Now, don’t get me wrong. There is tremendous power in the new technology. Many people have done remarkable things to engage people in their work. A creative few have found innovative ways to turn their passions into money or mobilize legions of fans and followers through facebook, twitter, or blogs.
But for every one person who’s figured out the right mix, there are dozens – maybe hundreds – that are desperately rushing after anything and everything “social.” The problem is that we’re all so overwhelmed by the hype about the media that we are losing the “social” part of it.
With all due respect to Marshall McLuhan, the medium isn’t the message. Just ‘cause it’s 140 characters, doesn’t mean you have to tweet it and it certainly doesn’t mean I (or more importantly your potential customers) want to read it. More is not always better!
Social media is simply one of many tools. Yes, it’s new. Yes, it’s a game changer… sometimes. But if you don’t approach the communication with the same respect and sense of caring that you would have for your friends or family, you will just become “that guy” – the one no one wants to invite the party because he won’t stop going on about himself.
There’s nothing wrong with promoting the work you do and being proud of the service you provide. But make sure you have a clear idea about the real value you are creating (hint: this is the value you create for others, not yourself), and a real curiousity about how the people you serve think and feel, the only thing social media will help you do is waste as many hours a day as you are willing to spend on it.
So, here are some rules that I would like to add to help keep the social in social media:
You won’t die if you don’t tweet.
I know I’m a heretic, but I am pretty sure that you could live a full, successful, and satisfying life without ever tweeting, blogging, or getting 1000 facebook ‘likes” on your fanpage. Social media is just a tool and not every job requires every tool. Dynamite is a powerful tool, too. It doesn’t mean you should go buy some right now.
Don’t add to the ADD culture.
There are already too many blogs and ebooks out there. Every day I’m bombarded by people telling me what I should be doing or reading. The biggest impact the current social media craze has had so far is creating a culture of people who are so freaked out they can’t focus for more than 5 minutes at a time. Join me right now to make a vow that you will help heal the ADD culture or at LEAST don’t add to it. Before you tweet or post or blog, ask yourself if other people really need to hear this or are you just finding an excuse to hear your own voice.
Lose the mask.
For some reason, we think that people only want to deal with a super-hero, so we try to create this public persona of the “expert.” Frankly, I can spot a mask a mile away. It’s like watching infomercials on late-night television. It doesn’t ring true and it makes me skeptical. Personally, I am a lot more interested in your real experience, your successes and your challenges, the times you feel confident and the times you feel vulnerable.
I admit that I haven’t figured out all this social media stuff. Clearly I think it has value – after all, you’re reading my blog aren’t you? But I have a hunch we can do a lot better than we are currently doing and that “less is more” will be a big part of the improvement.
If you want to see our current ideas of how we are using social media, check out “Emotus Online”. And we would love to have you join us in creating a different kind of social experience. For a start, I would love to know what you think about this blog.
No related posts.