It’s been a while since I’ve called out a douchebag publicly. I think I’m way past-due.
Today I’m going to be focusing on a man named Chris Voss.
Now, I’ve known some dickheads in my day. I’ve even known some dickheads who were spammers. But this guy takes the cake.
Now, keep in mind. I’ve been active in the Digg community again, as well as a few other social networks. I’m not hardcore into the scene these days, but I do my part. As such, I get a lot of requests from people either asking for advice on how to get a good article frontpaged on Digg, or just asking to check out their submission.
This is all cool. No problem. Most of these people are just looking for a helping hand.
Then there’s Chris Voss.
I get the following IM from this douchebag earlier tonight.
Voss: YOU MUST SEE THIS ULTRA FUNNY FUNNY VIDEO ¸„ø¤º°¨ ¨°º¤ø„¸ NEXT VIRAL VIDEO [LINK REMOVED] RETWEET! RETWEET!
First off, it reads like a spam email. It’s not personalized. It’s not asking me to spread the link. It’s a demand, and it’s got glittery text shit in there.
My first response is “Fuck this guy”. But then I realized I could have a little more fun.
The following took place.
Me: Ugh, really?
Me: You don’t get “viral”, do you?
Voss: what am i missing
And this is when I sent one of the longest messages I’ve ever put into an IM window.
Me:
Well, a number of things. You can’t spread something in hopes of it going viral and CALL it viral. That’s counterintuitive.
Second, you’re begging way too hard for attention to your links. Your Twitter just repeats the same stuff day in and day out, it’s full of strange text decorations like some MySpace page from 2005, and is generally hurtful to the eyes.
Third, your Twitter profile says you’re a “Social Media Pro”, but looking at your social media profiles, this seems to be a total fabrication. Go look at @zaibatsu or @atomicpoet. Those guys get social media and how to use it. You don’t. Your profile is spewing about 20 tweets an hour for the same thing. You only interact with a few people (just the ones that seem to be retweeting you and further participating in your spam), and there’s little actual discussion.
I could go on and on. And I will.
It looks like you also do social media “Training & Speaking” and “1 on 1 Consulting”. Judging by your twitter stream, I worry for anybody lining up to take your advice. Now, don’t get me wrong; I don’t claim to be a social media expert, myself. I honestly don’t have the time and resources to really dedicate to taking advantage of it, but I’ve got a good grasp on it. The problem with you, though, is that you DO have the time/resources, but they’re going to utter waste.
And there’s a difference between asking for somebody to take a look at some content you found or created, and outright begging for them to spread it as more of a personal favor than actually engaging in any community.
Stuff like this is killing Twitter and Digg.
I hope you don’t take any offense or anything. This isn’t intended to be a personal attack against you. I don’t really know you well enough to make any comments on you as a person, but as a “social media person”, I think you’ve got a lot to learn. You’ve got the ability and the time to dedicate to it, which is great, but by no means would I be putting “Twitter/Social Media Pro” in your Twitter bio just yet.
About five minutes goes by and I see the IM window change between “Chris Voss is typing a message” to “Chris Voss has entered text”. Obviously trying to think of a legitimate comeback.
Voss: No i appreciate you private chat with me on it. I’ll give it consideration. I do do things by design that work for me and are a little differnt than what i advise my international clients. you can see my consulting firm at [LINK REMOVED] I can tell you my programs have been very successful for CEOs and companies I have. Thanks for the input I appreciate it.
What. The. Fuck. It’s like my wall of text had no affect on this dude. He did the online equivalent of looking me in the eye and slapping me right in the face. And managed to push off another link to his services.
For those unfamiliar with #blockmonday on Twitter, please educate yourselves and do your civil duties by blocking @CHRISVOSS.
Social Media Rage reseach: http://digg.com/users/CHRISVOSS/history/submissions
37 of 47 Diggs are self submissions, Most with three Diggs. Verdict: Chris Voss, not a social media expert.
Anonymous post via SMR Anonymous logon. SocialMediaRage.com not responsible for authorship.
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Comments ( 7 )
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Dude Dean, Harsh Agrawal. Harsh Agrawal said: RT @TheDudeDean: Digg: Chris Voss – Social Media Douchelord http://su.pr/1xYKMl #SocialMedia #SMR [...]
Tweets that mention SocialMediaRage » Chris Voss – Social Media Douchelord [Repost Copyjacked] -- Topsy.com added these pithy words on Oct 26 09 at 5:27 pmI don’t see any problem calling someone out. However if you are going to do it anonymously it holds little water.
Gerald Weber added these pithy words on
Oct 26 09 at
5:52 pm
@Gerald
Whether Anonymous or not it doesn’t change the fact that Chris’ behavior isn’t EXACTLY what’s being described. The argument still “holds water”
Judging by the link you posted in your profile I’d almost be inclined that you took offense at what was said about Chris and perhaps took it as an “Anti-SEO” or “Anti-SEM” attack.
There’s doing it right and there’s doing it wrong. Chris was doing it wrong. If you’re doing what Chris is doing…you’re doing it wrong. Simple as that.
Bdog2g2 added these pithy words on
Oct 27 09 at
6:04 am
G-Man this isn’t the first time someone has done a write about Mr Voss. Hopefully he will take this as time for him to change his ways and grow as a person.
The Dude Dean added these pithy words on
Oct 27 09 at
2:50 pm
Actually I didn’t take any offense whatsoever to your post. The guy you were talking about could very well be a douche. I don’t know him from adam.Nor did I take your post as anti SEO. I was just curious who wrote the post.
Like I said I see nothing wrong with calling out a douche and I think the social media expert thing is very ridiculous as you said. However if I’m calling someone out I put my name on it big and bold for all the world to see.
As far as I can see I agree mostly w/ everything you said. However you’re talking about social media and doing it right vs doing it wrong.
Rule #1 of blogging and social media is to not hide behind your blog.
If you are going to call someone out you should put your name on it. Simple as that.
Gerald Weber added these pithy words on
Oct 27 09 at
4:59 pm
@Gerald
Lets be clear I wasn’t talking about him nor was the author of this post. This was found somewhere else and with the author’s permission it was posted here, hence the “[Repost CopyJacked]” in the title.
You may find some off the wall, crazy, hateful, spiteful stuff on this site because it was created for users from EVERYWHERE to post what goads them on Social Media.
So just because you see someone posting something doesn’t mean it was that person, its often something we receive in our inbox and an author may ask to post it anonymously for a VARIETY of reasons.
Bdog2g2 added these pithy words on
Oct 28 09 at
4:49 am
@G-Man I am sure that Mr Voss remembers where these words came from, and I think now most of the Digg power users know what Mr Voss is all about. I am sure he will go far on both Mixx and Digg
The Dude Dean added these pithy words on
Oct 28 09 at
7:35 pm
