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The Emperor’s New Clothes Online

Copyright © 2009 Jim Edwards

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 05May2007 Word count: 603 Viewed: 255 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

One of the greatest features of the Internet involves that fact that people enjoy a high level of freedom to express themselves.

So much so that in many countries the governments restrict and censor what people can see and say online.

Sites like MySpace.com make it easy to find like-minded people to interact with, while review sites such as Epinions.com make hard for charlatans and con-artists to escape scrutiny.

However, all this reliance on authority figures and third party references can sometimes backfire when social pressure, ignorance, and negligence align to create a distorted reality.

When this happens, bad products, poor services, or inferior ideas propagate because "everyone's doing it" and nobody stands up for the common-sense and obvious reality - exactly like the children's tale of "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Now, if you don't remember the Hans Christian Andersen tale, let me give you fast a refresher.

The Emperor decided he needed some new clothes and called in tailors from around the world.

He was so self-centered that he couldn't see reality, and that made him an easy mark for a couple of con-artists posing as tailors (authority figures).

"Their colors and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionally beautiful, but the clothes made of their material possessed the wonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably stupid."

Thus they used fear of appearing stupid and social pressure of "everyone else sees it but me, so I'll just keep quiet!"

Only in the end did the voice of reason come in the form of a small, innocent child who, immune to all these psychological tricks, pointed out the emperor's naked form and brought most of the adults back to reality.

Now, how does this "children's tale" apply to the online world?

First, because people get busy and it rates much easier to repeat what someone else said than to do your own research, myths, half-truths or downright lies get passed along without a second thought.

The more popular the idea or timely the topic, the faster it gets transmitted and the less research gets done.

The moral: if something doesn't look or sound right to you, no matter how many authority figures claim it's true, do your own research and check the facts.

Second, charlatans and online con-artists depend on you to get swept up in the "hype" of online promotion.

This fact drives the classic "pump and dump" scam where unscrupulous promoters tout a stock, drive up the price, then sell off their own shares before people get wise.

The moral: become extremely wary whenever people tout a product or service using hyped up promises of instant wealth or results without any real substance or proof.

Third, people will use your fear of appearing stupid or different from others to drive your behavior.

This "social pressure" is perhaps the most dangerous because it is so engrained in us that we often act because of it with no clue as to why we do things.

The moral: any time you feel pressured into buying or doing something where fear is the primary driver, take a step back and reevaluate before moving ahead.

Lack of time and the overall frenetic pace of life online make it possible for anyone to sell us our own set of "emperor's clothes" if we don't exercise caution.

Slow down by 10%, think for yourself, and don't always follow the crowd (because they might just be running off the nearest cliff)!

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