Back when I was still an agency drone, when blogging was a hobby and PR was my career and never the twain shall meet, it was Steve Rubel who showed me the light. Steve proved to me that blogging, and the then-emerging idea of social media, could be an important part of public relations.
This was back in the ancient days of 2004, when blogging was still something done by ‘those people.’
For a while I really felt that Steve lost his way, that he was transfixed by a cushy career with a big agency and writing about the latest bright shiny toy to come out of the Valley. There was nothing new there. And he slipped out of my reader, along with a lot of other big shot bloggers who became boring.
And then, like a bolt out of the blue, Steve has found his voice again. Once again, he’s the voice in the wilderness leading us to the promised land.
Let’s face it, we’re skunk drunk and it’s because of money. It’s almost like we all need to enter Betty Ford Clinic 2.0 together. This time, it’s not stock market money but private equity, M&A, VCs and to some degree the reckless abandonment of logic by some advertisers who are perpetuating what is sure to end badly when the economy turns. Hubris is back my friends.
Amen.
We’re chasing toys instead of ideas. We’re fixated on tactics and not on strategy. If I get one more ‘how long should my podcast be’ question, I’m going to hit someone.
I agree with Steve that the technologies are going to stay with us for a long time, that they have the potential to change the way we work, communicate and think about our World. Just as long as I’m not asked about monetizing my blog, I’ll be fine.
