Playing with turtles
March 11th, 2010 | 
Author: Felix Hoenikker, the world-famous scientist in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” shirks his duties as “father of the atom bomb” because of…turtles.
You see, Felix had a tank of pet turtles in his laboratory, and he just couldn’t tear himself away from them. Playing with turtles was such a big draw for his attention that the Manhattan Project staff removed them from the lab so he could focus on work.
Applying that metaphor to the real world, let’s examine some of the turtles in today’s marketing tank: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, blogging.
I’m not proposing these things are not valid work. It’s just that, in a 3.0 world, the foundations of a business relationship system lay elsewhere, and are more important than ever…
- Understanding the company value proposition —before blogging about it
- Attending to customer service — before setting up a Twitter channel for it
- Making products truly great — before setting up FaceBook fan pages for them
It’s worth remembering that turtles can be dangerous; if you’re not careful, you might get bitten.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to Mafia Wars…
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Great post, Rich. Glad to see you and Alan are doing well. Lots of positive energy going your way!
Best,
Jamie Turner
Rich, Thanks for this. Entertaining, short, valuable. Too much “social media” and not enough “marketing” in “social media marketing”.
James Snider
MBA, Marketing
Hey, I thoroughly enjoyed the turtles idea. The more we play, the less likely we are to work, and the less likely to ship. I always loved the concept of turtles sitting on a fencepost – if ever you see one, you can be sure he didn’t get there by himself.
Great post, Rich (as mentioned today by Seth Godin).
Seems that a lot of focus recently is going towards, well, focus – and mastery of basics, to counteract all the noise and distraction.
Here in the UK, for example, a lot of people are leaving corporate life (voluntarily or otherwise) and starting up businesses, but without the know-how and team to apply the disciplines you’ve mentioned, and the other skills of business building.
Great to see your right-on posts about getting those basics right.
Best wishes,
Matthew Newnham
Edinburgh
So true! Needed this. I do get too caught up in the Facebook world.
This is a great reminder. Thank you for sharing.
I will also share this with my students.
Ken
Hmmm… as someone who has a turtle tank in her office, I will treat this metaphorically. Now, back to the turtle blog. Er … work.
(Thanks for the kick in the pants.)
The same might also be said of generating activity with unqualified prospective customers-interesting, but doesn’t expand the network nor lead to results which are essential for building trust.
A sharp and fab post brought to my attention via Seth Godin’s piece today……
This is terrific. “Playing with turtles” is a great metaphor for the fact that social media marketing competes with the tons of more enjoyable ways people would rather spend their precious, limited time. Even TV execs struggle with getting audiences, so how can companies without the latest vampire drama or reality show captivate their target markets? So there’s got to be a new marketing mix that shakes out of all this.
Best,
Diane Brody, MBA, biotech/pharma marketer
also blogger, recipephany.com
Insightful post, totally agree.
I have seen this personally. It’s awful, because the person is very busy playing with and feeding the turtles and they think they are doing something productive and they are avoiding doing real work.
Found this via Seth
Great Post. We can so easily be distracted by the next “new” thing that “looks” like it will create leverage, progress. But really, are we hiding from the real work?
It’s so easy for me to get swept up into these turtle things when I’m at the beginning stage of a big project. It feels so good to get something done, finished (who cares if it was important or not!).
Thanks for the reminder.
And, like a lot of the folks who hit you today, I found this via Seth. Great, great post, guys.
I also found this via Seth. I agree, of course, but I find it difficult to pull off sometimes.
It’s not the Mafia Wars distracts me from “the work” but I do spend a lot of time trying to make connections through social media and build a community. Unfortunately, it definitely impacts the time I spend creating, which is the business I am in.
It’s hard for me to always find the right balance. It helps to have people post about it though because it makes me step back and reassess.
Thanks!
This is a nice thought but I’ve found the distinction between what is essential and what is secondary isn’t so neat in these days where the boundary between professional and personal life is so blurred. Take for example, networking events. Sometimes, they have led to jobs and collaboration, other times they end up being purely social. It’s only in hindsight that I can judge what was a productive use of my time and what wasn’t.
I agree everyone/company needs to focus on their core business, it’s just not usually as obvious as turtles vs. atomic bomb creation. Especially regarding making and developing social relationships intrinsic to one’s business, it takes a bit of time to be able to predict what might be a crucial event/activity and what is just a distraction.
I’ve been stepping back a lot from Twitter lately, not because I read about this here or elsewhere. Just because I felt I was distracted enough already without it. Excellent, concise post.
I recently deleted my Facebook account for just such a reason. When (and if) I restart it, it’s going to be more focused. It’s very easy to reflexively post every amusing thing. But what does that serve?
I reckon Vonnegut would find it really funny that Cat’s Cradle is being referenced in a discussion about productivity and effective marketing! If he were still alive, I’m sure he’d be LOLing through the smoke from his Pall Malls… What a guy!
Good morning everyone. Apologies for the delayed response; I’ve been out playing with “real” turtles (at the beach over Memorial Day weekend).
Thanks so much for all the responses — and thanks to Seth for mentioning my post. Also, a nod to Ben Mack for introducing me to the turtle metaphor to begin with.
A few specific replies…
Matthew: Wholeheartedly hear you on the call for more focus. It’s always been a challenge, but getting more so in the internet age. Great article by Nicholas Carr in this month’s Wired speaks to the alarming trend of interruptive media actually rewiring our brains and making us less able to think.
Liz: You’re absolutely right — the lines between real work and turtles aren’t always clear. Way back, I used to spend too much time playing Myth and Doom – you can’t get more turtle-ish than that! Except that these games held precursors to much of the interactive work I wound up getting paid for. I guess we just have to learn to judge wisely (easier said than done).
Amber: I had the pleasure of seeing Vonnegut give a commencement address. He predicted that our greatest challenge in the future would be…boredom. A perfect breeding ground for turtles, don’t you think?
- Rich
…and not to mention setting up Twitter accounts for each of the turtles…
Great post — a not-so subtle reminder that it’s more important to “ship” than it is to design a pretty shipping label.
~DON the Idea Guy