We get a lot of questions about social media here at the Web Action Team headquarters, and not all of it comes from Bryon. The conversation usually revolves around someone in the division wondering if they should be on Facebook/Twitter/Blog/Delicious and other social networking sites. Most of the time, the answer depends on how much content the inquisitor produces and who the intended audience is.
Even though we may not always encourage users to jump on every new bandwagon, we are responsible for knowing what is out there, how it works and whether or not it would be appropriate to suggest. Cruising blogs and media reviews of new social media applications often requires trudging through tedious rants of excited users who proselytize the life-changing benefits of the applications.
That's what makes this little parody from The New Yorker so perfect. It pretty much nails the bombardment of buzzwords that ensues when social media devotees start discussing their cult(s).
Excerpt:
To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you. We use CopyBuoy via Hoster Broaster, because it streams really easily into a Plaxo/LinkedIn yak-fest meld. When you register, click “Endless,” and under “Contacts” just list everyone you’ve ever met. It would be great if you could post at least six hundred words every day until further notice.
If you already have a blog, make sure you spray-feed your URL in niblets open-face to the skein. We like Reddit bites (they’re better than Delicious), because they max out the wiki snarls of RSS feeds, which means less jamming at the Google scaffold. Then just Digg your uploads in a viral spiral to your social networks via an FB/MS interlink torrent. You may have gotten the blast e-mail from Jason Zepp, your acquiring editor, saying that people who do this sort of thing will go to Hell, but just ignore it.