“Somebody start a wave,” panelist Tim Walker says. You+Dallas is at SXSWi, where we are listening to Dallasite Troy Nalls speak on the panel: “The Steroid Culture of Social Media.” Begging the question: You Use? Queen’s “We Will Rock You” is heard overhead, as Walker introduces the panel in true WWE fashion. And in this corner, Weighing in at 267 pounds of solid muscle, Troy Nalls!
Without making your brain work too hard trying to wrap itself around the title of the panel and attempt to figure out exactly what you will learn from this blog, I shall explain. The panel is essentially in existence to inform you, dear social media user, that faking an online presence is not good. Everyone remembers Barry Bonds, right? Ah – what’s the first thing that popped into your head? His steroid usage, right? Right. That form of cheating overshadows his baseball career.
Examples of how you may potential be pulling a Barry:
Pulling a Barry in life: Scheduling emails to send to you boss at 1am so it looks like you’re igniting the midnight embers, when really, you were watching TV and/or falling asleep in your popcorn.
Pulling a Barry in social media: Retweeting a big-name tweeter so you get more followers.
“A lot of people in social media want to make up who they are,” says Nalls. Sure, it’s easy to pretend. “But we’re going to expose you.”
Bottom Line: People value authenticity over anything else. Be who you are, and people will be attracted to that.
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Laura Stillo is the Arts & Entertainment Writer and Creative Social Media Producer for YouPlusDallas. Follow her on Twitter at @laurastillo.
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