Years ago I attended a briefing about a revolutionary intelligence gathering mechanism. It was described as a river of data, and the cool part was being able to just listen for the pieces that you wanted to find.
Social media is a little bit like a river. It can drown you, and it can hide what you want to find. But if you can figure out how to connect with just the currents that you want then social media can be very rewarding.
You can find new people, new ideas, and if you are looking new clients.
However, it can also be a huge drain on your time. I am pretty sure no one wants to know what I am doing all the time. However, I do know that a few people like to know what I am up to once in a while.
People enjoy pictures that I take so I often post pictures or articles that I find of interest. If I write something that might be of interest, I will also post a link.
I try to comment on updates that are of interest to me and respond back to comments.
Social media is another way of letting yourself be touched on the Internet, and it is also a way of touching others.
It does not require that you be online at the same time like chatting online, and it also does not require a long individualized response like responding to an email or sending someone a letter.
The three types of social media that I am most familiar with are Twitter, Facebook, and City-Data Forum.
Twitter I think is the most interesting and the most like a river of data where you can touch some new currents and go in some different directions. I rarely update more than two or three times a day. I have not gotten to the point of needing to split my Twitter into different feeds, but I have found that some people update too much for my taste.
Facebook has yet to do much more for me than provide a glancing connection with some people that I once knew well. It does allow me to do a quick peak and see what they are up to, but it certainly is not something that I feel compelled to check or update.
The portion of City-data that I use is geographic specific rather than interest specific. What I have written there, and the questions that I have answered have helped me build a reputation. It has worked well, but it took some effort to craft a good way to respond to people and create the materials that help people with their questions. With City-data it is easy for me to quickly look and see if there is conversation which interests me.
I do not think social media is to be feared. It is just another piece in the puzzle. It will work for some people, and others will never understand it.
Parents should at least explore social media so they have an idea of what is happening there. Small businesses ignore social media at their own risks.
Certainly social media is a faster moving extension to commenting on blogs. Small businesses that ignore blogs are certainly going to be poorly prepared if they get whacked in social media. They will likely not know what hit them and be unprepared to respond in any form.
Professionals should be careful with how they use social media but I think it is at least as important to understand Twitter as it is to be on LinkedIn and Plaxo.
Depending on the social media, the impact can be fast and short-lived or it can build like a storm. Being intelligently aware of how blogs, instant messaging, and social media interact can certainly prepare you for the future and help you weather the current economic storm.
I am Ocracokewaves on Twitter and AIM. On City-Data I am dsobotta.
I welcome any interaction with folks trying to get a toehold in cyberspace.
