This morning I was wondering who is the top social media influencer of 2016?
There are so many lists circulating that put the spotlight on people who are influential. The top bloggers, most influential social media people, most popular internet marketers, and so forth.
Even People magazine does their lists of the most beautiful people.
Well, as I was sitting here working on my blog today, I received an award that is the greatest honor I\’ll probably receive while I am writing this entry.
I was named the… wait for it… Top Social Media Influencer of 2016 (named Joel, living in Denver, wearing glasses who and had bacon & eggs for lunch while live-streaming it on Periscope).
Hey, I deserve it! After all, I met all the qualifications My name is Joel. I live in Denver. I wear glasses. And I did indeed stream myself preparing bacon and eggs for lunch today. The competition was fierce, but in the end the panel of three judges (me, myself and I) felt we had no choice but to bestow the coveted honor upon myself.
My friends Chris Brogan and Jay Baer were briefly considered for the top spot in this list that only has one spot, but in spite of their accomplishments were both disqualified because their names aren\’t Joel. (Nor do they live in Denver. Though Jay wears glasses. It is not confirmed as to whether or not either streamed live the preparation of bacon and eggs for lunch.)
So, in the spirit of humility and with full recognition that there are people far more capable than I who could also give themselves a fake award any time they want, here is my acceptance speech.
\”I\’d like to thank myself for the privilege of being recognized for my efforts today. I know it isn\’t every day that your peers see you as someone worthy of receiving the title of Top Social Media Influencer of 2016. And that\’s why it\’s sometimes easier to just make up your own award so your blog title gets indexed by Google. In an age where perception is reality, many people believe what they read without truly understanding what they are seeing. In fact, I\’ll bet when I post this link on Facebook some people will congratulate me thinking that I really was recognized for something special! Oh, you people do crack me up. Nevertheless, I am proud of myself for accomplishing absolutely nothing of value this morning only to discover that this post is actually pretty entertaining. So maybe I DID do something of value after all. I wonder if I\’ll send myself a trophy or wall plaque to commemorate this moment. Nah, I\’ll just go play some video games. So in closing, thank me very much.\”
In case you still don\’t get it, this is a parody piece. I wrote it to illustrate how people believe what they hear or read without researching for themselves the veracity of the claims. It was inspired by yet another \”news\” story that people were sharing believing it to be true, when it fact it was debunked by Snopes.com. Do your homework, people.