Is social media making you a lazy communicator?
Apr 4th
By Srinivas Rao, Contributing {grow} Columnist
We live in a world where people are in a real hurry. Getting things done as efficiently and quickly as possible has become a calling card for humanity and it’s bleeding into our social interactions. This isn’t necessarily a good thing. We’ve reduced our communication to the shortest possible route from point A to B. It isn’t exactly a smart intimacy strategy for social media. The technology that has enabled us to connect with people in a way we never could before has made us lazy communicators, maybe even lazy marketers.
Let’s look at the hierarchy of social communications — and their impact on REAL connection …
Tweets/Shares/Likes
Social sharing is the lowest hanging fruit in building relationships because it’s so easy. With the push of a button you can share someone’s content. So it’s no surprise that somebody with 100,000 followers considers a tweet or social share a blip on their radar. When was the last time tweeting the blog post of somebody famous actually resulted in a real connection with that person?
“Thanks for the RT” is something every one of us has typed when somebody shares our content (myself included). But consider this. That’s not starting a conversation. That’s ending it. How many conversations do you end every single week?
Comments
In the hierarchy of value, comments outweigh social sharing. A well-constructed comment takes time and effort. Let’s look at this outside the online world for a moment. How close are you to the friend who you talk to once a year for 5 minutes at a Christmas party? That takes no more effort than bumping into them, so you don’t really form a bond. When you comment on somebody’s blog regularly, it’s like going out of your way to meet with a good friend on a regular basis. You’re giving a gift!
One of my best friends doesn’t use social media. I started to feel like our friendship had suffered and that he didn’t value my friendship anymore. We hadn’t spoken in months. One day I sent him an email and I got a response a few hours later. Comments might be easier to accomplish than sending somebody email because this requires initiating the communication.
Phone Calls
How often do you pick up the phone and talk to somebody? In his book Double Double
In-Person Visits
This is the pinnacle of putting effort into your relationships. One of my friends who is not a very well known blogger made it a point to use his frequent flier miles to visit every blogger he had talked to on Skype in person. He’s the kind of friend from the blogosphere I’d invite to my wedding. He’s not that active on social media these days, but he invests effort in the relationships he’s built. If you met five bloggers you know in person you’d get more value than having 500,000 visit your blog in one day.
There is undoubtedly a hierarchy of value in social communication. If we intend to really get the most out of our social media efforts, I think we need to get back to putting real effort into our relationships, or at least some measure of balance in the way we communicate. Have you become lazy when it comes to building relationships online? Does this make sense to you?
Srinivas Rao writes about the things you should have learned in school, but never did and his the host-co founder of BlogcastFM. You can follow him on twitter @skooloflife
Jason Falls discusses publishing partnership
Apr 3rd
Click here if you can’t see this interview with Jason Falls.
Many people dream of writing and publishing a best-selling book, but few earn the opportunity. In this video interview, first-time author Jason Falls talks about how he overcame resistance to writing a book, selling his controversial title (No Bullshit Social Media
A great opportunity to learn from one of the keenest minds in the business. Enjoy!
Link to Jason’s book is an affiliate link.
This is why you must use Twitter
Apr 1st
If you’re like me, you probably hated Twitter when you first tried it. The first tweet I ever received was “It’s 4 a.m.” – confirming this was the stupidest idea ever!
In fact, it took me months to “get” it and unless you’re immersed in this platform, it’s pretty difficult to explain to another person. If I told you Twitter helped keep you safe, would you believe it? What if I told you it was an agent of peace and global connection? A way to help students? Solve tech problems? Networking on steroids?
Instead of SAYING these things, I wanted to SHOW you. Here is a snippet of my life over the past few weeks as seen through the lens of Twitter …
Two weeks ago, we had a line of dangerous storm cells and tornadoes marching through our area. As the fierce winds arrived, we lost power and all communication … except for Twitter. I was able to see reports from local friends on the status of flooding and damage in the area. A tweet from my friend Katie Granju suggested an NOAA emergency weather center iPhone app which broadcast radio news during the storm, which I downloaded immediately.
Through Twitter I have connected to hundreds of inspiring people from around the world but none perhaps as loyal and dedicated as a young man named Muhammad Saad Khan, who is using Twitter and the social web to learn about social media from his home in Karachi, Pakistan. This week he tweeted along to a U.S. Youth Forum broadcast from Korea. He could not obtain a copy of my book in Pakistan, so I sent him one. When he received the book, he made this Facebook post (along with six photos of the book):
Twitter was essential to cutting through the chaos at SXSW. This is how I learned of impromptu events, met up with friends, and found the best parties and free food. One of the best things that happened was meeting up with a long-time Twitter friend Nicole Fletcher of San Diego. We toured the trade show together and we learned from each other as I assessed the marketing potential of each new idea we saw and she evaluated it from a technical perspective.
Among my first Twitter friends were Billy Mitchell of Atlanta and Amy Howell of Memphis, who have become close personal friends in real life. At least once a month it seems we turn up some business opportunity for each other. This week I did a webinar on social influence for Billy and Amy invited me to do a blogging workshop with her clients in Memphis. Without Twitter, how would I have ever met these dear friends and business associates?
I had been struggling with a problem with my blog RSS feed for a week. I asked for help over Twitter and quickly found a resource that had the problem solved in an hour.
This week I have been very busy preparing for the amazing Social Slam event we will be having in Knoxville TN, April 27. This is a conference created entirely through Twitter. Every single speaker (including Mitch Joel, Gini Dietrich, Jay Baer and Tom Webster), as well as event volunteers came together from Twitter. We’re expecting 600 people from as far away as Texas, Colorado and California. How did they hear about the event? Tweets, of course! We’ve spent zero on advertising.
I have been really busy and overlooked the time that my favorite college basketball team was playing in the NCAA tournament. Luckily I saw a tweet about the game to remind me to turn on the TV.
Through Twitter this week, I received several requests from students for interviews that would help them with their end of the semester projects. I was happy to connect and help them.
I met a new Twitter friend a few weeks ago named Tony Dowling. He learned of my Tao of Twitter book, became a convert, and wrote an amazing blog post about his experience. He is gathering a powerful tribe in Wales and I suggested that he create a Welsh social media conference. Well, he’s done it and I will be on my way to Wales in September as their keynote speaker! I’m also speaking in London in two weeks and will be meeting with dozens of great friends who have connected with me over the years. A Twitter connection asked me to speak to her class at Oxford while I’m there, which will be an awesome experience.
I could go on, but by now I hope you’re starting to see the diversity, usefulness and fun of Twitter. If you’re just starting out, hang in there. It will work! And if you’ve been around awhile, what is your favorite Twitter connection story?
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Faith In Numbers. A {growtoon}.
Mar 30th
Join the growtoonists each Friday for a humorous take on marketing, social media, and current business events.
Kacy Maxwell is a guy who loves his work, family and a good challenge. See more of his cartoons at EverythingIsMedia.com.
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Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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