Tribal Etiquette

This week I was a bit surprised to watch myself react extremely suspiciously to a company I would've welcomed with open arms a few years ago. And all due to social tools and their effect on how I communicate and think.

It started when I got a mail to tell me that @transfergroup was following me on Twitter. So I went through the routine: open their page, check their follower/following ratio, and, well, they were following more than ten times as many of us as were following them. Hrm, okay, second level check: tweets? Yes, and a few, and not very spammy. But spammers are getting smarter, so I called on my network:

I'm being followed by @transfer, looks a bit spammy but maybe not. Any Aussies know them?

Yeah, I screwed up the name. @transfergroup answered via dm, and pretty quickly.

Not spam! if you're coming back to Oz we should talk, I can open doors for you that would otherwise be closed www.transfergroup.com.au ellie

OK, quick reply, so not typical spammers. The “open doors” bit was a bit too old school cheesy sales pitch for my tastes, but the “ellie” was cute. But it also meant it was true to it’s name, a group account. So you never know who you’re actually talking to. Hrm. Not spam, but also not good. I checked their site, and for a “new Media, Online & Digital Recruitment Talent Initiatives” agency, their site certainly does little to impress or attract a designer. The first thing I thought was, “I’ll call them about a redesign when I get to Sydney.” I sent them a short dm back with my email address and a few hours later got a reply:

we are not spammers buddy - I have one of your talent scouts get into contact with you via email shortly and I hope your having a good day!

Other than the grammar, sounds okay. I assume it wasn’t ellie this time, but who?

Anyway, long story short, not a single person in my network has ever heard of them. That tells me a lot, and leaves nothing more than a big question mark about them. And considering the “talent scout” hasn’t mailed me yet (after 4 days), they’re not doing much to enlighten me. Ellie did write me, and pretty quickly, but her mails landed in the spam bucket. See the comments.

As I said at the beginning, my attitude’s changed dramatically. If I had been planning a move to the other side of the world 5 years ago as I am now, I would’ve heartily welcomed any Aussie talent agency that contacted me, and in the most subservient “please help me” kind of way. This whole thing – especially since it came through Twitter – made me aware of how my thinking has changed. Through tools like Twitter I’ve got continual, direct and intimate access to people all over the world. I’ve gotten to know people I’ve never seen in a way I don’t know people I work with every day. This is a game-changing way to communicate, and it’s transformed the way I think about communication.

Here’s some advice for companies who want my, or our, attention, and like transfergroup are making their first move into the social tools space:

• We’re a kind of tribe, and we trust each other more than we trust you.
• Our tribe has rules and rituals. If you want to talk to us, pay attention and learn them.
• We’re humans first. We’re suspicious of, and tend to ignore (and possibly ridicule), people who’re suits first.
• Authentic conversation is our currency. If you’re not paying you’re not getting into the tribe. Oh, and we can smell fake authentic by the way.
• If we know we don’t know who we’re talking to, we don’t want to talk.
• People we’re interested in are people with names who we can find out more about online (company blurbs don’t count).
• We “open doors” for each other, and help each other find work. We need you less than you need us.
• We communicate fast. Keep up.

Maybe I’m “closing doors” by saying all of this, but I’m hoping that @transfergroup are curiously trying out Twitter, and open enough that this helps them figure it out. To use the perhaps overused phrase, they don’t seem to “get it” yet, but I’m an optimist so I want to believe that they’re trying. But to paraphrase Stephen Collins, why should I follow you?