Is Twitter & Blogging Creating iPhony's?
There is a lot of discussion about Twitter, Blogs and Social Media in general creating Illegitimate Experts, Gurus, Leaders… or iPhony’s. Lets’ look at the definition of Illegitimate- not in accordance with the principles of valid inference. By this definition Twitter, Blogs and social media may be creating illegitimate experts. The beauty of the Internet and online community is the fact a person does not have to be “in accordance with a valid inference” to be successful. No one is forced to follow or listen to anyone online, it’s a game of personal choice.
In the online world each individual is responsible for creating their own validation (whatever that means). My personal opinion is this, “If a person has an audience, voice, knowledge, experience, personality, talent, information, the ability to influence and people are listening, They have been legitimized.” If the above things are happening, the people are confirming that John Q. Twitterer or Suzy Q. Blogger aren’t iPhony’s.
There have been some very real and very legitimate online leaders that have risen out of the ranks of Twitter, Blogging and Social Media. If people buy into what you are selling it’s only a matter of time before some degree of success and influence happens.
Traditional would-be experts are no longer the source of legitimization. The market, the consumers, followers and the online community dictate whether or not a person is the “Real Deal.” It doesn’t matter what I think or what you think, the only thing that matters is what the people think. Let’s take a look at a relatively recent product that in my mind was not legitimate, The Snuggie. Seriously a backwards robe is not a legitimate product. The Snuggie has sold well over 4 million of their backwards robes; therefore the market and the people legitimized the product. “Who am I and what do I know?”
Is Twitter & Blogging Creating iPhony’s? Share your thoughts!
I don’t want to be over-simplistic; however I want to get straight to the point with this post. Life is all about what you make of it. God already believes in you, you have to learn to believe in yourself. If You Want It… Go Get It! It’s never to late to be what you wanted to be or what you thought you might have been.
We live in a microwave society where everything travels extremely fast. Not only does information travel by the mili-second, but opinions and thoughts travel by the speed of light. All of this rapid movement of information and the ability to share information very quickly affects all facets of our lives. This unadulterated bold sharing of opinions in the on-line world, can create a culture of misunderstanding.
Share your experiences. 
I have always appreciated the responsibility and opportunity to be a part of developing leaders. Not only do I get the opportunity to raise my boys to be leaders, but I’ve had the opportunity to have leadership responsibility for many, many people in my seemingly short lifetime. When thinking about leadership, I’ve always pondered this difficultly-simple question: “Are Leaders Born or Made?”
I run across some amazing re-tweets and Twitter links throughout the week. I thought it would be a great idea to compile a simple Top 5 List. The list will consist of the Top 5 Twitter Links that I have ran across. Feel free to @reply or DM me links to be featured throughout the week, simply use hashtag #F5.
Any time I take my two son’s Jayden (6yo) and Wesley (10yo) to a sporting game or practice, I like to give them a pep talk before they get started. The pep talk generally ends with me asking them one simple question, that question is “Son, what are the two things that you can control?” and they respond “Attitude and Effort!” That’s Right… Now Go Get em’!
