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One day while reading a post on Chris Brogan‘s blog, I noticed something. Brogan’s post had been retweeted hundreds of times, but it had only a few comments. By few, I mean 40 or so, which I’d take any day. I’ve noticed a trend similar to this when I read other people’s blog posts. And then I look at my own traffic and see that I don’t get nearly as many comments as I get views. Of course, there are other factors to consider in that (bounce rates, new visitors, etc.)

This got me to thinking about reasons that people don’t comment on posts. Maybe they aren’t moved to do so. Maybe the content in my own blog posts and those written by others aren’t worthy of people’s comments. Maybe some people read the posts, think they’re crap, and move on. In all fairness, everyone’s entitled to his own opinion.

I’d be lying if I said that I commented on every post that I read. Sometimes I feel as if I don’t have time. Sometimes I feel as if I have nothing to contribute. Sometimes it’s hard to say something other than “I agree” or “Great post.” And if you hate the post, you need to say something more than “This sucks.” That’s not helping anyone.

But I think there’s another group of non-commenters. I think that there are those who feel that they have no reason to say anything. They feel that they have no credentials. No expertise.

If you’re in this class of people, stop thinking like that. You have every reason to speak up. You’re a person. You have a voice. Use it.

Especially on my blog. If you think you have no credentials to talk on my blog, I have no credentials to be blogging. So we’re even.

If you’re waiting for permission to speak, consider it granted. On any blog at any time.

After all, it ain’t social media if you don’t say something.

Is it fair that many of us (if not most of us) are always searching for inspiration? Whether consciously or subconsciously, we’re looking for something that motivates us to do something spectacular, right? That’s how I feel about myself. And when you find that thing that motivates you, the feeling is special. You’re possessed. It’s as if you’re a new person on a new mission. Sometimes it’s as if you’re not even doing the work. Something else has taken a hold of you.

That something is inspiration, I suppose.

I’ve asked this question numerous times and at different places: What inspires you?

Or where do you find inspiration?

But, today, I realize that I’ve been asking only half of the question. Something to ask yourself too, is Who inspires you?

I understand that that may seem like a no-brainer. After all, if music or a book inspires you, then it should be easy to realize that the artist or the author is the person who inspires you, right? Maybe it’s so easy for you, but I can get lost in the simplest concepts sometimes.

I recently unfollowed some of the social media superstars, both on Twitter and on my RSS feed. I’m not declaring a personal vendetta against them and asking you to do the same. I am not declaring that they are frauds, I am not saying that their information is useless. But something happened that forced me to unfollow and unsubscribe.

They stopped inspiring me.

I can’t say why. I can’t say that I’ve passed them up. By no means do I claim to know more about social media than they do. I’m just an enthusiast. I do not truly utilize social media with a purpose as they do. I cannot claim to be more knowledgeable than these people who have made social media their careers.

But, I think that maybe I outgrew them. There was a time when I ate up everything they said as if it were the social media gospel. Their words and their philosophies seemed to be my own, if only I could have thought of them before they did!

But I find myself being inspired more by the people who aren’t quite superstars. The people who are still using social media to meet their goals but maybe aren’t in as big of a spotlight. They’re smart people with good ideas and great ways of expressing themselves. And for whatever reason, their works touch me more than the superstars can now.

The best message and advice means nothing if you’re not inspired to take action or at least inspired to listen and let it sink in. I understand that sometimes, especially when you’re first getting into something, you feel obligated to pay attention to the big names. And you may feel that you would be crazy to stop paying attention.

But again, if you’re not inspired, what’s the point?

If your opinion of who is inspirational and deserving of your time differs from others, don’t be afraid to let it be known.

I think many people credit The Beatles as being the best band of all-time because they hear it again and again. You’d be crazy to argue otherwise, right?

So many people call Michael Jordan the best basketball player of all-time, and that’s cool. He certainly has an impressive set of credentials. But I remember being more inspired by Peja Stojakovic than I ever was by Michael Jordan. Jordan was much, MUCH more accomplished by Stojakovic, I don’t care about that. Jordan may have a special place in many sports fans’ hearts, but Stojakovic has a place in mine. And that’s what I care about — what matters to me, not what matters to others.

So, stop worrying about who influences others. Who influences you? And if it’s not the big names that you constantly hear being thrown around, should you ignore them and turn your attention to the little people who actually inspire you?

If it isn’t obvious to you, I think you should.

There are so many social networks floating about on the Internet. I am currently a member of Twitter, Facebook, Brazen Careerist, YouTube, and BrightFuse. I might be a member of more networks, but those are all that I can remember at the moment. And there are so many more that I am completely clueless about. But it’s safe to say that they all have one thing in common — they all expect you to have a profile.

A profile has a purpose. It is meant to be a summary of you, a little snippet that gives people an idea of who you are. Your profile is supposed to make you interesting and attractive. In the social networking world, your profile is one of the most basic marketing tools you have.

However, I hate making online profiles. The only exception is Twitter, because I just throw in a few keywords and interests and wait for people to connect with me. But on those other networks, I struggle to build a proper profile. Why? Because whatever I say sounds silly to me.

One reason is because, as I’ve said previously, some people wrongly perceive certain aspects of their personalities. Because of this, certain words and identifiers have been bastardized and sound desperate when used. Think of a term such as perfectionist. There are so many perfectionists out there, yet there are so few. My best friend, a graphic designer, truly is a perfectionist. However, if he identifies himself as such, everyone would laugh at him. Who isn’t a perfectionist? Isn’t everyone? Yeah. And no.

I recently ranted about this to an old friend, and he said he’d define me as truly being “outside of the box”. Even if I wanted to, I could never use such a statement. Who doesn’t think he’s outside of the box? Who doesn’t think he’s brilliant and creative? Who doesn’t want others to think that about himself? And so that phrase means nothing.

When I see a profile that says something like I have a fun personality or I’m really easy to get along with, I wonder if such statements are true. Such statements are greatly overplayed and don’t truly add any value to your profile. They don’t tell me anything about you.

And there are those phrases that pretty much apply to everyone.

Phrases like I’m a really nice person until you piss me off. Sure, there are some people who are assholes 100% of the time. But such people are few, and even fewer of them would actually admit it.

Or phrases like I get pissed off at people who hurt my friends. Yeah, most of us do. And even if we won’t rush to defend their honor, we’re likely not going to admit otherwise.

To me, it’s just like the person who says: “If you ever need anything, give me a call. If you go to the bar and get drunk — I don’t care if it’s 3 o’clock in the morning – call me, I’ll come pick you up.” I’ve never uttered such a sentence because the truth is that I’m not that guy. If you call me in such a situation, I might have the intention of hopping out of bed and coming to your rescue. But the reality is that I’m more likely to go back to sleep and forget you ever called. And I’m probably more likely to be pissed that you disturbed me during my beauty rest, especially if I have something to do the next morning (like work).

I know such a statement is absurd, so I don’t even try to fake it. I don’t want to paint myself as something I am not.

But how are people supposed to get to know you? How will they ever know who you are?

I’d prefer that people observe my interactions on these networks.

Don’t worry about what I say about myself. Worry about my actions, because they speak louder than words. What kind of content do I share? Do I interact with others? That will tell you so much more than a paragraph or two in my profile section.

And do this with others. And also, do this offline.

People can tell you whatever they want. And sometimes they may tell you how they’d like to be perceived, rather than tell who they actually are. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to insult your intelligence.

I am what I am, not what I say I am. And the sooner I allow you to see that, the sooner you can accept me for me.

Having read and enjoyed Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, I decided to try to find some videos of the authors talking more about their philosophies on social media. During the Q&A section of this (50-minute) video, an audience member made a great point. To paraphrase, the audience member made the point that when the Internet was first catching on, the great thing about it was that it was private. People could browse and engage via the Internet while maintaining a level of anonymity. Now, the Internet is becoming more and more transparent. Many of our activities on the Internet are forever — it’s there for all to see, thanks to our friend Google. And it’s no secret that Facebook is doing all that it can to become more open every single day. Think of your interactions on the Web as your “permanent record” now.

After the audience member made up great point, he followed with this question: How do you make people move from that privacy-mindset about the Internet to the open mindset that we’re now moving toward?

Brogan eventually concluded that that’s a tough issue and was unable to give a straight-forward answer to the issue. That’s because you can’t make someone accept it. People don’t like change; some are always going to cling to the way things were.

But they need to accept it. Because the Internet’s opening up, whether we like it or not. There’s no use in talking about whether it’s fair or unfair. This is one of those cases where you’re better off forgetting about “fair” and worrying about what is and what is not.

It is what it is.

I understand the concerns with the open Web. It’s not just about security and identity issues. It’s also about having the freedom to express ourselves without consequences. If someone wants to learn about you, chances are that he’s going to research you through Google, Facebook, or Twitter first. The problem with this transparency is that you never know what will turn someone off. How personal should you be? If someone gets a chance to discover your religious or political views before getting a chance to know you, will he even give you a chance? What if you’re profane or vulgar in an intimate setting but know how to flip the switch over when in a corporate setting? Will someone get the wrong impression about you? By the way, if you think having different personas in these scenarios is simply being two-faced, I’d argue that all of us act differently in different settings with different people. You likely do the same thing; perhaps you’re not aware of it.

As I said, I understand these concerns because they’re some of the same concerns that I have. However, I feel that these fears cause us to be less human. Some of us may tend to hide certain parts of ourselves that we may not hide so much in offline interactions. If I unintentionally say something insensitive or politically incorrect among my friends in an offline setting, word of my slip-up might stop at that group of friends. Or maybe we’ll tell our significant others or some friends outside of the group, but chances are that the whole world won’t be notified. But if I make the same mistake on Facebook or Twitter or somewhere else online, it’s chronicled for all to see, and concrete proof of my slip-up is readily available for distribution.

So we hold back. We reserve. We make sure to conduct ourselves in a corporate-friendly manner, and as a result, we dehumanize ourselves and our networks.

But when the Web opens all of us up to everyone, can that humanity be restored? When everyone is under the same microscope and living under the same fear, can a simple slip-up or differences of philosophy be forgiven and forgotten? Could it teach us to be more tolerant? Or will the open Web only feed our ignorance and prejudices?

This is all just thought with no definite answer. Obviously, I hope that the open Web can add a degree of humanity to our online interactions. But I can’t predict one way or the other.

If there were only one thing that I took away from reading Trust Agents, it would be this: the fundamentals of communication and building trust have not changed. The world of TV, newspaper, and radio advertising that we grew up with were actually quite brief when you look at the history of business and mankind. The best way to build trust now is to get back to basics, to treat people like people and remember that they are people. (Remember, they are not perfect; neither are you).

I’ve accepted that my friends are not perfect offline. Why should I expect them to be perfect online? Why should we expect anyone to be such?

What are your thoughts on this? Could the open Web bring a fundamental shift, or am I just daydreaming?

For those few of you who may not know about Facebook’s privacy issues, I had the intention of posting a link that would explain what all the fuss was about. But when I tried to find such a link on Google, I realized that there was no shortage of articles to help you get in the know. So, if you’re clueless about what I’m talking about, just type in “Facebook privacy issues” on Google. If you’re too lazy to do that, just click here.

Okay, now that you’ve read up and educated yourself, let’s get on with the show. Here’s a little background information for you: Before all of this privacy stuff started, I was already paranoid of Facebook. You’ve heard the horror stories about employers looking at potential employees’ profiles. I have my profile locked down, pretty much as private as you can get. But still I was worried. Could employers still see my profile? It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Mark Zuckerberg let companies view private profiles, for a little fee. And then this crap went and happened…

I understand that Zuckerberg is a business man who’s out to make money. And I feel that he deserves to do so. Some people are trying to get the government involved. As much as I dislike what Facebook is doing, I’m going to have to ask these people to settle down and stop. Just stop. We are not entitled to Facebook. We do not deserve the right to an account. If we do not like what is going on with Facebook, we should just delete our profiles. No one is forcing us to have an account. Facebook owes us nothing.

But still, Facebook makes me feel dirty and violated. I know, it’s silly. But to be honest, I feel like a cheap prostitute who’s being pimped out and working for free. The truth is, as reported by PCWorld, Facebook pulled an ole bait and switch. Remember when Facebook was open only to college students? I do, because that’s when I got Facebook. In those days, you were linked to others through university networks. And people who weren’t in your network couldn’t see your profile. Eventually, they opened Facebook to everyone. And I do mean everyone.

Then, there was the issue of Facebook using pictures from your photo albums for their banner ads. I guess this should have been the sign. That’s when we all should have known what was going on.

And then the latest fiasco, where anything you put in your profile — your interests, favorite movies and books and music — has to be linked to an appropriate fan page. If you don’t allow such fan pages to link to your profile, your interests are removed from your profile. Even something you say in your status updates may require that you link a fan page to your profile. At first, I accepted this. Then, I removed everything from my profile, so now it’s pretty damn bare. Unfortunately, I think I’m still linked to those pages. Oh well, live and learn…

And now, everywhere I go online, Facebook is there. Blogs now have the Facebook “Like” button. When I go to sites like CNN, I can see which of my friends has been on the site recently and who likes it. Even Facebook’s own ads tell me which of my friends like the product they’re trying to sell. If this doesn’t make you think of Big Brother, I don’t know what will.

Facebook has shown what you do not do in the new world of marketing. Every time Facebook makes a change, it is default that you will be opted-in and therefore have to opt-out. And it seems that Facebook’s privacy policy changes every day. Some people say that you should take an interest in your privacy settings and stay on top of it, but I find it hard to do so when it’s all constantly changing. Is this part of their strategy? Facebook was once a place for you to express yourself and connect with friends and family, but now it’s a place where you and everyone in your network are little more than advertisements. That’s all we are. We are the whores and Facebook is the pimp.

Supposedly, 60% of Facebook users are considering quitting the site. I’m going to go ahead and call BS on that. It won’t happen. And that’s the chief reason I will keep my profile open, because everyone else I care about will be there. However, my use has dropped significantly. I’m on the site less than I was previously.

As I said previously, I understand that Zuckerberg is a business man. I wouldn’t do what he does for free. And I know that Zuckerberg doesn’t care about users of the site, and I don’t expect him to do so. But now he’s made it painfully obvious that he doesn’t care about users at all. He’s not even trying to put on an act. Now, we know he doesn’t give a damn.

And that’s why Facebook has pissed me off.

No matter your stance, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Whether you agree or disagree, let me know how you feel.

P.S. — See that Facebook share link below this post? Wouldn’t it be ironic if you used it?

I’ve been blogging for just over a year. However, I’ve had jakelacaze.com for only 3 months. I thoroughly enjoy blogging and see it as my own little slice of the Internet, my one opportunity to get my voice out there. I’m amazed when I check my analytics and see where I get hits from. Although my bounce rates tend to be high and viewers don’t stick around for long, I’m nevertheless amazed at the fact that I have the opportunity to connect with people from all over the globe. I never could have guessed some of the keyword searches that would have sent traffic my way. But I’m not complaining — search engines, keep ‘em coming!

I’ve never tried to pass myself over as a social media guru. And it’s a damn good thing because if blogging has taught me one thing, it’s taught me that I’m nowhere near being such a guru. I don’t get much traffic on my blog — on average, I get only a handful of hits. But that’s fine because I’m not necessarily in it for hits and popularity. I’m not expecting my blog to take off and earn me a fat paycheck every month (although that would be NICE!). As I said previously, my blog is about expressing myself. And the fact that I can do so on such a platform for almost no money is priceless.

From time to time, my blog posts may get featured on the social network Brazen Careerist. I can’t lie — I get giddy like a schoolgirl when it happens. The fact that anyone thinks enough of my posts to feature them anywhere is a compliment. I’m just a guy who rants about things. There’s no reason anyone should listen to me, so when people do, it means a lot. When Brazen Careerist features my posts, they usually send out a tweet with a nice little catchphrase in it. And this is what Brazen Careerist has taught me — my catchphrases and headlines SUCK! When I see how they promote my posts, their phrases are always concise (they have to be due to Twitter’s 140-character limit) and they always reflect the point of the post. It’s a bittersweet moment because I’m glad they’re promoting my work, but they’re constantly showing me that I have a lot to work on. So for two reasons, I owe some thanks to those guys.

I love when people comment on my blog or when I get a retweet on Twitter. I comment on other people’s blogs, but honestly, I know I need to do it more. That’s part of my failed promotion. I wish I got more comments, but that falls on me. Apparently, I haven’t given people a reason to comment or I haven’t created an easily accessible environment. If the latter is the case, please know that you have the go-ahead to share your thoughts and feedback. Really, you do!

I’ve learned some valuable lessons from my short time of blogging. And I hope to learn much more in the future. If you’re a blogger, what has blogging taught you? Comment! Please!