Experimenting with social media…

Posted In: Me September 30th, 2011 divider No Comments »

I’ve been doing a bit of a social experiment recently to see what people know and associate with social media. I ask folks what is social media and I usually get one word answers where folks name their favourite platform such as Twitter or Facebook. It never seems to fail.

I’ve been finding social media is much more than that. I find it really goes back to basics about connecting with other people. The media might be new but the social part isn’t.

We used to connect mostly based on geography. Now with the internet making the world smaller by the day, we’re not stuck with only our church groups or hockey teams. We can now connect by likes and dislikes. How cool is that?

I must admit, I like how social media has changed my life for the most part. I’ve personally met some really cool folks and clients on Facebook. I’ve learned a lot from connecting with folks in LinkedIn groups. And don’t get me started about Twitter. I love it!

According to some so-called experts, social media is simply a fad and it will go away soon. I must agree that social media as we currently know it will probably go away soon. But since the world is changing oh ever so rapidly, the same can be said about just about everything these days. The platforms might change but I think the human need to be social will not go away.

The great benefit of social media is that it’s built on a platform for two-way communication, a fantastic example of crowdsourcing. Unlike traditional marketing and advertising, great social media campaigns really need the people to be successful. Under the social media umbrella, messages aren’t going to be retweeted or liked by themselves.

You don’t have to be scared. Get out there, experiment and connect. You might make a new friend. Or two!