Organizations aren’t social. People are social. To me the idea of a ‘fan page’ for a business is absurd, unless ‘fans’ themselves build it. The only ‘organizational’ Twitter accounts I follow are because I know the person behind the tweets, and the voice is authentic. Why do I ‘follow’ Union Gospel Mission? There’s an amazing and passionate person doing those social media postings and I like seeing what they’re up to. Has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with social action.
Anyone I follow on Twitter is a curator of information I find astounding and/or useful, flavoured with enough opinion and personality that I can sense the person there. I don’t need to feel we are best friends, but there must be that sense of a person I’d like. And they usually tweet and retweet links enough that I don’t need to follow hundreds of people.
Facebook, for me, is a replacement for the revealing conversations I used to overhear when I was carpooling my son and his pals to hockey. Now that they are in their 20’s – and still ‘Friend’ing me – that privilege continues (often beyond what one wants to know!). Although there is a SEARCHgrads Facebook group, only about 10% of those who are on the email list-serve subscribe to it. And if too much conspiracy theory or self-promotion happens there, the activity on Facebook predictably drops for a while. A site like that is a bit like an ‘Open Space‘ event: it must be invitational, and people can ‘vote with their feet’ if for any reason they are not getting – or giving – what they need.
LinkedIn has been an amazing way for me to connect on a professional and personal level with a peer group as diverse and global and intense as I could ever wish for. For anyone who is connected to many networks but unattached to a job title or employer, multifaceted like myself, it helps keep us placed in a professional context no matter what contract(s) or project(s) we are currently working on. The value is maintained by ensuring that connections are built through existing linkages, and respectfully honoured.
Like all relationships, those made through social media need tending in order to work. Some more than others, and the tools are different of course. It’s easier in some ways, but the principles are the same. If you are active, if you respond, if you give as well as get, if the people you refer to others in your network behave well, it works beautifully. As in the days of other ‘new’ technologies like the telegraph and calling card, personal behaviour trumps everything.
But always be mindful that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are companies and their purpose is not primarily to serve US. It is important to know that to make use of these tools is not free, that the price we pay is intimate exposure of our connections and our behaviour to firms who need us as bait for their revenue. So long as we can balance that cost with real benefit to ourselves, the balance may work.
Much of the hype around social marketing is initiated by these companies themselves, to serve that agenda. The enhancements they develop to make it easier for us to share more, and to have us believe that we, too, can make money from more use of their services, have a consumer-profile-building purpose in mind for their own profit. Most of this excess of service is completely unnecessary, and while the use of Social Media tools is necessary to reach certain audiences because that IS where they live, keep in mind that others of us are not interested in being tracked in this way, and may rarely check our Facebook page.
Don’t be lazy, if you want to make the best of all this has to offer you. Use all tools wisely and with eyes wide open, and as part of a full set. This can keep you connected through endless transitions of work, geography, and life. Rely on it too heavily and blindly and you – and your business – won’t even know what you’ve missed.
There is another form of social media that I have to acknowledge, and that is blogging, of course. Most of my blog posts started as emails or links from people I follow on Twitter, or – as is the case here – as comments on the blog postings of people I know. Comments that tend to grow to the size of novels. I have John McLachlan’s post The Illusion of Social Media to thank for triggering this one!
