Confusing activity with action
Thing is, most of the stuff you do online doesn’t cost money.
In the old days, money added friction. Money made you choosy. Money ensured that you valued your marketing efforts appropriately, because if they didn’t work, they cost you money.
Today, reading and posting and linking and networking and connecting and commenting and podcasting and linkblurbling and doseedoing online all feel like essential marketing tasks. They certainly keep you busy.
But is the activity getting in the way of action?
Is the online work you’re doing actually leading you where you want to go, or merely keeping you busy?
Dmitri calls this "imitation of turbulent activity" or ИБД, Имитация Бурной Деятельности.
[Flipside: Vic sent me a stat that said that 57% of the online users surveyed hadn’t read a blog in the last year. These people are incompetent and should be fired.]
Another way to look at this:
For big brands and marketers with significant budgets, the internet represents a loss of leverage. Money doesn’t buy you as much attention, and you have to work much, much harder for every eyeball.
For individuals, the internet represents an increase in leverage. One person with a blog or a lot of followers or friends can reach more people, more quickly, than ever before.
These are colliding. Big brands on the way down, individuals on the way up.