or, how many social media experts does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Remember the time when the internet was just for geeks? The internet landscape has changed. The web took over and has become a breeding ground for all sorts of idiots promoting themselves. There's a huge echo chamber full of people who blog about building an online presence. They blog about how you too can get as famous as they are. Except these people are "famous" for simply blogging about how to get famous on the web.

I was doing some research on these so-called "digital crusaders" and I can honestly say I've never heard of a single one of them. Maybe that just means I'm out of the loop. What's interesting is that these social media experts all know of each other. There's a feedback loop for these digital crusaders. There are tons of blogs all interlinking to each other and all promoting each other as if they were really important.

This sets these crusaders up for thinking they're actually creating some kind of value, when all they're really doing is talking. One digital crusader actually lists a few of his "accomplishments". These accomplishments are really nothing more than being featured on other peoples' blogs talking about how famous he is. These other blogs are only known by people in this circle jerk and definitely not "famous". There's something wrong when your accomplishments are centered around telling other people how to get famous on the web. Please, point me to something that you _actually_ did so I can understand. Because what you're really selling can't simply be yourself and how you got famous by blogging about being famous. Or is that really all you're offering?

I can't help but think that there is actually a market for people like this. A market where some normal person actually benefits from the teachings of a digital crusader. Perhaps by simply blogging about them I'm contributing to this digital crusader "brand". There's no such thing as bad press. Even the bad press about something tends to promote that _thing_.

It's actually pretty disgusting when you get right down to it. There are some people who continue to value talking over doing. Digital crusaders talk about doing, but what they're doing revolves around talking.

There are also some people who have personal brands online who have created tons of value. These people don't go around calling themselves "social media experts". Some of them are people who were successful before the web and used the web to take their businesses to the next level. They don't just talk about how to become internet famous. They don't just create a personal brand for the sake of branding. These are hustlers building a following for the businesses they create.

So, create your personal brand. If your accomplishments are nothing more than other people talking about your blogs on how to get internet famous, you're probably not creating value. If you're selling ebooks on how to get famous by selling ebooks, you're an asshole. So create more value than you capture. Get out there and fucking hustle.