What am I reading? Trust me I'm Lying




A playbook for the dark arts of exploiting the media
Confessions of a media manipulator

 Okay - this was definitely gangsta-like - if there ever was a click-bait headline for books, this was (& is it).

 One thing Holiday does well, is whip up interest.

 Sadly, it is only thing.

 Part confessional, part accusatory, Trust me I am Lying is mildly interesting.

So the book does deplore the present state of media, justifiably so. The fact that it may not surprise you to learn some of the dirty media tricks itself is testament to the fact how weary we have become and how easily (and correctly) we believe media is malleable.

 Molded in classic whistle-blower style, you'd think this book would do a expose on the ways of the media - and it does. Divided into two parts: How Blogs Work and What Blogs Mean, it touches upon how content is traded up the chain, how publishers make money online, how content publishers trick readers, rants against page-views, blogs as machinery of mockery & punishment and so on.

 The book begins off by exploring the nefarious relationships between publishers, advertisers and bloggers. If you are in the marketing profession, you'd be aware of how this cycle works - perhaps you'd learn how deep the rot fests with some disdain. For those, outside this ecosystem of marketers / media / bloggers, you might find the revelations intriguing, to say the least, if not outright offensive. 

 The book is a smorgasbord of these terms in repetition "fake news", "manipulation", "page-views" - and after some point, honestly, you just wait for the book to take off - it doesn't.

I agree with some of Holiday's [obvious] observations - quality journalism is dying, fact-checking seems to be an obscure art, people working under insane deadlines only care about page-views, manipulation is rife in media, and exploitation [both of bloggers and readers] is rampant.

 Despite knowing how some of these tactics work, my appetite for knowing exactly how the supposed dark arts were put into motion was never satiated during my reading experience. I wanted to know more. What we needed was more teeth - more depth - more rigour to the material.

 I suppose that readers would love to know more about the actual media strategies than the alleged hype about these media strategies. You clamor for the so-called "insider tips" - and keep turning pages, but sadly find none.

Not to say that the book is all bad - you can find interesting tidbits.

 What I think readers might like
  • How trading up works
  • How media manipulation works

What readers might miss

  • Actionable strategies
  • Handling a communications crisis in this self-created media mania [action plans?]
  • More details & depth.
That's all folks! Watch out for my next review of a popular (or not) marketing book.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changemakers of India: Divanshu Kumar

Image
Hello everyone, In continuation with the series on Changemakers of India, we bring our very first interaction with the young social entrepreneur, Divanshu Kumar. He is the founder of the  non-profit ed-tech startup Involve Learning Solutions Foundation. Let's hear from Divanshu how education can be an instrument of social change and applaud this young social entrepreneur. Please tell us something about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey. I am Divanshu Kumar, a 2019 graduate from the department of Mechanical Engineering student at IIT-Madras. I come from Gaya, Bihar where I did most of my schooling. I run a non-profit ed-tech startup Involve Learning Solutions Foundation where we are preparing students for the needs of tomorrow.  Honestly, I consider myself as an accidental entrepreneur, because my inclination wasn't really on starting my company, but towards solving complex social problems which affected human potential. And while I was playing with the Idea of Involve,
Read more

How to create compelling Call-to-Actions (CTAs)

Image
Image source: https://goo.gl/ZfJgBA As you are sweating over to create the most comprehensive and unique content, one small thing tucked away in your content could be undermining all your hard work. Call-to-action Oh yes, I know it - its the sign up here button. Hey, I've got it sorted. No - its not just that.  So what is a call to action? As outlined in this article on OptInmonster.com , a call to action is a word, phrase, or sentence that encourages the reader to take a specific action . Says this article on AdEspresso , there are two main purposes of a call to action: to tell someone what they should do and give them the motivation to do so. Call-to-action are the lifeblood of any campaign. Used correctly, they can act as the final push towards your goal conversion [free trial users, e-book downloads, form sign ups and so on]. Not used well, well, they will always choke the most beautifully designed campaigns. Think of call-to-action
Read more

How can influencer marketing help your brand? Influencer Marketing Series

Image
Some people (like me) are born skeptics. Influencer marketing? Blah – why would that work? I know my audience – and I can reach them directly. I don’t need no influencer. But, think about this: In 2017, eMarketer reported that marketers spent $570 million on influencer marketing globally. In 2018, $1.6 billion was channeled into sponsored posts on Instagram alone. According to a report by Linqia , only 6% of brands said influencer content under-performed brand content. By 2020, more than 50% of ad content will be created outside of marketing . Marketing-inspired word-of-mouth makes 4x the impact on purchasing decisions [ McKinsey study ] Okay – so why should you think about influencer marketing? Maybe, you are in the B2B business and feel influencer marketing is not relevant for your segment, or maybe you feel your product doesn’t need influencers? Or it may be that you find your audience is not social media savvy – hence the need to obviate s
Read more