<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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Just Click Here To Add To Twitter and RT…Thank You!
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October 20th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I'm at the beginning with blogging and I started building a community with commenting other blogs. What is the point of that? I comment your blog and you comment my blog. This is the way to establish a “blog relationship”. After a while we know each other and begin to retweet each others posts. And with luck our audience expand.
So, social media is on the second place. Yes, I'm using twitter to get traffic but if you are not Guy Kawasaki it is hard to get traffic with twitter's help.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I agree commenting on other blogs in your niche is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers and also get backlinks.
As far as Twitter. I do very well with getting traffic to my blog and to my aff links. There is a right and wrong way to use Twitter to get traffic.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I'm not sure that I agree. I have stronger relationships with clients, friends, friends from the past and new friends because of Facebook. Maybe it depends on who you are and what you're doing there.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Yes social networking with family and existing friends from past on facebook twitter etc is very easy and a great way to stay in touch. I'm tlaking about new frinds/relationships thur ONLY social media isn't any better or worse then the old way of IM and Chat rooms. Buidling relationships just wasn't a a catch phrase back then, yet relationships were built. I agree that it depends on why your social netowrking, for me I am in the make money online/blogging field. In that field the relationships are rare since everyone you connect with is promoting or selling something,.,lol
November 9th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I have found that the blog is the core source of content representing your business and that the social media is a way to find and connect with others with like interests, backgrounds, etc. Once some people read the blog, they reach out through twitter or connect through other SM channels. But your blog is the dynamic representation of your business online. I think people are intimidated to leave comments on blogs, but less so to send out a message to the twitterverse.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Deb, I agree that your blog is your “homebase” for your business, the goal is to bring everyone back to your blog. I luv social media, but to really connect and build trusat and a relationship then I don't think Twitter is the place.
I think people feel more at eaze commenting on twitter is maybe they see it as a fun laid back place to post, and on a blog, they may see it as more professional and not feel like they have anything worthy of sharing.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Deb, I agree that your blog is your “homebase” for your business, the goal is to bring everyone back to your blog. I luv social media, but to really connect and build trusat and a relationship then I don’t think Twitter is the place.
I think people feel more at eaze commenting on twitter is maybe they see it as a fun laid back place to post, and on a blog, they may see it as more professional and not feel like they have anything worthy of sharing.