Being Sociable Loses Meaning Online

Interesting thoughts... I like where Hawkins goes here. I also believe that the value of social media connections is in what you do with them - how you choose to reach out to engage the connection. Otherwise, it's just clutter in an already-busy day. I'm also liking the idea of Facebook as the Past, and Twitter as the Future - that's how I feel too, and I think that maintaining that viewpoint is the best way to get the most out of both. At the end of the day, Social Media may be best engaged as just a step towards true "Sociability" - human interaction is still the endgame.

The following article was originally posted by Will Hawkins at: http://arryawke.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/being-sociable-loses-meaning-online/

Relationships are made face to face

Is it just me? Social networking is all the rage but it is so shallow. Don’t get me wrong. It’s terrific for finding information and making connections with interesting people. But most relationships are transitory within these tools. I expect I have made more connections and had more chats people through Twitter since 1st January this year than my ancestors had in their lives.

I just get to the point when my head is frying with the amount of information (or tweets) that I have to sift through that I want to reach for the brilliantly titled book ‘Taming the Information Tsunami‘ by Bill Bruck to cool it down. And I have learnt that I am not being rude when I ‘unfollow’ people so that I can get my life back under control and keep the guilt in check for not reading all those damn tweets.

I have noticed that whenever I join up to a social networking tool or site such as the business networking site, ecademy.com, I get a small wave of people sending a message saying something like “Hi, I’m Greg. Let me know how I can help you“. What? Are you mad or just socially inept? I have seen this today on Twitter too. “Let me know what I can do to make your day!” You can get real for a start!

I’m afraid that’s a big turn off for me when someone gushes how they want to make my life extra-super-special. It feels like the unwanted attentions of someone who fancied you at school but from whom you could not run away fast enough.

But, I am hooked by the usefulness of all the tools such as FaceBook and Twitter. FaceBook helps me keep up with my past and Twitter helps me keep up with my future. I have been in touch with some terrific old friends and workmates through FaceBook. And with Twitter, I have managed to learn vital lessons in connecting with people with shared interests, and even experience contributing to a radio programme.

For instance, the highly skilled radio presenter (William Wright at BBC Radio Lincolnshire) reminded me, unwittingly, of something very important last night on his show. Technology is poor at helping to make meaningful bonds with other people.

At the end of the section to which I had contributed, William took his headphones off, looked me in the eye and said thank you. He then asked me if I had done any radio work like this before , to which I said that I hadn’t. He then suggested that if it was easier for me, we could speak over the phone or through the internet next time rather than come into the studio.

But, the reality is that I got to know about William through Twitter. And I got to know William by sitting in his studio with him. And that is human. Connections can be made now through the internet and relationships are made face to face.

- Will Hawkins

Social Media Revelations

I had two interesting discussions today about social media with "non-users". I must admit, before I dug a bit deeper into social media opportunities, I didn't get it either - the common suggestions were along the lines of "if I have Facebook, then why do I need Twitter?" Or, "I don't need LinkedIn - I'm already have a MySpace page, and it hasn't changed in months".

Well, Facebook is nice 'n' all, but at the end of the day, it is populated with people I already know, and who know me. It is handy for drumming up new business among friends and ex-colleagues, for example, but the more advanced social media sites (as well as tweets and blogs) are chasing me down now (which is the "social" point of media, of course). LinkedIn and Twitter, when used well, open up a whole new world of opportunities, ideas, and innovative people with common thoughts and goals. With this comes ample opportunity for new business, as well as the opportunity to make existing business better and more effiecient with the most cutting-edge ideas and tools.

Using Tweeter as a search engine, and using LinkedIn as a huge resource for information are but two ways to sift through the clutter to get to useful information quickly - it's a big ol' WWW out there - it's nice to have much better help than a Google search.

I imagine that the most common thought among "non-users" is that they "don't have enough time" to engage social media. Funny thing - I don't think I can afford not to make the time for it. How about you?

Scalable Intimacy

This is a great piece posted by Mike Troiano, discussing the importance of developing a relationship between a brand and a consumer set. I particularly appreciate the illustration of how ineffective conventional media advertising can be - it has always bugged me that "reach" and "frequency" were placed ahead of actual, quantifiable motivation to purchase. To my mind, the end result of any consumer contact is the important point (either purchase or brand engagement) - the emotional resonance and relevance that is triggered by your brand is the important thing.

Scalable Intimacy

View more presentations from Michael Troiano. (tags: branding media)

Skittles: taste the social media rainbow

Have you heard what Skittles is up to? They've abandoned the traditional corporate website for a small toolbar that relies entirely on what's in the public domain. Want to know about their flavours? Click on the link and it takes you to a Wikipedia article about skittles. Want to watch their media? The link takes you to YouTube for both skittles- and user-generated videos. Curious to know what people are saying about Skittles? It directs you to Twitter for realtime updates where you can monitor everything anyone tweets about regarding skittles.

It's a brave move for a major brand to make, because it relies entirely on what's in the public domain. They're relying on user-generated content about their brand. Marketers are quickly realizing that it's difficult to control the message when it comes to social media. They're finding new ways to join the conversation, and learn more about their demographic along the way. How sociable...