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It’s this simple : It’s all social media

Per Kneale Mann this morning:

It has very little to do with a web portal, zero to do with anything electronic, nada to do with any gadget or interface without one important ingredient – us!

Anyone with an Internet connect can publish thoughts online and build an audience.

I am not a social media expert and neither are you. I am a social media expert and so are you.

Social media is just interacting with people. Just because one can do on it on Blog, via Twitter, or on Facebook, who cares? It’s still all about being yourself, getting to know others, and spending time with people with like interests. It’s the stuff life is made of.

I’m telling folks all the time the great thing about social media is that not one of us really knows what the heck we are doing. We’re all just figuring this stuff out. And at the rate social media changes I’m not sure we’ll ever stop trying to figure it all out.

Per Mann:

Once we realize there is no particular right way, we quickly discover that a blog, podcast, email, phone call or lunch meeting all have one imperative common element – people.

Take a closer look at all of your communication avenues. Don’t just focus on the multitude social networking websites, look at all media. Look at the people you deem to be navigating those channels well and ask questions. With some clarity, you will quickly realize it’s all media shared socially.

Learning to use social means only requires overcoming the fear of trying something new in front of others. What’s holding you back other than fear of embarrassing yourself?

Sounds a lot like high school. What if I make a fool of myself in gym class playing a sport I’m not good at? What if I can’t dance and all the girls laugh at me? Seems trivial 36 years later.

I’ll be the first to concede fear of embarrassing myself or looking silly still creeps into my life. Like when I tee off on the first hole tomorrow with others looking on. But though I’m not any good at golf, I enjoy being out with my boys. It’s the social side, not what we’re doing or using for the social interaction.

Social media is not about technology. It’s about people. It’s about being social.

Sure it’ll take some time to figure social media out. You’ll feel clumsy at first. You’ll wonder if you look stupid. You’ll fear your peers will think you’re being silly.

It’s okay.

  • http://www.gjel.com/blog Ben Buchwalter

    I love this blog post in how it relates to social media, but also other aspects of daily life. They key takeaway is that for most new things you are anxious to try, everyone else was anxious to try it at one point, as well. Most likely, any judgement will be positive in that people are always glad to have another friend or coworker to interact with online.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin OKeefe

    LexBlog was started because I anxious about being out blogging in 2003. My blog looked silly, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was scared that people were finding me as a result of my blog. When I couldn’t find someone to help me and law firms were asking me to help them on the blogging front, I thought there may be the makings of a company to fullfill the need.
    And here we are today with over 3,000 lawyers blogging on The LexBlog Network and a team here of 25 people serving them. Who knew?
    Strange things can come to those willing to step outside their comfort zone.

  • http://www.pcprofile.com Rob Harmer

    It’s Okay up until the time that you and your organization you work for discover that the social media sites are being used to harvest all sorts of information about you, your identity, your location, your preferences, your organization etc. The amount of competitve intellgence that can be gleaned from sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo is significant.
    Be careful about what you say online as it will come back and bite. Not if, but when.
    For those using smart devices (iPhone/iPad etc) to connect to social media sites and have downloaded low cost Apps, be careful with these as some have some significant risks “under the hood” that are a system network admins worst nightmare and we havent yet seen the impact of what 200,000 odd apps in the wild can do to a business. 7 minutes ago
    The real problem is one of “ego” and the sense of that’s all rubbish and conspiracy theory stuff and it won’t happen to me, and I know all the risks.
    How many are using TripIt via LinkedIn to advertise their whereabouts?
    Have a think about the aspect of, if your home address is listed in your profile on LinkedIn (or it’s listed in your resume as its important to have that on line, just in case you are headhunted) then we know where you live and when you will be away. Hope your insurance policy is good!
    Social Media can be used for good, but there are many who are “trying to work out a way to make it turn a $ for them” and this can be by fair means or foul.