At Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch Joel, who modestly enjoys the description “rock star of digital marketing” though I had never heard of him before, offers his wisdom on the path to virtual success.

His advice was summed up in words he heard from Aerosmith front man cum American Idol judge, Steven Tyler, in response to a question by nappy-brained radio interviewer Howard Stern:

Fake it till you make it.

To this, he adds,

You have to believe in yourself and what you’re doing… even when others don’t.

Some might find encouragement in these words, the push they need to keep on going, keep on trying, and never give up your dream.  Joel, in the typical manner of pointless people, equivocates:

It’s both a slippery slope and a fine line (if you can’t carry a tune, you’re not going to be a great singer no matter how much you try to fake it). And yes, there are also many people who are delusional (to a degree). That line, “fake it till you make it,” still stuck with me. To a certain degree, I’ve been doing that for most of my life. Our lives are a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t believe that you have the skills sets and haven’t set yourself up for success (educating yourself, working to build a portfolio, establishing yourself as a credible authority, etc…), you will be bound for failure. But, if you have done those things and you are getting some initial positive feedback, faking it till you make it is an extremely important (and powerful) attitude to have.

The notable lines comes in the last sentence, where he writes “you are getting some initial positive feedback,” and thus tries to separate the idiocy from the merely stupid.

Having watched a few episodes of American Idol, I’ve seen people stand up before the judges who have absolute faith in their ability to sing, only to be told “no” three times over.  They walk out expressing a sentiment similar to Joel’s, that they know they can sing, that singing is their life and they will persist until they reach their dream.  But the viewer knows better, having heard them sing.  It’s not that we don’t feel badly for them, their having no chance of ever achieving their dream, but that they must either adjust their sights or prepare for misery.  There is no way they can fake it till they make it.  They will never make it.

Like any good internet marketing, Joel then moves his point to his money maker: 

Social Media helps you fake it better than anything else. 

Finally, a truism, something we can all agree upon.  While straining the analogy some, no one can hear you sing on twitter.  You can hold yourself out as a singer, twit about your songs or appearances or awards or fans.  You can write love-twits to others showing how much you care about them, offering words of encouragement in the hope of receiving the same in return, and create an entire tribe of authentically engaging people connecting to one another. 

And none of them need ever know if you can sing.  Yet they will put you on their great singers list, or implore others to follow you as a wonderful singer, or engage in heartfelt discussions about your singing theory into the middle of the night. 

Buried in Joel’s vagaries is the proposition that if you lack the ability, that you’re faking it but never making it, social media will let you know that as well.

But the other side of that equation is that there are many smart and well-informed people out there as well who can tell the difference between someone who is using the channel to “fake it till they make” versus someone who is just “faking it.”

While he earlier used the phrase “self-fulfilling prophecy,” though in a manner that makes little sense but suggests he recalls something from Psych 101, it’s unfortunate that he missed the class where they taught about confirmation bias, as he might otherwise comprehend that people listen to those who say what they want to hear.  Voices that confirm one’s belief are the voices one tends to believe.

Social media is a big, perhaps ever-expanding, place, with room enough for the wise and foolish to co-exist.  With a little effort, everyone will find someone who agrees with them, whether it’s actual agreement or feigned agreement to create the circle jerk of validation that most digital desire.  Positivity is rewarded with more Facebook friends, twitter followers and readers. 

It doesn’t mean that you will ever make it, but that a society of people faking it, and encouraging others to fake it so they will return the favor, can be easily found or created.  A thousand twitter followers encouraging you to sing doesn’t mean you can sing.  Even if you couple your twitter world with daily singing practice, singing coaches, whatever else one can do to help one’s singing, it doesn’t mean you can sing.  Maybe you can. Maybe you can’t.  Social media has nothing to do with it.   You will neither sing better nor worse because of social media.

There are fears that social media encourages many to hold on to dreams that would best be let go in favor of a heavy dose of reality.  The applause and support offered from people who have never heard you sing messes with your head, makes you think there’s a future where there’s none.  Smart people realize that self-assessment is difficult, if not impossible, and that there’s no gain in embracing those whose words of support are empty.  Ten people fooling each other are no better than one person fooling himself.

This is social media, an opportunity to find others to share in your self-delusion. 

Steven Tyler actually became a rock star.  Mitch Joel tries to pretend he’s one.  Steven Tyler is that one in a million long-haired kid who made it.  That leaves an awful lot of other long-haired kids faking it.  Mitch Joel’s business is convincing others to pursue their dreams with the help of his marketing services, to fake it until they make it.  Do you believe that you’re the one in a million who will make it, or part of the 999,999 who are just faking it?

In the digital age, at least at this early stage when so many still believe that faking it online will offer everyone the chance to fulfill his wild dreams of success, social media appears to be the means to accomplish what reality could never provide.  If you can’t sing in the real world, you can’t sing on social media. 

Before you end up sitting on Mommy’s couch in the basement, eating Cheetos and dreaming of future greatness, figure out whether you can sing for real.  The last voices you can rely on are those enabling you on social media.  Or marketers like Mitch Joel.

If you happen to be a lawyer, just replace the word “sing” with “practice law” in this post.  If you didn’t already realize this, chances are good that you will have greater success with the former than the latter, greater being relative.  You still may not be able to sing.  And talking tough about the law on twitter or a blawg doesn’t make you a good lawyer.  Law happens in courtrooms, not the internet.

H/T Brian Tannebaum