Social Networking in 2009

The growth of social media has been explosive in 2008, there’s just no other way to describe it. Whether you use Twitter, ActiveRain, Blogger, WordPress, Facebook, LinkedIn or another or all of the social networking tools, you’ll have seen unprecedented growth in all of these and, with any such growth, come two very real risks: overkill and marginalization.

Email was hailed, and still is, a communication revolution. Like the telephone before it, email allows quick, almost instantaneousness transfer of information. Unlike the telephone, it can be more readily-accessible, in most cases free, allows the attachment of files and distribution to a wide audience in a relatively short time and can cause more headaches

Spam is to the emailer what solicitors are to phone users. Sometimes the two can be just as dangerous. Scams from get-rich-quick schemes to worms and viruses have been a constant threat and continue to fuel the security arms race that underpins the Internet. Unlike telephone solicitation, it’s not quite as easy to join a “do-not-email” list, although there are such things. Many emails come from parts of the world where local laws don’t apply. Email can come from many more channels that phone calls and the majority of email users have at least two accounts

Over 90% of email traffic is spam, according to many studies. I use that number conservatively because I believe it’s much higher. That means that 90% of the messages “out there” are junk, unwanted, unsolicited, wasting bandwidth and disk space. Some people predict(ed) the possible end of email unless we can get a handle on spam

Social media networking has the potential to follow the same route. Like email, and the telephone before it, when used properly, blogs, instant messaging and business relationship networking tools can be invaluable in building and maintaining connections. Social media has given everyone the opportunity to reach a potential global audience without the enormous cost of production or printing.

But therein lies some of the problem. At the risk of offending people: there’s a lot of junk out there. I remember a quote from a move (The Krays) “you’ve got nothing to say and you’re saying it too loudly”. When it comes to social media, there are many people who haven’t got a lot to say, so they flood the “e”waves with rubbish, often in the hopes that someone will pick it up and run with it.

Unlike email, we have an easier option when it comes to blogs: we can bypass and not read what we think isn’t worth it. On networks such a Twitter, things can be a little more difficult if one is “following” someone, because one is potentially inundated with tweets and retweets. But, environments such as Twitter give us the option of removing someone from a “follow” list and thus relieving our electronic ears of their babble

Sorting the wheat from the chaff can be difficult. When there is so much out there, how on earth do you find what’s worth reading? And, if you plan to be part of this growing phenomenon, how do you do so without being part of the problem?

The answer is: tread carefully. Many people filter their incoming phone calls and emails, ignoring, blocking and marking unwanted messages (or calls) as junk and blocking future messages. The same diligence is needed on social networks when it comes to picking out the worthwhile from the rest.

More importantly, what you say is just as relevant. There are whole books written on subjects such as blog marketing, guerrilla marketing, social media marketing etc that strongly urge you to get involved. If you want people to visit your site, your blog, you have to interact so they’ll know you exist. Trouble is, how do you do that? Leaving simple “nice post” messages isn’t going to get you readers or followers. Engaging in dialogue will

The leading bloggers have an ongoing discourse with their readers. The most successful engage in two-way conversations that address the good and the bad. It’s a dialogue and dialogue can be interesting and that interest can lead to new followers with similar, or differing, viewpoints.

Social networking takes effort. The results take time. How many emails do you see from mass-emailing sites that you either delete or ignore? Dozens? Hundreds? As social media evolves, people are going to get better at quickly determining what is worth following and what is not

I actively encourage my clients to blog. It can be one of the best and free marketing tools out there. For those that think that no one would be interested in what they do, I encourage them to write about something they find interesting that’s got nothing to do with what they do. Everyone has an opinion about something. A conversation that is genuinely of interest to both parties almost be default, builds a relationship

Write about what you care about. Start a blog. It’s easy and free. On places such as ActiveRain, you can select specific groups to post to. Just don’t post for the sake for it. Especially when replying and trying to engage others in a dialogue, be courteous. You don’t have to be a linguist, and it’s okay to say “nice post”, but tell the poster why

Imagine being at a social event, a party for example. You overhear someone talking about something that you’re interested in, but you have a different take on it. Do you say something? That depends on you. But it’s unlikely you’d just stand there and say “I agree” or “that’s rubbish” without having something to add as to why you feel the way you do. You’d probably also not stand there and shout out (to no one in particular) “hey, my website is cool, here’s the address…”

You may be shy and not say anything. That’s okay too, but remember you get back what you put in

That may not be the best analogy, but I think it makes my point

If you have an opinion, by all means share it. Engage.

In 2009, be part of the social networking (r)evolution. That’s what social media is all about