.
ReplyDeleteI hated every moment of asking my friends to give their data to a company in exchange for cash to do good.
That's all this stuff is, an exchange.
What's really tough is when you're asked to help, and you have to say but you feel creepy about it.
I can't vote for everyone, and I really resent the brands that take advantage of my friend's good natures, but I never resent my friends.
I posted about this on Twitter last week. I said something like Facebook needed some sort of Spam filter where I could just every message with the word vote in it directly to Trash.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be nice?
I get so many requests for votes that it is overwhelming and no one gets a vote.
Thank you!!! I am so tired of the "Vote For Me" every single day. I hate that I've even asked for a vote myself! ARGH
ReplyDelete