Abby Ziff
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@AmyVernon @wordwhacker @CHopeMurray @MSquaredEnt: Rockstar. Addict, Ninja & Guru have no place in any job description or title- either of oneself or someone else. You tell me you are a "social media addict" I'll ask you what have you created, sold, bought, developed, generated, connected with or otherwise accomplished. Social Media is just that- a medium. It is there as a vehicle to convey & promote. Along with its vital use for political, corporate, non-profit campaigns & outreach, Twitter has all too often become a front for the otherwise unemployable, unimaginative, unaccomplished to hide behind. Talk (tweeting) is cheap. Tell me what you've done, what you do and what you plan to do. And I'd rather you look me in the eye when you tell me.
@wordwhacker Thanks for your comments & kind words. As you know, I am adamant that this dichotomy should not exist- or at least not to the extent that it does. Of course one may be slightly more effusive, confident online, but when you are so socially inept in person that you can't put down your device & make eye contact, I have no use for you and I certainly don't want you representing me or my company- in any manner. I remember Rona Jaffe's "Dungeons & Dragons" from the 70s- yup, I'm that old- and the guy goes insane because he couldn't live outside the game. Nice foreshadowing by Ms.Jaffe. I think there's a sequel here and this time it's non-fiction.
I think this post is extremely astute in its emphasis of IRL relationships. I am very dismayed & put off by the number of people from twitter whom I have met IRL who have very little presence, poise or the ability to articulate an idea or hold a conversation. This stems directly from an over active virtual life in which they have built their identities in a manner lacking dimension. To paraphrase the New Yorker cartoon of a canine on a computer -"On the Internet no one knows you're a dog" To that end some people have become too comfortable with a "second life" that is really a first life-except in it they are far more confident, interesting, intelligent & persuasive. There is a vast amount of content tweeted that relates to relationships, connections and being true to yourself or your brand. People join chats, many of them back to back, where they tweet out clever soundbites preceded by hashtags yet so many of these same people are stunted either professionally or socially and will never achieve that which they are so ardently tweeting (+1'ing, retweeting & favoriting) I'm sorry to break the news but you have to DO it, not just tweet or blog about it. Social media is powerful, and just as companies seek to integrate it with other branches of marketing, sales and outreach for effective external communications, so must we see its value as PART of the equation- not as the sole means by which we create and build our personal brand. The basic tenet of good writing is to write what you know. To acquire knowledge you need to have experiences & engagement, the more, the better. To be an interesting person,whom people want to engage, have coffee (scotch) with or hire you have to be valuable. Your value is what you know & bring. Knowing of or knowing the other people who bring value isn't enough. 2 clicks on Linked In and we're all there. Twitter is a public forum- we can all introduce ourselves. The key, as the post says is to meet, nurture & grow the relationships. IRL should be the goal, not the last resort. You don't expand your circle online, you narrow it. The only way to truly grow is to connect IRL. Stop tweeting, look in the mirror, call on your inner Stuart Smalley and say "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough & gosh darnit people like me." Then go out and connect. #bevaluable
Thank you for this! I could not agree more and I will leave it at that :)
@AmyVernon I absolutely love this. As someone who does not work in this milieu but follows with growing interest, I had just been thinking about writing about how incredibly supportive and positive the community is. Online doesn't equal impersonal, for as much as you can hide behind your screen, you can also choose to be open. In the past few months I have "met" some of the smartest, most interesting people. I don't need to meet them face to face to understand who they are. And to your point, I do try to retweet, support and provide visibility to others- even if I do not have a huge number of followers. It is the gesture and Twitter seems generous in its rewrads.
Very, very well said.
Peter- I think you are right on with paragraph 2 " We want anyone to be able to watch or engage, save and share out of streams.Regardless if they have a social accounts or not."
Social Media, despite its name can be intimidating & overwhelming for many. #SeeSaw is taking a dense textbook and making it into a storybook with illustrations.
Tonia- I also wondered about the aspect of apporaching #SeeSaw like search and have multiple #hashtags to follow- relevant to your business- the way you would choose key words, As w/search you'd see which ones trend and bring the most value. For example if you are GOP politician you might for example want to see #YourName #Jobs #Economy #Healthcare #ACA #Gasprices #YourOpponentsName. Instead of just one word or key phrase (#hashtag) there could be multiple all driving the campaign/conversation.
Also- brands, advocacy groups, political campaigns can see who the most vocal (influential) voices are on the boards and harness those voices for use in focus groups or for GOTV, fundrasing, polling.
I'm thinking in terms of the clients I work with and what would bring them value.
Tonia- xcellent piece! I would like to say NO to the question in your headline. Here's why. Pinterest by its very nature equals self interest.; ee these things that I am interested in. To say "see these things that I saw" is at once less self involved, more outwardly directed and leads to the "visual discovery." #SeeSaw generates conversation and is a much more dynamic ( interesting) medium. Pinterest is like looking into someone's closet to see how many pairs of Louboutins they have and reading their Chrstmas wish list to see what they want.
Engage me with conversation & comments around brands, political candidates, business, causes that matter to me- and to everyone else on the board? I am all yours. We can all see something and then tell people what we saw. How likely is it that we will all have seen something the same way?
No we just have to work on a #SeeSaw version of Little Drummer Boy. Little Twitter Boy- Did you See what I Saw? ( all rights reserved)
DISCLAIMER: All gross generalizations & opinions are my own. No Pinterest fans were harmed in the writing of this post.