Social Networking: It's not Alice down the rabbit hole.
I'm lucky enough to work in an industry where being active on, and reading through the various social networks that are available constitutes professional gain instead of wasted time. So, while cranking my brain up and sipping on my morning tea, I often peruse my various handles and see what's been going on in the land of the interwebs.
Contrary to popular belief, Twitter (more so than Facebook, unfortunately) is a rich source of information. It's a place where learned, educated and intelligent people post interesting things for the selfless gain of others. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts about the wonderful world of Twitter, you can be a participant or a voyeur - both are equally the function of Twitter.
An article I read while going through my Twitter feed this morning compelled me to write what I have been wanting to write for some time now. Luckily (and this is probably the point of my whole post), I have a personal space (this blog) where I can comfortably and confidently air my opinions. I state it clearly in my bio: This is my opinion. This is personal. This has nothing to do with business or work. This is how I see the world. This is my life and these are my words. If you don't like them, then please feel free to redirect yourself to a different page.
Nowadays, every man and his dog has a blog. Whether it gets updated on a regular basis with funny You-tube videos and awkward photographs or left to become a sedentary black hole in the Internet, most people have them. Then, there are the folk who have simply 'gone with the flow' or 'succumbed to the pressure' and signed up for a simple Facebook page, and - at a streeeeeeetch - a Twitter profile.
Unless one takes the time to research social networks, the perceived rules and generally understood Dos and Don'ts, the way we navigate these things is based purely on our own character and (don't vomit) the way we have been brought up. What a lot of people don't realise is that social networking is just an extension of the way we conduct ourselves in person.
During the old days, when it was 'cool' to bump up the number of friends one had on Facebook, it was often the case of a mass influx of people that we didn't even know (or had met once). Then there were the people we knew well, and felt comfortable around. Our parents also cottoned onto the idea and joined the network- they were our friends on Facebook too. Recruitment agencies started to friend their prospective employees as a screening process and, once the job had been accepted (provided that there wasn't any revolting evidence to turn them off) one's boss and clients would send out their respective requests to be our friends. This was all very well as it increased that seemingly important number of friends and made us feel worthy.
We tend to forget all of these people that we have let into our digital lives. Imagine all of them in a room: All of your close friend are around you, chatting and engaging with you directly while your mum (who isn't as proficient as she would like but more so than you think) is at the table clearing up plates with the ears of a bat. Your boss, recruitment agent, clients and people you barely know anything about are sitting around the edges of the room, watching. They watch you drink (that's fine, we all do it). They watch you light up a cigarette (OK, maybe your mum won't like that one). They watch you have one too many and maybe take your top off as a joke. Then, through the slurred words and splashes of vodka, they watch you slag off the people you work with, themselves, your closest friend who has gone to the bathroom and, to top it off, hear you utter an unsavoury racial slur that 'just slipped out'. They mentally retreat from the relationship that you have built with them and take an eraser to your already - pencilled - in name on their list. Because you are in the center of the room, you lose the perspective of how many people are looking in at you. And, when all the drinks are finished and the last person leaves (read: logs off), you are left unaware of just how much damage you have done to your persona.
Similarly, the above scenario works for Twitter. With the invention of the iPhone and the Blackberry, photographs (in real time) can be uploaded straight to your twitter feed. Most of the time it's a beautiful sunset, a glass of wine, a cute dog or some fellow tweeters getting together. This, as you would agree, is harmless. Then there are the occasions where something you tweet is taken out of context, or it is re-tweeted by someone who doesn't get the gist of what you have been discussing. Once again, perceived digital gain translated into personal downfall and loss of face.
What I am really trying to say is this: Social Networking is an incredibly useful and fun tool. But, it is an extension of who you are. Don't use it to vent or be mean about the people around you - that's incredibly poor taste. Don't skirt around the subject - tell it like it is. If, in real life, you talk real words then don't talk in Candy Floss on your social network feeds. Most importantly (and this is the biggie), remember who your audience is. Yes- it may be made up of a load of random people who you don't know. But these people could come into your life, and waltz right out again based on the things that you tweet. Similarly, if you are friends with your boss or your colleagues on Facebook and Twitter, be cognisant of that fact. If you do want to bandy around drunken photos from the night before and slag off the people that you work with, then do them the decency of un-friending them or removing them from your follower count. You wouldn't walk up to their face and call them a worthless human being now, would you?
Twitter and Facebook are not magical worlds where you can escape to and be whoever you want to be. It's not a mad-hatter's tea party where reality is left far behind. If that's what you are looking for then start a blog. Be who you are and who you were brought up to be in absolutely all aspects of your life - digital or otherwise.
Love and Gratitude for social networking
xx
PS: Here's the article that sparked this fire. It's definitely worth a read.Facebook Carefully
Contrary to popular belief, Twitter (more so than Facebook, unfortunately) is a rich source of information. It's a place where learned, educated and intelligent people post interesting things for the selfless gain of others. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts about the wonderful world of Twitter, you can be a participant or a voyeur - both are equally the function of Twitter.
An article I read while going through my Twitter feed this morning compelled me to write what I have been wanting to write for some time now. Luckily (and this is probably the point of my whole post), I have a personal space (this blog) where I can comfortably and confidently air my opinions. I state it clearly in my bio: This is my opinion. This is personal. This has nothing to do with business or work. This is how I see the world. This is my life and these are my words. If you don't like them, then please feel free to redirect yourself to a different page.
Nowadays, every man and his dog has a blog. Whether it gets updated on a regular basis with funny You-tube videos and awkward photographs or left to become a sedentary black hole in the Internet, most people have them. Then, there are the folk who have simply 'gone with the flow' or 'succumbed to the pressure' and signed up for a simple Facebook page, and - at a streeeeeeetch - a Twitter profile.
Unless one takes the time to research social networks, the perceived rules and generally understood Dos and Don'ts, the way we navigate these things is based purely on our own character and (don't vomit) the way we have been brought up. What a lot of people don't realise is that social networking is just an extension of the way we conduct ourselves in person.
During the old days, when it was 'cool' to bump up the number of friends one had on Facebook, it was often the case of a mass influx of people that we didn't even know (or had met once). Then there were the people we knew well, and felt comfortable around. Our parents also cottoned onto the idea and joined the network- they were our friends on Facebook too. Recruitment agencies started to friend their prospective employees as a screening process and, once the job had been accepted (provided that there wasn't any revolting evidence to turn them off) one's boss and clients would send out their respective requests to be our friends. This was all very well as it increased that seemingly important number of friends and made us feel worthy.
We tend to forget all of these people that we have let into our digital lives. Imagine all of them in a room: All of your close friend are around you, chatting and engaging with you directly while your mum (who isn't as proficient as she would like but more so than you think) is at the table clearing up plates with the ears of a bat. Your boss, recruitment agent, clients and people you barely know anything about are sitting around the edges of the room, watching. They watch you drink (that's fine, we all do it). They watch you light up a cigarette (OK, maybe your mum won't like that one). They watch you have one too many and maybe take your top off as a joke. Then, through the slurred words and splashes of vodka, they watch you slag off the people you work with, themselves, your closest friend who has gone to the bathroom and, to top it off, hear you utter an unsavoury racial slur that 'just slipped out'. They mentally retreat from the relationship that you have built with them and take an eraser to your already - pencilled - in name on their list. Because you are in the center of the room, you lose the perspective of how many people are looking in at you. And, when all the drinks are finished and the last person leaves (read: logs off), you are left unaware of just how much damage you have done to your persona.
Similarly, the above scenario works for Twitter. With the invention of the iPhone and the Blackberry, photographs (in real time) can be uploaded straight to your twitter feed. Most of the time it's a beautiful sunset, a glass of wine, a cute dog or some fellow tweeters getting together. This, as you would agree, is harmless. Then there are the occasions where something you tweet is taken out of context, or it is re-tweeted by someone who doesn't get the gist of what you have been discussing. Once again, perceived digital gain translated into personal downfall and loss of face.
What I am really trying to say is this: Social Networking is an incredibly useful and fun tool. But, it is an extension of who you are. Don't use it to vent or be mean about the people around you - that's incredibly poor taste. Don't skirt around the subject - tell it like it is. If, in real life, you talk real words then don't talk in Candy Floss on your social network feeds. Most importantly (and this is the biggie), remember who your audience is. Yes- it may be made up of a load of random people who you don't know. But these people could come into your life, and waltz right out again based on the things that you tweet. Similarly, if you are friends with your boss or your colleagues on Facebook and Twitter, be cognisant of that fact. If you do want to bandy around drunken photos from the night before and slag off the people that you work with, then do them the decency of un-friending them or removing them from your follower count. You wouldn't walk up to their face and call them a worthless human being now, would you?
Twitter and Facebook are not magical worlds where you can escape to and be whoever you want to be. It's not a mad-hatter's tea party where reality is left far behind. If that's what you are looking for then start a blog. Be who you are and who you were brought up to be in absolutely all aspects of your life - digital or otherwise.
Love and Gratitude for social networking
xx
PS: Here's the article that sparked this fire. It's definitely worth a read.Facebook Carefully
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