The screenshot you see here shows a short exchange I had with the member of one of my Google+ Communities today. To me, it works as a good example of what has been happening for far too long on the Internet.
I have said it time and time again: Social media is about people. As such, all the technology we have is useless if we don’t use it in ways that foster meaningful communication.
Barging in a discussion to promote oneself without even saying “hi” is considered very rude offline. So, why would it be acceptable online?
Business owners need to do better. They have to stop thinking that their digital footprint will be erased by the tide.
There is neither sand nor ocean in the social media world. ALL your actions will be seen and judged accordingly — even in six months from now.
Your messages may disappear from people’s streams after a few hours or days. But they remain archived and available for the world to see years after the facts. How do I know? People still comment on Google+ posts I published in 2012!
Actually, we all need to do better. If we want social media to survive and thrive, we have to make it more “human” and “approachable”. We cannot continue sharing cute quotes, pictures and videos and expect others not to react and delve deeper into meanings.
We cannot just say: “It is my profile, I am the boss.” We are not the boss of anything in social networking. The only thing we own is our behavior.
Social media really has to become more “social”. Or it will die like MySpace — just because a lot of us refused to learn to use it properly.
“Nobody who is influential in social media is going to help your business succeed if your Tweet-stream contains a bunch of pithy quotes or random links, and is completely devoid of conversations with real people.” – Tom Scearce
