How pretty do you have to be?

June 4th, 2009

This morning, I uploaded a video from Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) to Soc Media 101. As I watched, I couldn’t help but notice how adorable he is (as in handsome, kind and charming). And my brain started to churn.

Not five minutes later, I saw this:

The people who do well in Hollywood tend to be the people who did well in high school. Because it really is about who’s in, who’s out, who’s cool. Then you get the nerds like me who know how to write or make movies, and they have to sort of make room for us. But we’re not calling the shots socially, you know? - John Favreau, actor, director, writer and more

There’s no doubt that the social media – high school analogy works. I mean, come on.

But, it isn’t clear cut:

Pretty people are very successful in this space, but so are unpretty people. (I’ll let you make your own mental list – I’m not walking down that road).
Kind, generous, wonderful people thrive in social media, but so do assholes. (I’ll let you make that list too.)
‘Popular kids’ flourish as well, but the internet really lets the geeks soar.

As usual there are no answers, no universal truths to be found. I’d like to think that the good guys finish first…but, sadly, the bad guys have black hat SEO on their side. Like automatic Twitter follow machines. Isn’t that the equivalent of having friends because you’re the only one with the fake ID?

Overheard on Twitter today: