There are a lot of people who misunderstand the amount of time it takes to engage in social media. It is true, that engaging in social media can overcome your life. But this is true only if social media is part of the “entertainment” of your life.
There are are probably two types of people who are reading this blog. Ok, maybe three, but basically there are three types of people who make social media part of their world. I’ll categorize them as this:
- The Consumer: People who read this, follow me on facebook, or follow my tweets are basically doing so because they simply just get a kick out of viewing this information. They will most likely never comment on any blog post I make. They won’t leave a note on my wall. They won’t engage in any dialogue via twitter. If anything, they occasionally hit that “like” button on facebook. Their primary use of social media is to see if it’s interesting and to see if it will be interesting long term.
- The Promoter: These are the type of people who run into either my blog or twitter because they were searching for a way to make “network connections” or they found me on facebook because we had mutual friends. These are the people who are less likely to ever read more than the initial blog post or tweet they first were introduced to me by, and for sure will never interact with me on facebook. The Promoter’s main goal is to tell you what they are up to and how you can get connected to their life. These usually are singer/songwriters who want you to come to their show, Multi-Level Marketers looking for ways to help you “make money while doing less” (you won’t), or people who want to tell you they just got a new chicken in farmville
(yes, there is a guidebook for that game!).
- The Philanthropist: These are people who – even before social media – loved people and approached initiated relationships with an interpersonal mindset. In other words, these are people who love people. Even more so, they love to not only share life with others, but also love to learn about life from others. They not only see that their life experience is something worth sharing, but also believe that gaining knowledge about other people made their life better. These are the people that move beyond “liking” your posts or just retweeting (RT) everything you tweet. These are the people who utilize social networking as the way to “stoke the fire” of a healthy relationship already established, or one in the making.
The honest truth is that you can be all three depending on who you are connecting with. While I don’t have as many “facebook friends” as I know some have, or “twitter followers” as others – the reality is that there are people I am connected to via social networking that are to me just consumers or promoters. And vice versa is true.
Funny thing is that I’ll often go through facebook or twitter and “unfriend” people who I’ve never had an online or personal interaction with. Then a few months later, this person will send a friend request again. So to one person I am just a promoter, while at the same time to me they are the consumer.
But the best usage of social media (and the main reason I utilize it) is to connect interpersonally with people. In the best case scenario, engaging in social media isn’t a new form of entertainment. It is a tool for making the connections to want to make with people because….well…you love people!
What say you? How do you feel social networking helps or hurts the relationships you make/cultivate?
