Some People Are Big In Their Own Bath Time

... let's hope they don't drown.

Over recent years I've come to believe that 95% of what self-proclaimed "guru's" say is utter bullshit. They try obtain sycophants like Panini football stickers with the aim in having sufficient idolisers for adequately attended circle-jerks on request.

I couldn't care less how many 'friends' I have on Facebook, I don't need to write self-grandiose rubbish on my blog to please advertisers, I don't feel the need to brag about the material things in my life. Thankfully I'm more than happy with the size of my penis and don't feel the need to compensate in any way, shape or form.

I used to think that I was the only one that didn't bow down in front of these Pied Pipers. But Chris Brogan in his book Trust Agents wonderfully sums up what I've been noticing for a while (pg:98):

"There are individuals in various segments of the online world who have risen to fame in their relative niche, have parlayed that fame into something a little higher up the social ladder, and have subsequently turned their backs on the very same community where they gained notoriety as One of Us. The fall is almost fast."

And I'm not the only one. Just taking one of the points from Aaron Wall (one of the 5% to be trusted IMHO) he states in his post "Why Many Successful People Become Jerks" that "some people forget where they came from and become arrogant". But it's this bit that is the crux of what I'm saying and hopefully you'll consider when you decide who to listen to or idolise and that's the view of Clay Shirky (Aaron summarises) who describes popularity "as basically being an imbalance between the attention you garner and the attention you can give the market."

So if someone talks about themselves more than they talk about others, then find the "unfollow" and "defriend" buttons. Even seek out the "remove RSS feed" option, put to the back of your mind and seek out those people that add value, put the industry first and openly talk about their failures as much as their successes. And if they start trying to belittle their followers then roll your eyes and think "this isn't the guru I'm looking for" and move on.

[Update]
Doh! I should really put down a list of blogs that do add value:

• Affiliate Stuff


• One Little Duck


• SEO Bullshit


• SEO Scientist


• SEOMoz


• Blogussion


• Seth Goding


• Top Rank Blog


• Blog Storm

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