I have been observing the twitterversy around Matt “The Powerful Promoter” Bacak unfold over the last few days with some interest.

The issue arose when Matt, a marketing expert who specializes in direct marketing and internet promotional campaigns published a Press Release touting his prowess in mastering the wild and mysterious forces of social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

The press release reads (excerpt):

Suwanee, GA (PRWEB) December 2, 2008 — What’s better than soaring to the top of a popular social networking site? How about skyrocketing to the summit of two of them? That’s the envious position The Powerful Promoter, Matt Bacak, found himself in last month when he entered the Twitter elite.

Proving just how powerful his Internet marketing promotional strategies are, Bacak not only became a top three Atlanta Twitterer, but he currently outranks 99.9% of all members of the site. Internet marketers who would like to follow The Powerful Promoter’s tweets and improve their own promotional efforts can do so online at http://twitter.com/mattbacak.

Matt Bacak

The quote everyone seems to have picked out is this one:

“Anyone can call their promotional abilities ‘powerful’ but I actually prove that mine are,” says Matt Bacak of his most recent accomplishment. “I consistently rank in the top 500 Twitterers on the Net. If you were an Internet marketer who wanted to improve your promotional game, who would you trust? Someone who is all talk and no action, or someone who actually walks the talk?”

The boastful tone did not sit well with many Twitterers, who immediately started a discussion with links being spread through the network like wildfire. Unfortunately for Matt, the most frequent categorization was a “New Media Douchebag”

My Twitter friend MediaPirate, summed up the community’s feelings perfectly in a blog post where he said:

The problem is that this type of ego really contradicts the the overall social media mentality which is basically “It’s not about you, it’s about the overall community”.

In short, the reputation he has so painstakingly built was destroyed through a pompous release. And unfortunately it gets a bit messier. Matt has responded saying that he didn’t know that the press release contained such an arrogant tone, which sort of struck me as odd, considering he is a marketing expert- you would think he would approve or check over the content. What I think he really meant was that he didn’t know he was going to cause such an uproar (ironically achieving the type of rockstar status he was so proudly congratulating himself for only days before.)

Maybe corporations will still eat up these meaningless metrics, and maybe no publicity is bad publicity, but I can’t help but feel a little bad because his online reputation is toast. The web is a finicky mistress and she can turn on you in a second! You have to treat her real nice, lol.

My Take

SHOW DON’T TELL

Ultimately, what this shows is that while Matt could very well be an expert at manipulating followers and Facebook friends he knows very little about building a community. What if that press release had been sent out by one of my favorite gurus, Chris Brogan? Would I have had the same reaction? And the answer is: probably not. Chris, despite having over 26,000 followers on Twitter (compared to Mark’s 2,000) has remained as helpful, humble and friendly as ever. He regularly contributes to the community and answers questions when he can. He adds value.

So if for some misguided reason he DID publish something like that, I would have had a chuckle, maybe poked fun in lighthearted way, but essentially given him the benefit of the doubt. That is what reputation is about, it’s about people believing in your character. Actions and track record speak way louder then words.

I love my Twitter community. They are smart, incredible and funny people that enable me to learn and work in a way that wouldn’t be possible without them. I like getting to know people, I like helping when I can. It’s that digital enjoyment in the company of others, the friendships that I have created. Who cares how many of them there are?  I certainly don’t as long as they keep letting me into their digital worlds, I’m happy.

STRATEGY IS ESSENTIAL

I gave a talk at Rotman last week about my experience volunteering on the Obama New Media Team and the learnings from social media for organizations. My main point was about the importance of strategy. Engaging in Twitter and Facebook without an overall vision or an understanding of how to navigate them can be dangerous. Not only did Matt’s action blow up in his face, but his decision to play the victim instead of accepting responsibility coupled with the lack of responses to tweets just made things worse. Understand why you’re entering this space: just to prove you can, isn’t good enough. Plus you would be missing the incredible wealth of experience and knowledge that way, which also hurts you in the end.

[Photo from Endgadget.com]

Well, it seems that Rogers has heard the large outcry regarding their ridiculously over-priced iPhone data plans and released a new promotional offer.

RuinediPhone.com, an online petition started a few days ago has already gathered 58,000 signatures protesting the old data plans. While it might not affected Rogers, it apparently irked Apple enough to warrant a behind the scenes smack down. Apple takes it’s branding very seriously and was not amused at the backlash, including the negative press and blog coverage warning consumers to pass on the sleek gadget.

THE JUICY GOSSIP – Tracking the Rumor:

The web has been buzzing with rumors about a potential fall out that occurred between his Majesty Steve Jobs and the suits at Rogers which could shed some light on the timing and introduction of the new promotional plan.

According to blogger Daniel Smith’s Smithereen’s blog, he reported on July 5th that there had been some interesting conversations taking place via SMS between Rogers, Apple and Rim employees: [unconfirmed as of now, but makes sense when you consider Rogers actions]

Apple Canada Employee sends text message to source stating something along the lines of “You guys are screwed on the iPhone.” No responses are given when asked for clarification

Soon after, a RIM (Blackberry) employee sends another text to source asking about the Apple/Rogers fallout rumors that are surfacing.

Source receives a call informing them that several stores have decided to release some of the additional help they had hired for the iPhone launch immediately and without notice. [Note: this decision was made by the dealers and not by Rogers]

Senior Rogers rep confirms to source that Apple has decided to divert a large percentage of planned Canadian shipment to Europe! Some stores may now be getting as few as 10-20 units! The wording from head office claims the number of units will be “significantly reduced.

On July 8, the usually reliable Apple Insider claimed that Apple was sanctioning Rogers by announcing their Canadian retail stores would not be supporting Rogers in selling iPhones. Subscribers will have to go to a Rogers retail store in order to pick their unit up. Keep in mind that this was released before the new Rogers plan was announced so it might no longer apply.

On July 9th - Canadian Consumers declared it National Call Rogers day, and urged people to call and complain to rogers about the pricing. A Facebook group was created. (Of course)

July 10th – New Rogers Plans announced.

It’s a promotional offer along with the iPhone where subscribers can get 6GB of data for $30/month (which is probably as closed to unlimited as you’re going to get.)

The good news:

• The data plan can be added to any voice plan. (DUH- I can’t even believe they didn’t offer this from the beginning.

The Bad News:

• The promotional plan will be on only until Aug 31st.
• You have to sign on with a three year contract.

So with all this buzz there are some claiming that the much hyped iPhone release will be more lukewarm than hot, while others have faith that the new plan will help soothe outraged consumers.

I guess we will have to wait and see!

Here are some of the other Rogers pieces related to this topic:

Canadian Consumers to Rogers: Stop Being Jerks, Part 1

Canadian Consumers to Rogers: Stop being Jerks, Part 2