Just Half An Hour

So I am getting engrained in the whole internet business world and one of the buzz words floating around those circles is “authenticity” and “transparency”… Okay, I guess that’s actually two buzz words.

So here’s the background. Some of the big name players in this arena were very transparent about what they were doing online as they were doing it. This garnered them huge massive followings because everyone was just enthralled by their progress. They were open and transparent without overtly stating that they were being so.

Fast forward to today. These folks are millionaires and everyone who followed/follows them watched it happen before their eyes. It was all very natural and organic.

Now it seems to me that people who previously kept their “trade secrets” under wraps are touting these two terms “authenticity and transparency” as though they are the new magic words that will you bring you traffic in droves and masses of loyal followers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for transparency and authenticity, but if you’re going to be transparent and authentic then just be…don’t announce to me right before saying certain things that you are “going to be transparent and authentic right now”. That just makes me not trust you all the more. It makes me think that up until that point you haven’t been being authentic and transparent with me… Have you?

I don’t break in to the middle of my conversation with people and say “okay now I’m going to tell you the truth…” That would imply that perhaps I’d been lying to you until that point. I don’t know… Something about announcing that you’re about to be authentic and transparent with me just doesn’t seem to sit very well with me.

Now for the people who have been doing that all along without feeling the need to make the announcement, oh yes, I do trust them more.

It’s just this new generation of self-declarers that I feel more wary of 😦