Just like anything, people tend to be scared of what they’re not used to. More specifically I am referring to online social media. People who are not familiar with it will naturally shy away or become defensive making all sorts of ridiculous claims such as: “You’re wasting your time”, “Its a sickness”, “People will track you down”, and my personal favorite, “Soon they will have support groups for blogging addicts”… Seriously.
I have heard every one of these claims plus some.
To make this point crystal clear, I shall bring in a personal example… My family.
Ever since I got to Chicago, my family has been on my case about all the social media avenues I have been involved with (not that it is any of their business, but I shall humor them in this post).
According to them, when making a list of effective things to do with your time, online social media would probably be ranked at the very bottom, if even ranked at all. On my list, I have recently come to place it very close to the top.
Why you ask? Simple.
First, I love networking and these social sites allow me to meet endless amounts of people while gaining valuable information on the industry at the same time. If not for these sites, I never would have met half the industry professionals that I have .
Second, its no secret that the economy has turned to crap. And as someone who is in the job market and looking for an opportunity in the online Ad/Marketing space, it sounds like I don’t have time to NOT be involved in social Media. I joined the Twitter train late and lucky for me I’m a quick learner because I can already see the type of impact its having on society. The ways this technology can be used, and the amount of reach capability it has still amazes me, daily! I would be putting myself at a terrible disadvantage in the job market if I was not VERY familiar with these modes of communication. Imagine for a minute, in 5 years Twitter becomes one of the hottest and most popular ways to advertise… and I have no idea what the heck I’m doing. Who is going to hire me then? Way to shoot yourself in the foot!
Third, I cant even begin to share with you how many interesting links and articles I get from my contacts on these sites. I know about happenings/gatherings/ events/ breaking news/ and job postings as soon as they come out. I have learned about new technologies and gained new incites on topics that are of interest. Not to mention the humorous posts and various useless information I hear about. I would be lying if I told you I read the news paper everyday… because I dont. Thats what my google reader is for! It is sure to be a wealth of information, either from other people just like you and me, or from more mainstream, news sites.
The world has turned digital and with that said, I wonder when it will become the norm to be on twitter/ blogs and all the other social media sites that are out there. Facebook is already more accepted but I will bet that there are still skeptics out there, even the users who are afraid to take their usage to the next level.
I for one do not plan on getting left behind like many companies who either didn’t change with the times/couldn’t change with the times or like many within my dear family.
How strange it is that ever since I have been involved with social media, some of them have joined joined Facebook and Twitter and have even been reading my blog!
To my family: Please feel free to leave your comments!
Love,
Aaron
Chuck from Pop Labs just about sums it all up for us.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwAjur3_08Y[/youtube]
and finally:
Social media addiction is serious. If you or someone you love may have a problem Click here to find out how you can help. 🙂