I am passionate about sharks and diving with them, if you don’t believe me have a look at: www.oceanicdreams.com, www.flickr.com/photos/oceanicdreams and http://fleander.blogspot.com. Did I have fear of sharks before – sure, do I respect them – absolutely. But the more I have been able to interact with them and learn from these encounters the more I enjoy being in the water with them – a guest in their domain.
Wolfgang Leander and Tiger shark (Photo by: Felix Leander)
Over the past 10 years my father and I have had some (minimal) close calls – actually, my dad was bitten in the arm by a 5ft Caribbean reef shark that required over 50 stitches. I should mention that this incident (as well as the others) was completely his fault – he was teasing the shark with bait to get a better photo and it nipped him in the forearm. Three months later my dad was back in the water with his friends with fins – he no longer teases them – now he hugs them.
So imagine for a moment that the influencers online you want to reach out to (be it bloggers, forum administrators, twitterers, etc. or communities) are sharks – and I do not mean that in any negative way – remember, I love sharks and think they are absolutely beautiful animals. Now imagine that you are the overzealous diver who has never dove with sharks before, you may not even get into the water because you are so frightened by sharks and what they represent (thanks to Jaws and the media), or so nervous that you do not know how to behave in their environment.
Freediver and Tiger Shark (Photo by: Wolfgang Leander)
One of three things will happen: 1. sharks are shy and sense your nervous being - they will not come close to you, 2. you will chase them away by bodly approaching them without having observed them, 3.you aggravate them so much that they might give you a love bite.
Freediver and Tiger Shark (Photo by: Felix Leander)
My recommendation…first of all GET IN THE WATER…RELAX, sharks are not out to get you…WATCH, OBSERVE, and LEARN how they behave. Eventually sharks will become comfortable with you being in their space and will approach you for the winning National Geographic shot…and when a REAL CONNECTION is made – you may even find yourself riding on the back of a tiger shark and feeling like you are part of the pack! (disclaimer – sharks, not bloggers, are still consider wild animals and should be respected at all times – respect bloggers too)
August 29th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
The shark/social media metaphor is a good one. I want to go diving now … with the sharks! (Your beautiful photographs have a lot to do with that.)
Cynthia
http://www.mediastory.us
August 31st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Hi Cynthia - highly recommend it - definitely an experience you will not forget so quickly. Thanks for reading!
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:33 am
Felix, these pictures are just amazing!
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:26 am
I don’t think the metaphor is well appropriated for the following reasons:
1. Brands aren’t strangers of the conversation that occurs on the web. They’re not participating though “sharks”/ influencers and users would be really interested to face them and team with them
2. Brands belong to the conversation cycle (the shark pool to continue your metaphor) and missing/ avoid the conversation is a risk for them, not the opposite
The real deal is that if brands aren’t ready to speak and answers to any questions from their customers, they should not enter the conversation. If they’re not ready to take into account the feedbacks given by users and customers, they should not enter the conversation. If they’re not ready to provide simple and plain explanation of the objectives they’re aiming at, they should not enter the conversation. Why? like in a real life conversation if you don’t want to join the conversation and speak with people, don’t jump in the social thing.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:10 am
Hi Romain,
Sure brands are aware of the conversations, but not all are participating for whatever reason and when they do, it is not always the right way.
I am not sure I understand how your second point relates to the shark metaphor - it was never implied that brands do not belong to the conversation cycle.
September 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Leave it to you to make the perfect analogy with sharks (which as you know I have the same mutual admiration and respect for, depending on the day, sometimes more than bloggers :)).
I think the commenter above totally misinterpreted your metaphor by looking at sharks as predators versus what your metaphor is trying to point out which is that this is a beast that you must learn to observe and understand prior to interacting with on its terms.
Great post Felix