Fantastic article by Justin Hale
http://utahpulse.com/featured_article/putting-social-back-social-media

Putting the Social back in Social Media
By Justin Hale

Social Media is by far the largest and probably the most misunderstood concept of this generation. I grew up in an age where, you either walked over to someone, wrote them a letter, or called them on the phone. Personal touches were important to me. If you took the time to write, or stop by, it showed a little pride in yourself. Phone calls were kept short, and the use of please and thank you were in great abundance.
Then comes Social Media, the biggest change since e-mail and IM. Just like we have seen some losses in the personal touches of the tools of the past; it is important to remember what it teaches us as a reminder for our futures.
Hopefully, all of us have learned some etiquette. I have seen some mistakes from time to time and you can use this small list to clear up any confusion you might have left:
Social Media is to develop relationships of trust. Social Media is supposed to be social, not a forum for pure advertising, Spam, and other annoying practices.
Social Media is personal. This means you shape who you are on-line and off-line. Keep your dirty laundry to yourself, and business and family separate.
Social Media is about catering to interest. Watching TV as a status makes me snore, there is no big deal about that.
Social Media is collaboration. If you only post things about yourself, you are probably the only person looking at it.
Social Media is open. People from all walks of life will see, and may not understand what is being portrayed. For example, sarcasm never bodes well.
Social Media is about friendships. People like to hear from you about others too. Gratitude goes far.
Social Media is about quality experiences. People always have a wide variety of things to do make sure their time is well spent.
Social Media is about progress. It should be used to promote more than just awareness but to lead into action.
Social Media is interactive. Please treat as a two-way form of communication.
Social Media is about sincerity. Know words like: puffery, flattery, embellishments, and tales, yarns, and countless others and please refrain.
Social Media is about creating. You create an attitude, a reputation, a look, a message, a genre, a purpose, mission, etc. (People call this branding.)
Social Media is about targeting who you care about. By trying to say your audience is everyone, where in reality you are unable to touch anyone.
Social Media is about truth. You can’t spin, doctor, patch or change what really happened. It is always better to say, what you will do to fix it.
Social Media is a reference. What people say back to you, or whether you pay attention to them means a lot.
Social Media is the future. This is an integrating function to social skills, in being able to perform in the circles that one travels.
There will always be basics to remember, and the simple politeness of getting back to people. People is what makes life more enjoyable, and a little less lonely.
You want to spend your time with someone who is genuine and real, not just an avatar. Put the Social back in Social Media. Take care of your followers, and they in turn will care for you.

Tags: facebook, Social, Social Media, twitter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 1:21 am and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.