What can Murray Hewitt (of Flight of the Conchords) teach us about marketing, social media and common sense?

Simon Young says it's easy to take a 'Murray mindset' into the digital world but online marketing is really about mixing and mingling, rather than managing and measuring.

* * *

It's great to re-watch Flight of the Conchords and just marvel at how much humour can teach us. The episode Murray Takes it To the Next Level was almost unbearably hilarious.

Funny things are funny usually because they are true. Murray's friendship graph shows a managerial approach to life that's just too easy to take into the digital world. 

Actually, it's even easier to take a Murray mindset to the digital world. So, so many things can be measured that it's easy to get carried away. 

I've been complimented on the number of tweets I've tweeted (26,904 at the time of writing, fyi). To me, it's a completely meaningless statistic. It's like knowing how many times I have inhaled air or said the word aardvark. But to others it's a badge of honour.

Follower count is another one. I have 7377 followers, which says to some people that I'm a heavy hitter, and to others that I'm just getting there in terms of influence. 

Those statistics are pretty unimportant to me. Follower count is almost helpful to measure, but it's not an accurate measure of influence. 

Twitalyzer has some interesting measures of real influence, such as clout, generosity and engagement. 

But it's so important not to rely on numbers alone. That way lies madness. 

Why did Murray lose his friendship with Bret and Jemaine? Not because Jemaine called Jim a dick (see, you'll have to watch the video to figure this one out) but because he tried to control the process too much. 

Of course, the Murray mindset looks ridiculous when applied to a personal situation, but it's starting to look just as ridiculous when we do it in online marketing.

Why? Because it's the place for people to mix and mingle with other people. Businesses always run the risk of coming across like a bit of a ... well, never mind.