@JohnHaydon shared Brogan’s post on Critics with me recently. I read it. I didn’t resent it. I kind of somewhat understood it. To criticize is easy. To create something worthy of criticism is hard.
Chatting to @DannyBrown the conversation found it’s way over to Brogan’s stance on critics. I pleaded my case: Quite simply. “Not all critics (and opinions for that matter) are created equal.” you have…
The friendly critics. These ones we know, love and respect. These critics pull you (me) aside and tell me my site is rubbish. My fonts are offensive and what I’ve just created needs to go complete with that look on their face. The one you get when you’ve just seen a larger woman try to pull of white hot pants. Yah. You know the one.
The professional critics. You don’t know them but you run in similar circles. These critics notice something. They stop long enough to process an opinion that triggers an idea. A perspective. A something that you didn’t think of purely because you didn’t catch that train from Denver to Boston that would have afforded you the conversation with Meenakshi from India who had an experience from her time in Peru about that tool that eliminates the need for those seven other things.
The call-you-on-it critics. These people may or may not be known to you but they are at the same party you are. They witness an error. A mistake. A something that shouldn’t have been and they call you on it. Fair enough. You goofed. Own it. Fix it. Move on.
Then there are the other critics.
The critics who want to waste my time with their petty, unproductive, sheep like, need-everyone-else-to-be-mediocre-too, crap.
(I finally paused to allow Danny a word or two. He took eight.)
Danny said (enter Scottish accent here) – “Ah yes, but those aren’t critics. They’re haters!”
Haters: Jealous, frustrated with their own self, insecure people who don’t have the bottle to create anything worthy of criticism. They run around in circles of mediocrity desperate to find others to join them.
Critics: Hard working, passionate people with an idea, some sound judgment or a new perspective to offer you from a unique-to-them-experience in an effort to pioneer the evolution.
In social media… I still believe that finding your critics is your biggest opportunity. Create a professional crush between them and your brand? You’re, how do they say? Golden! HAH! – but that’s another post.