Social Media Used to Be a CB Radio?
By Jan Sherrell
Again I’m throwing myself under the bus and exposing my fuddy duddiness. The term Social Media is everywhere. There are books and webinars and consultants for Social Media. I’m trying to jump on that band wagon. I’m working to stay informed of what social media entails and why I need to use it. But the term Social Media keeps flashing me to 1977 when my best friend and I would sit in her dad’s company truck and talk on the CB radio to boys. CB radio was early social media. We had secret “handles” – (that’s the old term for screen names or Login) that made us anonymous on the airwaves as we talked inanely about life as a 14 year old. Wow, maybe I’m a trendsetter and I was hip to social media before the term was even coined?
What I struggle with is how does all this Social Media apply to work? Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flicker…..Sure if I’m a liquor salesman or a photographer or website designer – I see how having tons of “friends” and tweeting quick little ditties might prove beneficial to business. Posting cool photos I’ve taken or sharing a to die for drink recipe. But recruiting Facebook friends and reading postings while at work just doesn’t feel like it is going to help me do a better job – then again I am looking for some volunteers. But do people really want to hear about that on Facebook or Twitter?
I’ve made the plunge – I have a Facebook page. But sadly, after a couple of weeks a swarm of folks have not searched me out and invited me onto their friend’s list. I have eight friends. Okay, in my defense I’ve only been on the site twice and I have a fear of posting something embarrassing for the world to see – I’ve been warned this is how employers and banks research you. It doesn’t feel natural to invite people I haven’t talked to in years to be my friend. Perhaps I fear the rejection – or don’t know what to do with them after they are my friend?
I’m starting to see the social aspect of it – you can know things about people without really investing much time or using all those social skills like phone calls or cocktail party etiquette. But that feels so anonymous. And truly my life is okay without knowing every move, every sandwich ate, every cd purchased, every random thought. Maybe what is lacking for me is the “social” part of Social Media. Perhaps I have enough social in my life? A good time to me is reading the paper on my back patio or a lone motorcycle ride on a country road.
How is Social Media helping you work better?
So do I rally my interest and go recruit some friends and get a little more embedded in this social media hype? How about you good buddy, you got yer ears on? Over.
I remember those days! My brother and I have walkie-talkies from Radio Shack! Ha.
I think the trick is not to join twitter, FB,and other social media with the intent to overwhelm the other users with self-promotional stuff. You have to offer something valuable to those users or don’t even bother getting on!
Education is the biggest way in which my work has been improved by social media! I get tons of great information about technology for nonprofits through twitter and blogs, and just by word-of-mouth from my networks. But you have to know how to use the tools to look for the information, otherwise all you get is a lot of noise.
Jan, I sent you a friend request on Facebook and you haven’t accepted. Maybe I’m the one that should feel dissed. Or maybe you haven’t been back on the site.
You’d be amazed how sharing what may seem inane turns into a real conversation. I was thinking about this the other night. It’s like being at a party. Much of party conversation is inane, but it leads you to know more about whomever you are speaking with. It’s not that different on Facebook or other sites.
At Home of the Innocents, we have had some pretty good success on Facebook. With around 540 fans now, we are really finding a way to connect with people. We even raised a few bucks to send a very special girl to the Miley Cyrus concert. Admittedly, it’s mostly small success, but you can’t underestimate long-term impact of building these friendships… just like making connections at a party or other social gathering.
Sorry this is so long.
HI Jan, 10-4…I enjoyed your post. If you think about the “Friends” you connect with on Facebook as also being an extended network that will allow you to quickly move up appeals for volunteers or to inform, advocate or mobilize larger groups of people with a few clicks of a mouse then that is how growing a presence on Facebook helps us in our work. Also, it is affordable during the down economy since you can get a message out guickly for free and it helps us to be where the younger generations are also spending thier time and connecting with causes.
It makes a difference if you are involved in social media as Jan Sherrell or as Metro United Way. Or are you trying to do both at the same time? Remember that the key to social media is the social part. You’ve got to engage other people, otherwise you are only talking to yourself. As an individual, you have to open up about your life. That does not mean posting about what you ate for breakfast! It means not only posting about what movie you saw but also why you liked it (or didn’t). As an organization it means not trying to use social media to sell, but to show the human side of your organization. Give away a LIVE UNITED t-shirt to the first 10 people who correctly answer a fairly simple question about your United Way. Write a profile about one of your volunteers. Whether an individual or an organization post lots of good photos and videos (throw away the bad ones) of your activities. That’s something you couldn’t do with a CB radio!