I do not think that missing key element is 'fun', although it's true Tuttle seems like a lot more fun. I don't think it is necessarily the more professional feel to Tuttle's on-line presence, although it's equally true that they - and, for instance, Birmingham - have had much better quality 'associated media' - like photographs - whereas Manchester has had some truly awful cameraphone pix and video.
No, I think the true missing ingredient might be defined as "that which makes one less pretentious". Tuttle's founder Lloyd Davies is both witty and eloquent but somehow manages to remain down-to-earth and approachable even when talking or writing about the minutae of some techie chat he's just had. (Perhaps it's the ukelele). He also seems a genuinely creative person who knows a lot of other truly creative people.
Here in Manchester there appears to be a dearth of real creative talent attending the SMC meetings, but plenty of mediocre and terribly earnest I.T.-based Marketeers. Obviously they would turn puce with rage at being called merely 'I.T.-based Marketeers', preferring perhaps 'Social Media Consultants' or 'Creative Digerati' or 'Thought Leaders'. In fact I'm sure they'd prefer that because these are the terms they use when describing themselves, and it comes across as unbelievably pretentious.
No doubt there would be some who would say that Manchester's SMC is not trying to be like Tuttle. Not the authors of MancSMC's original homepage though...
Now let's take a trip up north to see how (obstensibly) the same sort of people have laid out their homeblog:
Other than the horrible aesthetic mess all these streams make, and the fact that they are vulnerable to the ebb and flow of user content (more ebb than actual flow it seems), they suggest an unappealing desperation. "Please join us. Oh, please join us. Go on. Look how popular we are. Do you want a badge? Go on, have a badge..."
You may also have noticed that instead of Tuttle's cool photograph of people chatting we get a dull, low contrast city nightscape. And the title reads 'Social Media Manchester'. What happened to the cafe? And where's the logo gone? Perhaps they've changed their name? Not so, because if you click on the Facebook link you arrive here:
And there's the old #smc logo but the page is called Social Media Manchester. It's not an actual Facebook Group page you understand, but the app page. Under each heading we read: "No content could be found for this item." Well, ain't that the truth.
Clicking through the 'Find Out More' on 'About Us' takes you to this:
In conclusion I think the net result of all this shoddy pretentiousness is that MancSMC continually fails to attract creatives into their midst. And unless something changes, they never will. And if they never will, then the group will remain small-minded, unimaginative, mediocre and dull.
7 comments:
Many good points here. But is it fair to compare Manchester to London? The capital is swimming in creatives who can give their time to enable Tuttle to look great. Whereas Manchester simply isn't.
@Musidora You are simply misreprenseting Manchester when you say that. For over a decade now Manchester has been the go-to City of choice for many artists, musicians and of course now even the BBC.
Social Media Café, in the early days, was really interesting. Genuine pioneers and amateurs talking about interesting aspects of social media, running mini workshops, and thinking out loud in lively discussions, showing and talking about tools and systems they loved (rather than financially benefitted from).
Recently, it's definitely lost it's way. Yes, too many IT consultants masquerading as twitter experts with user IDs in the hundreds of millions, SEO hucksters selling their patented methodologies, and a vaguely corporatised makeover. The fun and interesting stuff that came out in the early days - the lively sparks, the exploration - have definitely gone. It's certainly trying too hard to become a more 'professional' event, but as a result has become more anodyne and bland to support those people and their expectations of contemporary capitalist relations.
The ning platform the site runs on was selected to accommodate an expansion of off-shoot activities, but wound up becoming the typical overwhelming mess that all ning sites become. There's not much that can be done there - ning is what it is.
The bar's good at the old Beeb, though.
It all just sounds terribly pretentious.
I think this makes some valid points. I attended a couple of times and definitely left thinking I was unwelcome/not in the 'right' crowd, which in my opinion is exactly the opposite of what it should feel like in that environment. Shame really; it could be great. Sadly I've been put off from returning.
Jen, do me a favour. Ditch your black background. It hurts my eyes. Your view-counts will thank you for it too!
@Fat Roland That any better? ;-)
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