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?