Everything is Awesome Episode 114 - Mall Santa (B.J. Mendelson)

This week's guest is an author, speaker, writer, and (potentially) a mall Santa. B.J. Mendelson joins the show to chat about his writing, technology, social media, and more!

Be sure to text SHEETROCK to B.J. and get your FREE digital copy of Social Media Is Bullshit at 646-331-8341.

B.J. Mendelson is a keynote speaker and author. His books include Social Media Is Bullshit from St. Martin’s Press and Privacy: And How We Can Get It Back from Curious Reads.

Mendelson first received attention in the late 2000s for turning his financial struggles during The Great Recession into media coverage with appearances in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, and others.

After building an unsuccessful national breast cancer outreach tour around the advice given by prominent social media marketers — and subsequent success in doing the same tour again the following year by doing the exact opposite of their advice — B.J. went on to write a book called Social Media Is Bullshit based on his experience. He later earned additional media attention for frequently taking on prominent social media experts and companies.

Since 2012, B.J. Mendelson has made presentations at the National Automotive Dealers Association Conference, South By Southwest, Social Media Week: Chicago, The Do Lectures in the U.K., R.O.A.D. in Moscow, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association Summit, Social Media Explorer, and various other events to talk about the many myths peddled by social media marketers and what really works online and off.

He appeared at the United Nations to debate the ambassador to Pakistan, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, about the effects of social media on society and its involvement in political revolutions. Mendelson has also appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, Yahoo! News, the CBC, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post, and numerous other national outlets to talk about these myths and who actually benefits from the hype.

B.J. is also one-half of the creative team behind, “Vengeance, Nevada” and “A National Story of Minor Significance.” Both comics will soon be available through Amazon’s popular Comixology platform.