To Social Media Or Not To Social Media . . .

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Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, Yelp, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, YouTube, Friendster, Orkut, Blogger, WordPress ... The world of Social Media is huge, wide spread, insanely popular and more than just a little bit scary for scores and scores of users - despite what the stats tell us about the number of people using Social Media.
Facebook has over 700 million registered users, Twitter has over 200 million registered users, but here at home on our local streets I hear more people blanching at Social Media, denying any participation with it and mostly a whole lot of “I don’t get it”.
So what is the point of Social Media? While it will vary greatly for each person, in essence the point of Social Media is the social, not the media. Media comes and media goes. But if you're lucky, social endures.
Ok, great, but what about privacy? What about all the horror stories floating around about all sorts of private and confidential information getting into all kinds of hands that we’d rather not share with?
Personally, I think people in general get a little too hung up the privacy concerns and frankly, most of the time when privacy has become a problem it’s caused by the individuals themselves. Look at it from another perspective. Before computers and the amazing Internet how did you communicate with friends and acquaintances? What pieces of information would you make numerous phone calls to share with everyone you had a phone number for? Or how many letters would you write and re-write to send to multiple people so that everyone got the same information? This stuff is what would be known in Social Media as your “public” information - it’s the stuff you’re okay sharing with anyone who will listen (or read).
Now think about the confidential stuff, the secrets you only tell a very select group of people - maybe only one or two people. This stuff is what would be deemed “private” information in the world of Social Media.
Seems pretty straight-forward, except that every Social Media site uses slightly different terminology for the different ways you can communicate with other Social Media users. You “tweet” this, “post” that, “IM” the other, “PM” something else altogether. Then what happens if you “share” something? Oh don’t forget you can also “retweet” and be “retweeted”... Oy vey! It never ends.
But that’s okay - take a deep breath, grab a coffee, set aside some time to sort out this whole Social Media mystery and dive in - believe it or not, chances are that you will actually find yourself enjoying it, once you’ve taken some time to figure it out.
But do yourself a favour and definitely take the time to do a little reading. If technology and the idea of Social Media isn’t something that comes naturally to you, don’t expect to jump on it like you’re riding a bike. It’s a new tool for lots of people and in many ways it requires its own set of skills to get the hang of it. It truly isn’t as daunting and complicated as it may seem but it is something that a little bit of patience will go a long way with.
My first recommendation, in most cases, is that you do NOT get a kid (of any age) to show you the ropes. You may be jumping to all sorts of conclusions on that recommend-ation, but the long and the short of it is that they will likely run circles around you, they’ll get as frustrated with you as you will with them and you’ll probably end up just as confused if not more so. Granted there are exceptions and only you know your family members well enough to know if you possess an exception in your ranks. But for the vast majority, this journey is one that you are better off doing quietly, slowly and privately on your own.
To get you started I’ll give you a few pointers here. I am by no means a Social Media expert on every form of Social Media out there - honestly I don’t have time to try them all. I do however regularly use Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and I maintain a couple of Blogs. Some of this I use for personal use, some of it I use for business use, but the etiquette of it all pretty much boils down to the same thing.
The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out which Social Media sites would be a good fit for you. To do this you’ll want to talk to people you know and ask them what they use, after all there’s not much point in using a Social Media site if the people you personally know aren’t using it. Remember, the main point of Social Media is “social”, to connect with other people that you know and possibly down the road to make some new friends with people you don’t already know.
The other thing you can do is a Google search for: top 10 social media sites. You’ll get several results that will provide you with facts, details, reviews and opinions on the various Social Media options out there. Read up on them, learn what the purpose and goal is for each site that you’re thinking about using. They aren’t all the same. For example, Linked-In has a heavy lean towards professional networkng. Facebook has a heavy lean towards re-connecting with people you haven’t had contact with in ages. Twitter is more about sharing short thoughts and information.
Now, pick one Social Media site and get started with just that one. There’s no point in trying to shove the whole cake in your mouth at once. Piece by piece you’ll be a Social Media guru in no time flat. One of the biggest mistakes that I see though, is people just jumping in without taking the time to learn. So once you’ve picked a site to start with, register your account and then immediately start with any and all tours, tutorials and help sections that they offer. That’s what they’re there for and most of them really are useful.
While you’re going through the help sections, specifically look for information on the “privacy settings” - this is the stuff that will help you understand how to keep your Social Media stuff safe, going to the places you want it to go and keeping it away from the places you don’t want it to go.
A few key terms that may help you along the way include “PM” - this is a private message, similar to sending an email, it only goes to the people you tell it to go to. “IM” or “Chat” is referring to live, real-time, online conversations - it’s like making a phone call except that you’re typing and reading instead of talking and listening. When you “post” a message to a “wall” or “board” or “profile” more often than not these will be “public” ie: lots of people can see it.
This has been a very basic and rudimentary introduction to Social Media for new users, but I hope that you found it to be helpful and with any luck the idea of Social Media won’t be quite so scary now.