<p>I was inspired to share my thoughts on social media by my friend @annaobrien and her post Look at me I’m Engaging!!
It’s funny to me that all anyone talks about is social media and that social media is supposed to bring people closer, communicate, and build stronger relationships.
But in reality it’s doing the opposite!!
Don’t believe me? When was the last time someone said hi to you on twitter or facebook and you TRULY believed that they JUST wanted to be friends? Or did you think, “ok what’s he selling”.
Chat Rooms True Relationship Builders
I made more friends, and built stronger relationships with people online back in the olds days with chat rooms! Yes, you remember chat rooms right? lol
Where people actually communicated together in a group of up to 20-30 people? Everyday you go to the same chat you have a mix of regulars and some new people all talking.
You could even choose chat rooms for any topic you were interested in. You like cats? Great, find a chat about cats and you know what? They actually talked about CATS! Crazy thought right? Lol
Also when you came back to a chat that you visit a lot, everyone in it would welcome you and say hi. When was the last time you signed into Myspace, Twitter or Facebook and your friends/followers all said hi? Umm for me I can say NEVER!..LOL
Chat rooms were more of a community, you had regulars and newbie visitors that were all there for the same reason, to talk about whatever that chat room was about.
Doesn’t get anymore social then throwing 30 people in a room to talk about the same topic.
Facebook Can Be A Huge Time Waster
On Facebook I have over 1500 friends yet I talk to MAYBE 30 of those friends on and off each day. I spend more time removing people off my wall that annoy me with their every 2 min updates.
Oh, since we are talking about facebook, when did it become cool or a great way to meet people for grown ass men to send me hugs, Farm animals etc?… OMG! This needs to stop..lol
I Love Twitter..But…
Look at Twitter, Twitter was developed around a very simple idea.. “What Are You Doing?” Basically you share what your doing or what you like or dislike with friends family and new found friends online…pretty simple right?
Yet today not many people follow this, and some “twitter experts” tell you that sharing what your doing thru out the day, is a negative thing to d, and a great way to lose tour followers..
If you look on Twitter the past few days you will see a lot of bloggers tweeting about the Blog World Expo in Vegas, now I think keeping the content on your blog and getting comments and conversating (i know i made it u..lol) about is a lot better as far as communicating, engaging and building that relationship with your readers.
Yes people may RT your post, but that does not really help you build relationships, does it?
But John Don’t You Post On Twitter Too?
Yes I do! I love Twitter! I’m on Twitter here everyday! To help me grow those relationship on Twitter I make every effort to say Thank You or reply to any @ comment I get which helps to build that relationship, but if it was up to me, I would rather see this happen on my blog where it is much more personal and easier to keep the communication going.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Social Media is an important part of any business’s marketing efforts, I will continue to use it to promote myself and my business.
I think all the focus you see now on social media and the ROI you are getting from your efforts will slowly have people seeing that social media is not the be all end all in building your brand or business.
What do you think? Is Social Media really helping your communicate better? Build stronger relationships?
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Twitter Bird says “Please RT John’s Post, He Is Tweet-Tastic”
Just Click Here To Add To Twitter and RT…Thank You!
Oh Yea! Go to My Twitter account and Add me to a List!…Thanks!
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