Starting at Social Media Square One
Social media is everywhere we turn these days. Facebook makes the cover of Time magazine. Twitter is the first to report the Times Square bombing attempt. Blogs and wikis and apps and 3G networks seem to be taking over, and every new mention can make a person—especially someone quite a ways north of fifty such as I am—feel like a secret language is being spoken and there’s no translator in sight. It’s like hearing about a party that you weren’t invited to and bluffing by saying that you didn’t want to go anyway but secretly knowing that isn’t true.
In fact, if social media were a real life party, you’d love an invitation! But in real life that invitation would include other helpful hints as well, like driving directions and some advice as to dress code that would make things seem a lot less intimidating.
Which brings me to the reason I’m starting this blog: To help you start from Square One in greeting the brave new world of social media. To begin at the beginning in discussing and overcoming your legitimate fears—of identity theft, privacy invasion, wasting too much time--and give you the step-by-step support you need to overcome your not so legitimate ones--of silly questions, of not knowing where to begin, of looking like a dinosaur in the kids' world.
In the blog posts ahead I'll teach you what I've learned and share my personal story of how social media took me from being yesterday's news in the job market to being a key part of a dynamic office filled with young people half my age. I'll get you up and running at a level that is both fun and comfortable for you and help you come to see social media as I now do--as 21st century friendship for busy, vital people.
"Facebook friends grow like kudzu for a variety of reasons, often personal or professional marketing — a proxy for the exchange of business cards (so old school). As in life, social networking lends itself to expanding social circles with like-minded people, so there are autologous Facebook cabals for foodies, literati, political junkies, perhaps gardeners, probably plumbers, definitely Civil War re-enactors (whose membership seems to be self-selected from former high-school audiovisual clubs)."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/fashion/30FACEBOOK.html?hpw
this is a really interesting article i found called "Are 5,001 Friends One Too Many?" it pertains to your concept of friending being a verb, enjoy!
Well, I congratulate you on your willingness to learn, grow, explore and move forward. Social media can indeed be like speaking another language. I had that experience once when living for two years in South America. It can be lonely and frustrating. But your post shows that new concepts can be learned, new friends can be made and life can expand.
ReplyDeleteWay to go in landing in an office and work environment that sounds uplifting and challenging. Looking forward to hearing "the rest of the story" in your upcoming blog posts.
Even the language of social media is new to those of us over 30! Expertise in social media is critical for success in today's workplace. Can't wait to read more about your journey.
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