The basic premise of Fark is for individuals like you or me to "link" interesting stories from virtually any news or information website in the world for all to see, whilst creating your own tagline. It's funny, it's crass. Sometimes it's even vulgar. And it's all real stuff published online.
The site is divided into seven categories - Main, Sports, Business, Geek, Entertainment, Politics, and Video. Some of the stories cross into multiple areas; a story on the Octomom might be in both Main and Geek, or a story about Michael Phelps in both Sports and Video.
So there I was, mindlessly trolling the Internet, as I am wont to do far too often (yes, I am repeating myself on purpose!), and I happened upon this gem: "Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25," written by the newly-graduated English major who just took your coffee order.
As I am sure you can imagine, from the part in quotes, the Next Generation Journal story had all the qualities of a train wreck. The headline oozed of entitlement, ego, narcissism.
Oh, so juicy!
So I clicked. And I read the original post, written on July 20th by Cathryn Sloane, a 2012 graduate of the University of Iowa.
And read.
And reread.
And then read all the post-blog comments - all 400-plus of them.
And read. And reread. And then went back and forth between the two posts, and the hundreds of comments about both posts.
And I said to myself, "I need to reply as well!"
Here is my commentary.
Dear Connor, Kelsey, and Robert (and Cathryn),
First, some props, given I've already read the multitude of comments - many scathing - surrounding both Ms. Sloane's initial commentary and your follow-up. It's often difficult to throw one's opinions out there for the world to see, especially when it seems to either target or endorse a specific demographic. It takes equal strength of mind and character to stand up for someone - an individual or group - when it seems under attack for how said viewpoints are expressed. And I agree that any and all "personal attacks" are out of bounds (although I suspect many of these perceived personal attacks are not personal, when looking at the big picture).
Having said that ... oy vey iz mer!
One of the gripes younger generations have is being taken seriously by older generations. It's the whole vicious "I can't get experience without work, and they won't hire anyone without experience!" cycle. Yeah, it's painful, it pre-dates even old-fangled media like television and radio, and will likely be around long after MySpace is dead and buried. (Oh, wait - it's already dead and buried? My bad. Replace "MySpace" with "any currently existing SNS".) I get it. There is some legitimacy to this viewpoint. And yeah, it sucks.
There's a reason many professions require some form of experience in the field when looking to hire anyone - managers, employees, even interns currently in college or high school. There's a reason social media employers are "looking for five to ten years of direct experience" - they want to know you have not just a passing interest in their product, but the working tools that will allow you to both learn and grow. When Ms. Sloane wonders "why they don’t realize the candidates who are in fact best suited for the position actually aren’t old enough to have that much experience," she misses this entire point. If a human resources department is given a directive such as "five to ten years" of experience, it's because they want someone more seasoned in that position. Throwing an entire profession "under the bus" - whether intentionally or not - tends to alienate the faction being run over. This leads to Angry Birds - er, Angry Professionals. - who are quick to defend their fiefdom.
Making vast generalizations about any group of people (whether religious, business, school clubs, whatever) rarely furthers open discussion. Instead, it usually leads to lines in the sand. Ms. Sloane's OP appeared to argue only the young adults of today (basically, those who use SNS regularly) should be social media managers ... and they (and only they) truly understand how social media works. This theory is completely flawed.
Just sayin'.
I suspect most social media outlets are not looking for people who solely know how to Tweet, or Like, or ... whatever they do on LinkedIn. They want individuals who can market their websites effectively. It's marketing, pure and simple. The argument that being capable of using social media makes one more qualified to use it effectively ... is not true. Being part of the social media generation (whatever that means) doesn't mean one is qualified to actually work in the industry. I mean, I know how to put a tape in the VCR; it doesn't mean I'm qualified to build or repair a VCR. I use an iPhone and iPad, but haven't the foggiest how to create apps for them. I used to be a journalist; while I am a competent writer, I'm not sure how easily this would transfer to writing, say, novels, TV commercials, plays, or film scripts. (I do manage three debate team/league websites despite having never taking a single course in HTML, so I guess I got that going for me, should this whole "teaching" thing flame out. Speaking of which ...)
Experience does count.
Now, I personally believe the older generation often disses younger adults because of its ageist views. (The opposite also holds true, BTW.) I've probably been guilty of it at points during my 48-plus years on this planet. I agree when you state, "All of the benefits of youth, and of the 'next generation,' are important to have in the national conversation. We don’t claim that they should dominate or supersede direct experience. But we do believe those benefits, and the voices of the ‘next generation’ overall, should be present. That’s especially true at a time of rapid transformational change, and when issues that are largely out of our control, from deficits to climate change, will impact us immensely." Hell, part of my job is to make this happen! Some members of my era - and older - are already burned out, or well on their way, in a number of vocations; we need youthful vigor and idealism to make their way into the current marketplace across the board.
But (here we go again) ...
The OP headline itself is questionably worded, and can be seen as quite disrespectful and downright insulting to many older folks (i.e., over 25 years of age) who helped create and craft the current world of social media. "Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25" smacks of entitlement and ego. It comes off as a holier-than-thou posture. It was the first thing readers saw, thus making the strongest impression. And when veterans in any calling believe their profession and professionalism is being questioned by someone who has never stepped their shoes, it tends to make them (a) defensive and (b) irritable. You note that responses accused "our entire generation as [being] arrogant, entitled, naïve and ignorant." Dude ... the OP headline alone leads to that impression!
It can't be "absolutely off-base" when you leave yourself open to that line of attack!
FYI, I am printing out copies of both the OP and your response to use in my high school debate classes. One of the major things I try to teach my squad is how to frame sound arguments, and avoid logical fallacies. It will be interesting to get their views on what was written in both commentaries, and to see how they frame responses to your cases. I suspect they will find holes large enough to drive Mack trucks through, but I could be wrong.
As an educator, and a late-40s member of our society, I truly hope you are all able to not just read the comments (all of them, on both posts), but understand what is being said. Have a Socratic seminar. Do some brainstorming (live or on Skype). Group discussions can be beneficial ... as long as you are open to the comments and learn from them. If you really do value "the diverse voices, perspectives and priorities of our generation into the national dialogue," then you must embrace the comments, good and seemingly hurtful, and advance from there. Carte blanche throwing the multitude of statements from people in the profession, who care about the profession, and want nothing more than to see it continue to grow and succeed with young, eager people like you, won't work. Griping and bitching about how "they just don't understand" or "they're all assholes" or whatever, won't help you here.
I hope you make some damn good lemonade!
Sincerely,
Paul L. Gaba
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