DISCLAIMER: Ok ok, so this is my first attempt at a “real” blog post, not counting the exciting days of logging my step-by-step movements in a LiveJournal (before that in a DeadJournal when I was 13 and “emo”) or venting about relationships on MySpace. I’ll give myself a B+ for effort and please, please, please (x10… million) give me some feedback on this attempt so I’ll know where to go from here!
I was talking with Nate Riggs last week about the impact of social media on relationships. Relationships that are made and kindled through the realm of social media seem to start abruptly, build rapidly and end much sooner than a relationship made in the real world. It’s neither good nor bad, it’s just friendship/networking in the digital age. But as I was laying in bed last night unable to sleep because I was thinking a mile a minute about the last Tweet I posted, the attendees of a Facebook event I had just created, the contents of my LinkedIn profile that needed to be adjusted, a text I had forgot to send and, most importantly, what the hell to write in this blog space (solution!)… I started to realize that social media makes more than just our friendships fly by… it brings our minds into simplified communication/information overdrive. Maybe that’s just me? I do have a tendency to get interested in something and take that interest a tad too far, but from looking at my online network’s pages, I don’t think I’m doing anything above and beyond the norm for the tech savvy. I guess the question is, “Are we really simplifying our lives by utilizing internet resources that allow us to connect and share with like-minded individuals with little effort, or are we attempting to forge more relationships and absorb more information than our minds, and time, can handle?”
I found this article by Greg Verdino about productivity versus innovation. He cites a friend who posed the question: “If we literally turned off all this social media/Web 2.0 stuff for a day, would business productivity soar? And inversely, would innovation stumble?”
My thoughts? Yes on both counts. I think the time I personally would get back from avoiding the intertubes for a day would allow me to accomplish a hell of a lot. I also think that I would learn, and think, a lot less without my influx of blog feeds and tweets. I guess balance is key here.
Greg’s post ends with this, which is I guess where I was trying to park this thoughtcar all along:
“But how many of us have calculated the cost of what we’re giving up — including productive work hours (says the guy who is blogging at 10:50 am on a Thursday) and quiet time to actually think about what you can do to make big things happen (says the guy who can’t seem to function without a four-tabbed web browser, two instant messengers, email, Skype and ooVoo all running at the same time)?”
In my case, I’m writing this at 10:24 in my office with 6 tabs open. None of which are work. Oops.
Thoughts?
I haz headake.
UPDATE: In this article I read today in Business Week about Twitter, a study at the end from 1992 by Robin Dunbar notes that, apparently, ” humans—like other primates—can handle only 150 relationships. If we try to add many more connections, our little brains get overloaded.”
Interesting… according to this study, I would be so brash as to oversimplify… social media = bad.
missbanshee says:
I live for social networks, and I am completely blown away by the people I have gotten back in touch with. As someone who is on medical leave and not working right now, it’s my lifeline. However, if I had a desk job, I don’t think I’d get a whit of work done. It’s a fascinating subject, to be sure.
Aug 12, 2008, 2:36 pmDemetrius says:
You make good points. I know that I find myself spending more time worried about my social media than just naturally “being social.” My google reader has almost become a job as I go in 1-3 times a day and slice through the wheat and the chaff for what usually amounts to 5-10 interesting things from the 200 posts.
The thing is, this setup indulges my most base desire to constantly switch tasks and I wouldn’t trade it in for something I’d consider mundane.
Aug 12, 2008, 2:37 pmStephen Tiano says:
My inclination is to say that it’s oversimplifying and not instructive to make any blanket statements about social media. That said, I can relate to being stuck sometimes about what to blog about.
The jury is out on twittering, however, although I am coming around to seeing how it can absorb a lot of time. The thing is, if I am going to use something to avoid doing work I need to do and being productive, I think if there were no social media gimcracks to distract me, I’d surely find something else.
Finally, I must also admit that I’m beginning to find that tweeting is allowing me to make contacts with potential value to my professional growth.
LinkedIn I’m less sure of, as keeping score on number of connections has captured my attention.
And there’s not time enough in my day to use any other social media and still work.
Aug 12, 2008, 2:48 pmNate Riggs says:
Great post and questions Cheryl. I believe we are witnessing a major shift in the way that professionals and regular friends communicate.
If you remember back to child hood and the days of collecting baseball cards (for me anyway), there can be very similar comparisons made between the two hobbies.
Social media allows you the opportunity to interact with your collection. You have the stats and background info, and the ability to communicate is made as efficient as possible. I would argue that social media allows us to shave significant amounts of time off of each interaction, while allowing the ease of responding when it’s convenient - taking into consideration that the majority of us spend a daily 6-8 hours sitting in front of a browser, it makes sense as a communication channel.
On the flip side, now we are faced with so many social networks/blogs/micro-blogging sites/book marking services, et al., that it becomes nearly impossible to keep up with the chatter.
Two ideas -
1. Some groups of savvy internet entrepreneurs are working on robust aggregation SaaS tools that will allow users to pull their various networks together, as well as create master profiles that can be pushed to populate different profiles. No idea when it will become a reality, but that will be VERY cool.
2. In the meantime, choose your social media outlets carefully. Think quality over quantity of online presence. It’s better to do a few really well, than to be a member of everything and have a weak personal online brand.
Also - In case your interested, here’s a link to a recent LinkedIn answer I posted on the subject of using social media for business purposes.
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/marketing-sales/business-development/MAR_BDV/293676-26233319
Aug 12, 2008, 6:18 pmCheryl Harrison says:
Stephen: I agree with you that even if it wasn’t web 2.0 distracting me from my never-ending to-do list, I’d find something else (currently playing Sudoku on my cell phone… lalala…) but I just have this notion in my head that I’m actually benefiting from every hour I pour into these sites (versus cell phone Sudoku) so I think I put a bit more into them than I probably should. I’m working on striking the balance . LinkedIn and Twitter are my current two favorites, for sure, but I would also highly recommend Facebook, especially since they just revamped the site to include features more like a FriendFeed in addition to being an excellent networking platform, and also since a lot of professionals are now using it versus just college students (the original wave of Facebook users are now young professionals.) It’s definitely not as time consuming as the other two, also, unless you make it so.
Nate: Sadly, I can relate to your analogy, only with ::shudder:: Pokemon cards, haha. My own analogy: When there were 150 Pokemon cards I had them all, mostly first editions, too, knew all of their stats and was a pro at the game. Once they started making hundreds more though it became really hard to keep up with which cards were the best (and I wasn’t 11 anymore and had long since gotten a life.) I guess that’s how I feel right now about social media because until about 6 months ago, I was only “collecting” MySpace and Facebook like every other bored teenager. The quality and range of the social media game has definitely improved, but I’m just trying to pick which Pokemon I need in my deck right now and rank them according to attack points… or something. =)
Aug 12, 2008, 7:23 pmAlexM says:
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Aug 12, 2008, 6:42 am