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- Sphinn It!
Went Hot: December 2, 2008 - 12:05 pm
Posted By: toddmintz 215 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.prweb.com) my network
Category: Other Social Media
A couple strong takeaways here: Even if you are a social media rockstar, you still need to remain grounded and a bit humble. Also, make sure you control your PR folks.
30 Comments
Who Sphunn This Topic?
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TheMadHat
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toddmintz
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pratt
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benjaminlloyd
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webconnoisseur
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rjonesx
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bhartzer
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davidmihm
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UtahSEOpro
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BrettFromTibet
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jeffquipp
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KentjLewis
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clickfire
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seofactor
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Syzlak
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JDA
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skinner
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planetc1
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SEOHolicc
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dailymoolah
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theGypsy
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Gab
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gunjanpandya
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mpind
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BrianChappell
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rastaj
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sammy
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monitis
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OnlineMarketer
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dao
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Musa
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Maing
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johnsantangelo
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shocs
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scbalazs
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Misscj
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BCCStu
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yetanotherben
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JoshuaSciarrino
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Xemion
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styletime
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intheblack
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neednotes
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semo
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ndw0317
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hulupoo
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Askjamiescott
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2advance
Who Desphunn This Topic what is desphinn?
Michelle
12/02/2008 11:18am
What they said. And I'd hate to see a personal attack hit the front page. More insider baseball here.
tonyadam
12/02/2008 11:22am
Let him talk his talk and you should move on to something that actually matters.
karenzara
12/02/2008 11:38am
Enough of personal attacks here. Bullying is for stupid teenagers, not for adults.
Turnip
12/02/2008 06:04pm
I couldn't tell if this was a press release, or a comment spammer trying to rank for the words "twitter elite".
bbcarter
12/02/2008 11:11am
i don't get it, nor do i like the seeming increase in personal attacks on sphinn.
joshwilliams8525
12/02/2008 11:19am
I can see where the negativity is coming from, but don't think it's completely fair.
Comments
Come on, he is top 3 in atlanta, cut him some slack. ;) Lmao.
It's just amazing how all of this happened within like 20 minutes of his press release, Gezz. Lesson taken from this: Think before you post. :)
Shouldnt we be trying to get the most desphinns for this?
Epic FAIL on the part of @mattbacak
"If you were an Internet marketer who wanted to improve your promotional game, who would you trust? Someone who is all talk and no action, or someone who actually walks the talk?"
I love that he thinks his self-described target audience for this press release will appreciate it.
Another Takeaway: Screw up and the SEO/social media community will tie you to a tree and get in line to throw rocks at you.
I get that what he did was stupid, but seriously, does this Sphinn help anyone or educate the community? I don't like when the community gangs up on people, no matter how misinformed they may be. We tend to do it too much and too easily.
I'm going to go hug a puppy now. Excuse me.
Really? I don't think this press release is meant for us. I think it's meant for his social media customers.
It sounds to me like there's a theme going on on sphinn- attacking people who want to be social media rockstars. I'm not sure what the big deal is- people trade on their reputation, which includes their successes, which is all I hear this guy talking about in his press release. So what?
I suppose if ye critics have promoted yourself and gotten business from it in other ways, you could suggest alternative tactics. That would be constructive. But tearing people down personally without talking about better strategies seems like an attack.
Sphinn does seem more negative to me, and I've heard other people observe the same. I'm not going to engage in much more of this type of discussion- because it seems like a waste of time.
i'm going to go find Lisa's puppies.
Nah, not cool.
Sure, I'll defend this.
There are takeaways from what Matt did that have nothing to do with him personally (see what I wrote above).
In an ideal world, Matt will see the criticism as an opportunity to own up to his PR misfire...classic ORM strategy. He could even turn such a misstep around and use it to his advantage.
Also, I believe any criticism of him was limited to his press release...I've never heard of him before today.
Has anyone heard of Mat before today?
I Sphunn this because I think it serves a purpose. It's a shining example of what not to do.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see any personal attacks from Todd or anyone else (except on Digg, but that's expected).
In fact, I see that Todd said
Sounds like good advice.
And just because it was meant for someone else doesn't exclude it from the eyes and criticism of others.
Damn. It's the holidays people. Stop being so pissy.
I'm wondering how this ended up on the front page with 23 Sphinns and 9 Desphinns...
While I largely agree with seofactor's comment, I think it might have received a better response if Todd had taken the time to write up a constructive post and actually discuss the takeaways rather than just submitting the release. The two takeaways you listed are good, but if the constructive criticism is what you're basing the submission on, they seem a bit shallow to me. I'd be interested to see you develop the ideas a bit more and I think a post would have allowed you to do just that.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Just to show you how irrelevant this post is (agreeing with Lisa),
Did you know that Matt Bacak's last name "bacak" means "leg" in Turkish. Now this sphinn has some educational value because you improved your foreign language skills. The guy screwed up. That is it. No sphinn value here.
I think Mr. Bacak knows what he's doing:
http://www.google.com/search?q=matt+bacak&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
And all along I've been pronouncing it Matt Backache so yes there is a definate educational purpose here! ;)
Lighten up guys and gals!
And if honest your agreements or not with its submission to Sphinn or reaching front page has nothing to do with the fact you agree the guy (Matt) has missed the social media 'point' with this PR!
I don't know if I should laugh or talk serious. :)
Worth a sphinn as it is a prime example of what not to do.
Not worth a controversy though. So laugh (hehehe) Learn, and move on.
I am not going to Sphinn nor Desphinn. I'll simply comment.
Mr. Bacak, what ever his methods are in collecting friends may mean or not mean anything. I haven't reviewed it well, be definitely the number of friends does not necesarrily mean you are very good in promotions. You can also be very good in spamming and deception and achieve the same feat. But I am not saying he is spammer. I just think you need to review what he says first before you say his number of friends is equal to his greatness in promotions.
Now from my point of view... even if I believe him or not... sorry Todd, but I think a call out like this is not necesary.
But if you really feel this way, i think a personal blog post on your own blog would be sufficient.
Now off topic, light side... Bacak reminds me of a chicken. Bakbakbakbacaaaaaaak
I'm personally Sphinning over the debate it has triggered - even disregarding the post - the comments are value in there own right. It's important that we have these conversations.
"In one short press release, Matt Bacak has undone any and all of his good works in social media."
Sounds like you know all of his Good Works.
"I've never heard of him before today."
Interesting.
This guy is pure late night "get rich quick" infomercial MLM b.s. This is like complaining about Carlton Sheets' claims to fame. Who cares? They lie and make giant statements to sell some crap turn-key pyramid system to poor old people. For example, from his site:
"What you need is a turn-key self promotion system."
Yeah, that's what I need. I need to give money to this guy for a bs scam system. I'm suprised he's not surrounded by babes in bikini's hanging out on a boat somewhere. What a load of garbage...
I love this product he sells...
"Secrets Of The Internet Millionaire Mind"
Wow... that sounds legit. I'm glad super mattbacak is here to impart his secrets.
But the most amazing thing... someone mistook this for actually belonging on Sphinn. If MLM's take over Sphinn this site will be useless. I thought people here were smarter than this.
Surely the press release was simply a joke? Meant to be humorous. No?
So, this guy is proud of a meaningless achievement and people are lining up to point and laugh? Wasn't there any news about SEOChampion this week?
I'm gonna go join Brian and play with Lisa's puppies...
I believe the point is that, if you're a social marketer, the goal is to be a part of a community, to recognize that you are a part of a whole, to value every individuals contribution and to embrace the value of the community. Proclaiming yourself "master" doesn't exactly respect the sanctity and purpose of social networking. As search professionals we are all trying to find our voice, I do agree that Matt's voice in this case was a little loud;) That said, I'd like to hug Lisa's puppies too!
When I initially saw this post I sided with @0thelisa comments and thought why bother. After getting 3 telemarketing calls from "experts" like this guy while working at my small business today I changed my attitude. Not sure if the press release was a joke or not but unfortunately real business people are getting suckered into scammy marketing programs thanks to guys like this, and that just stinks.
I think this controversy is really interesting. The guy DOES know how to play the game. Sure, he's obviously not making many friends here (ah, the irony, since one of his claims to fame is being "top 500 on facebook), but he IS promoting himself.
Wow, this makes things really interesting. I have vowed to never hire anyone egotistical or under 35 since Darren Lee (a 20 something generation “why” who was escorted from our shop after resigning in shame. He still doesn’t get “the why” BTW.)
With comments like, “the press release is just self-masturbatory drivel…” appearing everywhere, I am just glad we promote our clients and not ourselves.
Is this why we are growing when so many shops are closing their doors? We actually listen to our clients and do what they want, not what some “creative” thinks will win an award.
Maybe this is why you get 90 responses to help wanted ads and zero responses to "work needed" ads.
How do you get the Marketing Rep off of your front doorstep? Pay him for the pizza...
Mike
I couldn't agree more with @afhill to be honest.
Who cares how good he is at what he does, from the attention this article and similar have received all over the net, he's certainly proved how good he is at self promotion and marketing... The benefits from this will certainly outweigh the negatives.
I hadn't heard of the guy before today... I'm sure a bloody lot of people within SEO/Marketing would have said the same... I pretty sure about 75% of the web know who he is now. Heh
Hmmm, I might go and try something similar, I want 5000+ Facebook friends :p
"For more information on Bacak's ascent to the Twitter top"
Not to be mean, but I can't stop laughing. Should I hire him or date him?