I was never the biggest Facebook user. Particularly after I found Twitter. Both of those waned when I became an active viewer on YouTube. And then I started a blog - and then I started another. I am no expert when it comes to social media and I am not sure it possible to be. Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book The Black Swan discussed how anything that is socially oriented is subject to low probability, high impact events. I think that few could have even comprehended the impact of social media on our world, or the ebbs and flows of the different platforms. In short, social media has Veni, Vidi, Vici-ed itself into our world.
This Doonesbury comic is on of my favorites. I cut it out of the newspaper and put it on the door to my office. This was before I had a Twitter account (and might have even been before my Facebook page) so I could laugh at it without feeling like it related too much. In some ways, I feel that my life may reflect the character above - I try to keep to the deadlines that I've set for my blogs (Thursdays and Mondays) and get a little apprehensive when those deadlines start to approach and I don't have something ready for them. I've also learned that if I don't check Facebook I miss activities or events that are planned and discussed there. I'm got very mixed feelings about that.
First, I think it's interesting what social media has done for professional interactions and marketing. This is technically two things, so I'll muse on the interactions first in this paragraph. Just today, I listened to a podcast of Writing Excuses which talked about how to recover from professional mistakes, whether your own for someone else's. Howard Taylor mentioned the "eternal" nature of the internet. If you post something on the internet once there is no way to completely remove it. Like the proverbial stone after it's thrown, what you put online is out there and it will connect with something, sometime, and there is little you can do about it. I had an instance during college when someone posted something about me online. I was not a member of the social media community where this was posted and so didn't know anything about it until my roommate started asking me questions. When I asked why he explained about this post he read that sounded like me. He read me the post and sure enough, it was about me. After I got over my initial annoyance and anger (although my friend was more angry then me) I confronted the individual to simply say that he got his facts wrong. I almost burst out laughing when I called his attention to the post and he replied, "You read that? You weren't supposed to read that." I thought, "You put it on a public website with enough information that my roommate could identify all of the parties involved. Why would you think I wouldn't or couldn't read it." Social media hasn't changed. It is amazing what people can learn about you if you're not careful. There are plenty of things that will try to help you avoid social media faux pas so I won't dwell on it.
Social media marketing is the reason I got a twitter account. Robson Wells, author of Variant, Feedback, and the upcoming Blackout was offering a twitter exclusive. He was offering an advanced reader copy of his book as the prize in a drawing. You entered the drawing by tweeting about the book release. I didn't win, but he launched a second twitter drawing very shortly after. Every month until the release of his book Variant he would be conducting a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon. The eve of the release he would do a drawing for a new Kindle with five of his favorite young adult books already on it. You entered the drawing by pre-ordering a copy of the book. I decided that for $12 plus shipping and handling it was worth it. It turned out that I won the first drawing for the gift card so I came out about $10 ahead. Robson Wells is not the only one that has used social media to his advantage. I wouldn't have had a twitter account in time to find about about the contest - which required me to buy his book - if he hadn't given me incentive. Mix that with the ability for social media to "spread the word" about new (or established) business and you can effectively bypass all of the major gateways that have been previously the only entrances into successful enterprise. I mentioned the power of YouTube and new musicians in my last post on music.
Social Media is breaking down old walls, but it's also putting up new ones. In many ways it's dividing those that use it from those that don't. I mentioned how I have to check Facebook occasionally or I miss out on some of what's going on, even in my family. Also, things that happen online are not limited to just online. Just Google "What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook." You notice that it's only used to discuss the problems with social media. Not as a cliche or joke, but in all seriousness because there is no possible way for something to "stay on Facebook." There is no stopping it. So, check your privacy settings, guard your information, refer to your family sparingly and don't post while intoxicated and you might, just might avoid having your social media usage leap too far off the screen. As one warning voice mentioned, "If you're not paying for it you're not the customer. You're the product."
Social media marketing is the reason I got a twitter account. Robson Wells, author of Variant, Feedback, and the upcoming Blackout was offering a twitter exclusive. He was offering an advanced reader copy of his book as the prize in a drawing. You entered the drawing by tweeting about the book release. I didn't win, but he launched a second twitter drawing very shortly after. Every month until the release of his book Variant he would be conducting a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon. The eve of the release he would do a drawing for a new Kindle with five of his favorite young adult books already on it. You entered the drawing by pre-ordering a copy of the book. I decided that for $12 plus shipping and handling it was worth it. It turned out that I won the first drawing for the gift card so I came out about $10 ahead. Robson Wells is not the only one that has used social media to his advantage. I wouldn't have had a twitter account in time to find about about the contest - which required me to buy his book - if he hadn't given me incentive. Mix that with the ability for social media to "spread the word" about new (or established) business and you can effectively bypass all of the major gateways that have been previously the only entrances into successful enterprise. I mentioned the power of YouTube and new musicians in my last post on music.
Social Media is breaking down old walls, but it's also putting up new ones. In many ways it's dividing those that use it from those that don't. I mentioned how I have to check Facebook occasionally or I miss out on some of what's going on, even in my family. Also, things that happen online are not limited to just online. Just Google "What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook." You notice that it's only used to discuss the problems with social media. Not as a cliche or joke, but in all seriousness because there is no possible way for something to "stay on Facebook." There is no stopping it. So, check your privacy settings, guard your information, refer to your family sparingly and don't post while intoxicated and you might, just might avoid having your social media usage leap too far off the screen. As one warning voice mentioned, "If you're not paying for it you're not the customer. You're the product."
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