we have, in effect, all become advertisers of ourselves - self-evangelists ... what example are we setting?
Yesterday morning, my wife shared a video with me which had been shared with her through her Facebook community. It was the complete opposite - being the social media butterfly that she is - that I expected her to be watching, and it inspired me to reflect on my own use of electronic tools, social media, and why I resisted joining social media for so long.
While I have always loved electronic gadgets, and no longer shun social media, I do believe that these very much have a time and a place. Like most things in life, balance is essential.
I found that this video made me stop and think about not only how I was using “screens,” but also the example that I was setting for my closest followers (my kids) and how we as a society are architecting this and coming generations.
Social media is, or at least has become a very powerful marketing tool. This is evident by the plethora of product evangelists which can be found throughout the universe that is known as social media. While marketing may not always be viewed in a positive light, we have, in effect, all become advertisers of ourselves - self-evangelists.
As a latecomer to social medial, I chose to adopt it (roughly one year ago) partly out of peer pressure, and partly because I felt that otherwise I had no control over my online presence. I recognized that in this age of social media, I needed to take control of my brand, and make sure that I was fairly represented. While I have enjoyed this advent with this medium, the video I mentioned earlier reawakened my old fears that we as a society are becoming less and less socially able. I worry that at some point our kids will no longer be able to write without a keyboard, read without a screen, and be able to think without the results of a search engine. This is a dangerous prospect, if our thoughts and knowledge are guided based strictly on the information that is fed to us, or presented to us as a result of clever targeted marketing campaigns.
Whether or not you support the idea to “look up” or not, we are all responsible to those in the community that look up to us, follow us, or otherwise seek to benefit from our experiences and guidance. What example are we setting by our use of social media, electronic devices, and the pictures, words, and other content that we choose to post?
This is a very interesting video, and general thought. At the same time I'll offer what I see as the positive side that I fully embrace with regards to social media and the risk of it becoming ironically anti-social.
ReplyDeleteSocial media for me has proven to become a way to introduce myself to people who I may never have had an opportunity to meet in person. As a result of these online engagements, some as little as a tweet, I have grown to become friends with people in places that I haven't even visited, and now we meet regularly and I absolutely consider them to be my closest of my friends that I have.
Community is a massive part of my life, and I am very proud of what I have been given the opportunity to do in many communities both in person and through online tools. By engaging our community through these tools we may catch something that we may have missed. I have had real situations where I've been able to help, and be helped by people who reached out through social media. There may have been missed opportunities to bring a smile to to someone's face, or to say thank you, or to perhaps trigger a real conversation outside of the social media tools once we get connected to someone.
At the same time, here are a few things I try to offer regarding social media:
Don't chase the numbers: If the goal of social media for a person is to try to hit the highest number of "likes" then I find they have missed what the real opportunity of social media is. Back when MySpace was a popular social media outlet, I used to hear people say "I have x number of friends" as if it was a trophy. My response was always "Ask your friends to each give you 5$ and let's see if they are actually your friends".
Putting down the phone: At many events and conferences, we use social media to share the real-time experience of what is happening as a way to bring people into the room with us through a virtual view from our seat. This is a very positive way to extend to people and the event ultimately wins by extending the reach beyond the physical boundary of the room. But at the same time, when we sit down to dinner and have close-knit personal interactions, I tend to put the phone away and concentrate on the real experience that is happening right in front of me. I also enjoy when common virtual friends sit down and we all can enjoyably share a tweet or a picture to show some fun interaction. In my mind, this is a way to also bring other people into the conversation with us virtually.
Social Media Marketing is a person-to-person interaction that happens online: The Geek Whisperers podcast recently chatted on this very topic, and one of the great things that came out was when John Troyer said that social media marketing is about real interactions that are then extended to an online medium (well, that's my paraphrased version at least).
It is definitely true that people can get lost in the glow of a smartphone when people are around them, but I have also seen more and more real interaction. Quite often, the people that you see using apps on their phone when in a large room are actually introverted people. For an introvert, it can be comforting to have something to keep busy with in a room full of people. The alternative in the past may have been they they were left feeling uncomfortable, and just had their eyes wandering the room instead.
There really are many levels of where the use of real versus online interaction can be judged. Hopefully we can find the best balance of both and take the best out of the great tools that are available to us to make a real impact on our own lives, and on the community at large.