Guy Kawasaki is an Idiot

Thanks for saying what some of us are starting to wonder. It’s not too late for folks to get back on track, I think.

I couldn’t agree with you more on this. I followed Guy for a while, but one of the things in his post about getting followers is the exact reason why I stopped following him. You can’t just spam your followers with links that may be interesting. When I saw tweets from him that were just a link (usually to Alltop) I ignored them.

Plus I missed out on good tweets from people I follow because my timeline was just owned by Guy for most of the day.

I have no opinion on Guy, but I did read that article and think the same things you did. I also instantly thought of all the other self proclaimed “social media junkies” that I hate to follow because they are not genuine.

I’m loving your casino analogy.

I’m a follower of Guy’s tweet and sometimes pick up some really good stuff from him.

It just so happened that yesterday, after reading a few blogs about “twitter for business”, “twitter for..”, (there’re a lot these days esp. this week!) and played a bit with Grader (I tested on Guy), I wondered.. “Guy really has a lot of followers and why is he following almost everyone who follows him?”

I didn’t choose to think that he’s an idiot like you do, I chose to think that it’s a courteous and just another way of doing things.

yc

It’s funny, over the last few days I’ve noticed a huge increase in Guy’s tweets and I’ve contemplated un-following him. There is useful info from time to time but it’s really getting into link spam territory. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say “idiot” but it gets you readers I guess.

I’ve been thinking about this stuff recently too. I agree wholeheartedly with your conclusions Steve.
What is it about human nature that there is always someone trying to game the system? Even when the system is already pretty good to you?

Guy forgot to include another well-known trick:
“Write a blatantly incendiary blog post about an A-list blogger. This will bait them to link back to your blog and thus induce traffic and discovery. No such thing as bad publicity (etc)”

So, well done, guys!

I think that the assumption we all want a lot of followers is an interesting yet inaccurate conjecture. I started using twitter to keep in touch with one friend who would rather tweet than email, and he @ and dms me on a regular basis. I follow some ‘big-names’ on twitter because they are interesting, and I’ve still managed to keep my followers at around 80, which is fine with me. Why would the cloud care about me- I’m not that interesting.

And in his defense, Guy sends out at least one link a day that I do click on and read. But Josh is right, sometimes he just owns your timeline and that’s annoying.

Long tail success is created by genuineness and honesty. (I’ll give Guy points for honesty. It’s got to be hard to say “look what a douche bag I am.”) The days of the glamor and illusion created by mediums like television are coming to and end, being replaced by the blinding light of reality that is already creeping through the cracks of our world.

People have been saying that for years – with the invention of desktop publishing, then popular uptake of the Internet, then when the Web became useful, then when social networks started to flourish, and now.

There are two groups of people who truly believe this. Firstly, the gurus and talking heads who get an audience (and often $$) from promoting this viewpoint. Secondly, people with the ethical makeup to really want it to be true (which is not a bad thing, IMHO).

It does not make it true, however. The Internet is helping to make certain elements of life more transparent, but what the Internet gives to us, it takes away in other areas. Transparency is not a global concept that’s sweeping over us in the next few years – not anywhere close. Tricks, manipulation and marketing will rule as long as humans walk this planet – you can either play or find something more worthwhile to do.

I really agree with your point about being transparent. I think that genuine success is a good deal more meaningful when it is “earned” rather than “manuipulated.” New media should be exactly that…NEW; and in ways other than merely content. Being transparent encourages those who “genuinely” believe and like the person they are following, conversing with or reading about to tell others consistently, and with great long term “stickyness.” Just contrast Facebook with My Space. If people think “being great” is simple celebrity by which we believe there is somehow deep value in large numbers of people being familiar with us, than this is a sorry misunderstanding of what it means to be “great.” Being awsome at manipulating your social status does translate to being great at what you do. This is based on who you “actually” are. What a concept!!

Come on, guys. Was the name calling about someone whose post you disagree with necessary? Even the Jon Dale post that inspired you to write this didn’t resort to that. All you had to do was unfollow if you didn’t want his tweets at all.

Fine, his advice on twitter doesn’t do it for you and you would not resort to the same ‘tricks’… but it’s up to his readers to decide if they like it or dislike it. I don’t agree with everything on that post myself but I’m not spending time on creating donkey cartoons.

There’s no one right way to use Twitter. It’s evolving. Instead of wasting a whole post on Guy bashing, wouldn’t it have helped your readers if you shared your own take on Twittering?

But…it’s a free world. You shared your opinion. I shared mine.

When people started following you (@lessallan) from the FreelanceSwitch forums thread, all you did was spam random people about your software. You were a major spammer of your software and offered little to no value to either perspective.

Yet now, you try to take this stance? Seems a bit hypocritical to me, and a way to use Guy to get traffic to your site.

In my opinion, this is just another avenue of “marketing” to get people to look at your webapps. It’s pretty low and transparent.

Who are you anyways? Why should people care?

LessLame please.

@Yuen-Chi Lian,

I certainly respect your opinion that following someone because they followed you is polite, but I respectfully disagree. I think it is impolite to have someone believe that you are their friend when you are not. Twitter following is a scaled down version of this IMHO.

@Peter Cooper,

I agree that this transparency will take a lot of time, but I do believe we are moving in that direction. I also don’t believe that the internet is the sole mover in that direction, but it does help.

@Emon,

I might agree that the name called was a bit over the top, perhaps I let my passion get the better of me. But I do believe that going after more followers just to seem more important than you really are is an idiot move (there I go again). I am against impersonation and I believe one should not be afraid of being who they are.

If you read through this blog you’d see that Allan and I talk a lot about what we think of and how we use twitter.

In any case, thanks for reading and for commenting.

steve

@Christopher Humphries,

Thanks for your comments. I think what Allan did and what I do is try to respond to people who are complaining about quickbooks. Is that marketing? Yes. Is it also out a sincere effort to help? Yes. We have always wanted people to use software that they are happy with, even if it’s not ours. I’m sorry you saw it as spam, but it certainly wasn’t an attempt to become famous.

“Who are you anyways?” Nobodys, just like you and Guy.
“Why should people care?” That is for them to decide, just like I decided with Guy.
“LessLame please.” We always try to deliver Less.

Best wish to you and your family,

steve

P.S. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/stevenbristol

I posted this on Twitter just after reading the Kawasaki piece
http://is.gd/7uZ5

I walked into my office and stated your title word for word. Thanks for validating what I’ve been feeling.

Authentic, generous, experts are the future of the blogosphere.

Recommended reading for Guy: Your blog, and Seth Godin.

wow. love the reactions here. What a healthy response. I think the best part is that Steve and Allan – you are who you are – that is no secret. You don’t TRY to have a different personality to promote your product. You give your opinion straight and that is WHY people follow (or don’t follow) you. A true Tribe leader does just that. So keep on truck’n there.

SPAMMING. You’ve “spammed” your product on twitter because you’re passionate about it. I “spam” @lessaccounting on twitter because I’M PASSIONATE about it and it’s not even my “baby”. To me, Less Accounting is like getting that smile from a perfect stranger and it just made your day…I just want to share more smiles for miles where I can.

…oh yeah… and it’s truly annoying to me when people brag about reaching a certain # of followers. Like, don’t get offended if I don’t follow you back – I see you, I checked out what you have to offer (your site, recent tweets, your blog) and if it doesn’t interest me, I don’t follow. If you become boring or bland or start taking up too much of my deck with nonesense, I give you the boot. ;) …from the heart!

Smile and have a great day!

Well, I do like Guy a lot. Mainly because he was an Apple evangelist and erm, I used to do Apple part-time while being in uni.

So if truly, you love honesty, then I’m willing to do it Aussie:

“Guy sites advice from another web big wig”

—Hey, it’s “cite”, not “site”. ;)

cheerios!

@kwokheng,

Thanks for catching that. It made it passed three proof readers. :)

Regardless of any points you have made, I pretty much thought you were full blown asses when I saw your non-clever graphic and totally appallingly ridiculous headline. All you have done is tossed your negative garbage out for the rest of us to have to smear off our faces. Do the world a favor and find something actually VALUABLE to post, or just shut up. Good heavens. Just because this is a free speech country and any moron with an internet connection can start a blog, does NOT mean they should.

@Kris C,

Wow, I am very glad you commented. After your carefully worded and thoughtful remarks I have decided that I agree with you. The title to the post is all wrong. I should have titled it “Guy Kawasaki is a Douche Bag.”

The part I liked best is how your own argument can be used against your comment. Way to go!

I dare you to go back through our previous posts and try to find something “actually VALUABLE.” Also, try rereading this post again but skipping the first three paragraphs.

Thanks for stopping by.

I read the blog post before it went out, and made some comments. Like I said, I do not take the same approach, but see why he gave the advice he did and his post content fit the title, which was “how to pick up more followers”. Yours is just deliberately mean. Be proud if that was your aim. Mission accomplished.

@Kris C,

I’m not sure “deliberately mean” is how I would describe it. My post is certainly biting and acerbic but mean connotes a desire to be hurtful and I would be surprised if someone with Guy’s stature would be hurt by a post written by a nobody like me. In fact Guy retweeted Allan’s tweet with the link to the post, so I assume he has a good sense of humor about the whole thing.

If you or any other “normal, non-famous” person had written the same post I would not have responded, but in my opinion Guy’s post promotes insincerity and although not evil it is douche baggery, IMHO.

Please respond with the url to your blog, I would enjoy reading your thoughts on any subject you write about.

I’ll post my blog url if you take off the donkey pic and adjust the headline. Those are the two things most inflaming my ire! I don’t expect everyone to agree with Guy. But it is only your opinion that his post promotes insincerity, and you could have pointed that out with less personal hilarity.

:-)

@Kris C,

I’d love nothing more than to take down the pic and change the title, but unfortunately my mother taught me to have integrity and since Guy doesn’t seem to mind, I guess I can live with it too.

In any case I am glad to say that using my sleuthing powers I have found your website and I will respect your anonymity and not post the link here (but you are invited to do so) and I found your designs charming and I totally agree with you about Skitch.

I wish you the best in your business and hope that we can be friends.

:)

I think you’re just plain wrong, probably jealous and a tad mean spirited.

Did you get out of the wrong side of the bed, or what, on Friday?

@Maggie Holben,

Thanks for writing. What part did you think was wrong? The part where I called guy and idiot? The part where I called myself a one trick pony? The part where I called Guy a one trick pony? The part where I insisted tha Guy is a douche bag? The part where I said Scoble was nice the one time we met? The part where I thought the days are numbered for these types of tricks? The part where I said the world is changing into a more transparent place? The part where I said people will be drawn to those who are genuine in thought, word and deed?

Just decided to delete my account with you guys. Not because I disagree with you (or even agree with you). No, it’s because two complete assholes have access to my account information.

Why on earth would you feel the need to state, publicly, that you think someone is a douche bag? Please tell me what purpose that serves? So you can get up on your soapbox and tell people that “the world is changing into a more transparent place” etc… blah, blah, bullshit, and more blah?

Sure, it probably made you feel all manly and good to call someone a name and act all third grade and shit but, give me a break! Give people some credit to sort out what is b.s. and what is decent advice.

Again, what purpose did calling someone a douche bag serve other than feeding your own ego?

@Scott,

Sorry to see you leave us, especially on an unrelated issue as my inflammatory use of language. Although it serves no purpose, I will point out the hypocrisy of your calling me an asshole because I called someone else a douche bag.

I certainly agree that I could have written this post without the inflammatory language, and perhaps I will next time. But the truth is I do enjoy the use of inflammatory and flippant language occasionally. And as you might guess by reading this and other things I have written, I am a firm beleiver in being genuine and honest, and letting your public persona reflect who you really are. I regularly call myself an asshole, but the truth is I am very thoughtful and generally seek deeper meaning. I am usually only an asshole in jokes or to make a point. I’m sorry I crossed a comfort level for you.

Guy is a public figure and as such should have a thicker skin (he has shown that he indeed has a thicker skin). I don’t think I have ever called out any private individual in this public forum. Perhaps that is a valid distinction, perhaps not. You can decide that for yourself.

I assume you are leaving Less Accounting and I am sorry to see you go. I wish you and your business the best in all things.

Steven,

Yes, point out the hypocrisy in my calling you an asshole for calling Guy Kawasaki a douche bag – please. Sort of like you, I’m generally only an asshole when responding to assholes or, to make a point!

I’d like to point out the sheer idiocy of your argument that because Guy is a public figure he should have a thicker skin. What? Really? Because someone is in the public domain, that makes it ok to call them douche bags, or just rip on them for no reason?

Listen, I think you guys are smart. I think you make good products. But, I think it’s one thing to use inflammatory or even flippant language on occassion but, is it really necessary to denigrate others in it’s use?

It’s ok to have opinions. And I applaud your intention to be honest and transparent. Yet, is it really necessary to form opinions to denigrate another? Only because you think the persons advice is suspect, or even silly? I mean, really?

Why do people feel the need to build themselves up at the expense of another? I know, you even call yourself an asshole. Not sure why. From what I’m able to gather, you’re a pretty smart fella. :-)

@Scott,

I think I used flippant language for dramatic effect. Nothing more. I don’t know Guy personally. If I did I’d guess I wouldn’t think he’s a douche. I thought Scoble was a douche until I met him. I do think that wanting more followers is human nature. We all want to be liked. But I think that tricking people into following you or doing things that are not genuine to get followers is a douche bag move.

I do actually think that only a douche (dramatic affect again) would encourage people to be dishonest. Just like you think only an asshole would call someone a douche. I think both are valid opinions.

The other thing is I think I was quite complementary in the first paragraph and even after I call him a douche I said I still recommend people go read his stuff. So I did try to convey a balanced opinion of the guy. You point is well made though and perhaps next time I will be very clear that I think that sort of behavior is douchey, not that the person is necessarily a douche bag.

I’m don’t think I was building myself up at his expense though. Perhaps deep down I was, but I’m such a nobody it doesn’t seem to get me anything. I certainly didn’t expect his kind of response to this post.

And I must say that I think anyone who thinks (or determines from what he gathers) that I’m “a pretty smart fella” is A-OK in my book, and clearly a very smart and handsome person himself. :)

Lastly I’d just like to thank you for giving my the opportunity to use the word douche so many times in this comment thread. I love my 13 year old sense of humor.

You have got to give him some props though. He has had an interesting and successful career so far. He is doing something right. He has sold out, but who wouldn’t?

To me he seems a little unreal, I have read through some of his articles and its seems to be pure managerial/marketing speech

@Gary Monkey

>>He is doing something right. He has sold out, but who wouldn’t?

Perhaps he has had the fortune to work on projects that others turned into successes regardless of his efforts

@Scott
I don’t think Steve is trying to build himself up by denigrating Guy – rather that he is questioning the value of what Guy is saying. He is being critical but fair. We can all grow from criticism. If we choose to go public with opinions then we must accept that others will pass comment

@Steve in me you’ve won a reader

Wind is what I call much of Guys postings, overall mostly self-promoting (links to his own things) ego serving inane stuff – riddled with errors forexample

when recommending SmartyPants
“I hate dumb apostrophes, quotes, and dashes but replacing them is not simple because HMTL links must contain dumb quotation marks”
from http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/11/ten-tiny-apps-t.html

Guy K.is just an opportunist. Why so many people fall for his old, tired jokes is beyond me.

Guy turned down being the CEO of yahoo because he assumed that their revenue stream models were invalid and that the company would never be profitable.

Look, as part of my MBA, we had to read some of his articles.

The bottom line is that I will never give Guy Kawaski or any other Venture capitalist the chance of thinking they are some kind of Simon Cowell or a Donald Trump in a board room, and and lower myself to present to them and have them keep 51% of my sweat and they impose double standards.
Sorrry GUY, you wont ever get the chance. So, I recommend that everyone use Angel finance. You may get less, but you won’t get a bunch of stiff necks that think they are God and then that is only part of the problem, phase 1, 2 and 3, they will own your soul.

Guy Kawaski’s books are just really boring. I fell asleep reading them. You will only learn how to be a begger for Venture Capital money. He basically is trying to teach you how convince someone to give you money and own your soul. To his credit, some things are good, buy overall, the entire the books are boring and really he like to go outside the realm of business and think that he such a great holier than though person. How much money did he donate? If he is so moral, how come he rejects nearly all non profits. My point, everyone likes to act like they are so moral. Money talks.

Again, if you need financing, go to a Angel, VC’s are only there to fill their pockets, they tout morals, but ROI is the only thing important

Interesting,

I have to agree Guy is an idiot lol

Thanks for bringing this up

I followed him because of Tim Ferris. Guy Kawasaki would start posting his tweets many times a day and I found it so annoying I had to stop following him.

I followed him because of Tim Ferris. Guy Kawasaki would start posting his tweets many times a day and I found it so annoying I had to stop following him.

I know I’m a little late to the party but I can say nothing has changed. He’s still a douche. I too followed but quickly saw that he is a one trick pony. He’s the Kim Kardashian of the tech world. Why the hell do people pay him attention?!?! Oh, and so help you if you publicly disagree with him; After he post an article about gun control but had a picture of a kid sitting in class with a hand gun in his waistband, I called him on it. I’m paraphrasing but the implication was “you’re stupid and stop reading my posts”. He touts himself as the “apple evangelist” but if you drill down to what that really means, its nothing to be proud of.