Written with Belief, Shared with Passion

Doesn’t that’ sound like the dream?

To write with belief, and to share with passion.

Then reality broke and the content farm and the sharing automation platforms were born (dare I say share farms – ouch).

2013 will be the year we get to debate this.

Well perhaps.

There could be so much automated sharing in 2013 that we actually kill conversation.

The conversation that began social media could get killed by automation.

Isn’t that sad. Scary? Inevitable?

Isn’t that the supreme irony.

I think that reality is almost upon us.

Sharing has risen to new heights in 2012. Sharing for plain sharing, sharing to automate your feed, sharing under the guise of collaboration. You can all it what you like but sharing is on the rise and the way we’re doing it feels wrong.

I guess I’m guilt to some extent. I do use Triberr and Bufferapp.

For me sharing is a coping mechanism. Sharing is a survival tool. I think we’re learning that sharing helps.

We share collectively to help each other make sense of the noise.

Sharing platforms have a huge lure. They are attractive. They are cheap, they are irresistible, but at what cost to culture and society?

Sharing platforms are like the Ring, but are you Gollum? Who’s speaking for the voice of real human engagement? Shyam and I know where Listly stands on the human vs automation continuum. We’re betting firmly on humans. All in.

Via Social Media we’re all in search of a precious RT, a fresh follow and a great conversation.

We need to remember excessive automation kills. Automation is like the Ring. It’s hard not to want more. And there lies the rub.

We share to find and surface the real gems. We share to make connections. We share passions.

We need automation in our life, but for some tasks.

How do we resist its charms?

How do we retain our integrity?

I’m not sure I know the answer. How much sharing is just right? The Golidlocks problem.

It feels like I’m picking on sharing here, but were all thinking what I’m writing. Tell me you’re not.

I began to write about content automation, but as I wrote this notion of “automation is bad” rose in my mind.

Which is more prevalent today content automation or sharing automation?

I sense sharing automation is just more mature.

It’s more broadly adopted than content automation and curation automation. More people share than create.

When I think of 1:9:90 it makes sense.

There are more sharers and creators, but curation is on the rise as a percentage of the population.

I think Pinterest is teaching us and reminding us of the human need to collect

Sharing is the simplest form of collecting. URL’s are great collectibles.

So what about you? Are you sharing more? And why do you share? Is automation killing conversation?

Are you writing with passion? Are you sharing with belief?

Is automation helping or hindering? Does that experience vary between producers and consumers? Sharers and recipients? Writers and readers? Should we be believe in what we share, as much as we believe in what we write?

Lots of questions… Writing this has reminded me and made me rethink my sharing strategies.

Will 2013 will be the year sharing kills social?

Image Credit : jmhullot via Flickr.com and Creative Commons

Nick Kellet (143 Posts)

Nick is co-founder the social curation platform Listly, that combines crowdsourcing, content curation and embedable lists to drive high-level community engagement, live inside your blog posts. Connect with Nick on Twitter · Linkedin, Facebook and G+ and follow his writing via his other guest posts and on his blogs at NickKellet.com and blog.list.ly