Being a scientist, quite naturally I have a certain affinity for shelves nicely stocked with bottles full of liquids of all possible colours and chemistries - it was a sight that filled me full of fascination as a child, and it did not fade very much with time. However, in this particular case, the dispensary shelves are lined with a very different repertoire of tools of the trade, collectively known as social media. Step into my apothecary, y'all!
To say that our world has been transformed forever by the emergence of the internet, the smartphones that carry it which are now effectively portable computers, and the pervasion (invasion?) of global brand names such as Facebook and Google, would not be understatement. At least not if you are under 50. Social media is no longer restricted to facilitating communication among individuals, but it has been hijacked by business big and small, as a marketing tool.
I say "invasion?" above simply because there is most definitely a virality (no pun intended) in its ever-increasing reach, and we have more or less gotten to the point where we no longer sit and watch a movie on TV or read a good book without frequent interruptions/distractions from the online world. Yes, there are those who turn the phone or netbook off to avoid being disturbed, but again, that's less common in anyone below 40. God forbid we miss something that happens in the world, all because of that freaking film!
It must be something hardwired in to social media itself or even inside our own heads that leads to the addictiveness of social media. I think it is the latter - there's just something so "of the moment" that makes us feel we cannot afford to miss a thing, and we need to be first to hear of the earthquake or explosion so we can post it on our own social media sites and appear cool. I don't know why that should confer coolness on one, though.
Ditto the celebrities who take to the airwaves following any disastrous event and tweet "Wow! I was just there!" or "I was supposed to be on that plane!" - all in rather weak attempts to make the disaster somehow theirs, making it more significant because it almost touched them, and they are so important. Right? Wrong. But we all love to believe that everyone is listening to us, and that we matter, so we push it out there to the world. As I have said before, for many the real function of social media is to create an online persona that shows the world how you live and what matters to you - whether anyone cares or not. That's the point, right?
I don't think it has got very much to do with communication, per se, anymore. In fact, social media have made us occasionally incredibly anti-social indeed; we are all so busy staring at screens and typing furiously that I don't think we could remember a face on the train once our feet hit the platform again. As for actually communicating on the train, and God forbid, actually speaking to someone sitting next to you, well, that would be so rare an event that someone would hit the red button and the train would screech to a halt with security chasing you down through the carriages!
When it comes to using social media for personal or business use, I feel that common sense should rule. Rule #1 being - forget about listening to any so-called "social media gurus" or "community management experts". By and large these types are hacks who failed at something else and morphed into that, and particularly in the early days of business using social media, some of these "gurus" made a killing while advising practises and expenses they would not (and did not) sanction in their own companies! Greater than 90% of the time, not least because there basically are no rules, the advice is little different from what you can glean on the user guidelines of Facebook, Twitter, etc. Use your brains, people!
So Rule #1, don't listen to anyone. Rule #2, do listen to yourself and to your common sense. Social media and the people who supposedly are running it (in individual businesses) follow a sheep-like mentality. You must stick with the pack, follow the leader(s) and don't stand out too much - kind of like going back to high school, if you will. But all that sheep can do is follow. Trust me, the brains behind the Apple, the Google, the Facebook and the rest, didn't get to where they are today by being a follower. God, no. They innovate, regularly. They don't listen to fear. They are not afraid to stand out, and they refuse to believe "impossible". They lead, not follow.
Your own social media approach should be to use the tools that are available and where the audience exists (no point in trying to reinvent their wheel) but exploiting your own unique style and individual originality, and follow your instincts. If it feels right, do it, and if it feels weird, don't. Be exuberant, be provocative, be stimulating, and don't let anyone tell you how to do it better. Why? Because they ain't you, that's why! The most important thing is having something to say, and saying it better and/or differently than anyone else. They are your thoughts, so no one should be able to crank them out onto type more accurately than yourself.
Rule #3 then, don't be a sheep. Don't follow the pack. Don't salivate over some either self-appointed leader (the dreaded lesser-spotted sociomediagurupolis beast) nor even some famous face who has done it all, and very well. One of the surest signs of personal weakness is salivating over some billionaire on Twitter or Facebook or a blog. Why? Well, first off, they don't care and probably "see" 100,000 posts a day of that nature, and no shocker, they don't even read 'em! Secondly, you are joining the pack and being a sheep, by heaping further praise on a global superstar, who has no need for it, but worse, you are pushing their brand way more than you are your own. Duh.
No one is going to think you are a brilliant mind, because you think that Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg is very talented, for example. Push your brand, not someone else's. Don't try to align with someone who is so far beyond you, in an attempt to somehow gain credibility. It actually has the opposite effect - you come across as desperate and/or as a sycophant and ass-kisser. Stand up, stand out and stand firm - no one else can be you, and your original content comes from within and belongs to you and only you. If you have something interesting/significant to say, keep talking and eventually they will come. It won't be quick nor easy, but nothing worth having ever is.
Rule #4 would be having the insight to use social media for only as much as is needed to achieve certain goals, and then turning away from it. No, you do not have to be present on four or five different social media sites/tools in order to survive. Choose wisely and use your choices well; if one or two focused efforts work better than five or six sites diluting the message - fine. Yes, you can be on Facebook and not on Twitter - it's allowed. There are no rules, remember?! I would vouchsafe that one amazing Facebook page or one brilliant blog beat the you-know-what out of someone struggling to maintain an overweight social media repertoire, and failing at it.
I could go on at even greater length, but I think we will close it out with Rule #5, which is, be an individual, celebrate your unique content, and then switch it off. Part of being a rounded individual and one who wishes to be a social individual means that (perhaps ironically) you have to turn social media off and return to the real world "of the moment", and interacting and living with those within ten feet of you. The permanence of your circumference should never be overestimated, because it isn't or won't be (permanent) - it is sadly transient, like life itself. We need to go back to being able to avoid constant bombardment and invasion of our personal time and even our privacy by the pervasiveness of social media.
News does not evaporate in a few hours, even if the media might want us to believe that, but in general, the earthquake of tonight will remain the earthquake of tomorrow, and if Barack Obama continues drone strikes in Pakistan today, well, you will still be hearing about it the next day. Is it really worth hearing the incessant buzzing and vibrating of your smartphone during a great movie or dinner with family/friends, just so you apparently won't miss a thing? Even if by peering all evening into the phone you are actually missing out on those closest to you? It is paradoxical, and somewhat ridiculous at the same time. Maybe it should be called unsociable media?!
Now then, I have been at this for quite a while, so definitely could use a Brazilian rainforest deep tropical dark roast espresso from my dispensary shelves, and, uhmm, I better get back to my smartphone and see what y'all have caused me to miss! ;) - Kevin Mc
We need to be connected, the experts call it the "Modern Madness!"- email, texting, Facebook are instantaneous and we all know that even one hour delay can be catastrophic and of course an entire day can be impossible to bear, this can be experienced in our personal lives as mush as in the work place. This is the era we live in, this is 2013. On a more personal view, I think we all are lonely (at different levels), but we are afraid of intimacy and all these technologies can give us the illusion of companionship without really investing in a true friendship and real human interactions. I am addicted to my smart phone but nothing beats a phone call or meeting real human beings!
ReplyDelete