I have spent the past couple days learning how to use some of the tools we learned about in class. I have created a Twitter account. In starting my account, I had to create a new userID, put in new information about myself, find a picture that I thought was worthy of being shown to my classmates and then had to find someone to follow (that wasn't the professor). Granted, my internet connection was slow, but it took me forever to find new people to follow and be followed by. I couldn't bear to have one or two people on my elite Twitter following, so I searched for as many classmates as I had time for and finally settled for about 10 total. It took me nearly 30 minutes to establish my network and now I needed to think of something to tweet.
But I had nothing to say. Does Ryan care that I was going to pick up my car from being serviced? Does Andrew or Josh care that I played with my daughter after class? And I started to think, in the time it took me to establish my in-group of sorts, I could have gone for a run, read a book, or headed to the beach to go surfing.
So I have become curious, who has the time for this social media? How much does the average person spend setting up these profiles, finding friends, finding products or companies, how fast of an internet connection do they have, do they use a home computer mostly or a smartphone? Since I was curious, I searched and found an article about who uses social media ( http://bit.ly/9vnU3a ). It says 80% of Americans use social media, but can we better the process?
My experience with Facebook has been similar. It takes time to upload pictures, keep up with the multitude of conversations, accept new friends, find old friends, think about whether I want to stay in contact with the bully is high school who is now wishing me Happy Birthday because he saw it on Facebook, and then to think about what I want to tell people about my day.
Considering my experiences with social sites and the electronic world have been draining at best, is there a way to streamline the process? Have others had similar frustrations? Is tweeting and Facebook much more enjoyable when you have a mobile device that helps you to do it on the run? I am amazed that (according to Malcolm's post) people are willing to pay real money for property in a virtual world!
Just my thoughts. Maybe I am not cut out for the virtual world? But then again, I cannot be the only one. How do we better bring people like me into these realms?
P.S.- This is my first blog posting. So be nice!
I actually just ordered a smartphone and I can't imagine I'll be using twitter much until I have it. Most of the things I'd want to tweet about would be things I'm doing away from a computer. I don't find that I invest a whole lot of effort into social networking. I rarely spend more than 5 at a time on facebook, really. But I check in multiple times a day.
ReplyDeleteI think of those sites as more of an ongoing, casual conversation with "friends" instead of a blog which is a more content-heavy discussion.
In general I think my advice would be this: Think Less
Fair enough. But how do you persuade a customer if they only use it sparingly at best?
ReplyDeleteOn Facebook at least it can work to their advantage. I may not spend 20 minutes on the site but I still check it multiple times a day which means more page views and thus ad revenue.
ReplyDeleteYouTube videos are similar. I don't know many people who search videos out but when a friend posts one on facebook you'll take 4 minutes to watch it and the ad that comes with it.
I think there are two very worthwhile litmus tests. #1, did this social media save me time (e.g. can I plan a Facebook Event faster than I can call people and invite them IRL [in real life])? #2, did this social media enhance my real life (e.g. I had a great Thanksgiving last year - my friend Mary and I took a picnic to the beach in L.A., but the only reason I found out about her plans was through Facebook. That's definitely a value-add).
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people think about social media in the wrong way. These applications are nothing but tools - if you find that it takes too much time, don't use that tool or use it in a different way.
I think there are a few important points in this discussion that are worth highlighting. First of all, using social media takes time. People often talk about social media marketing as something that is free, but they forget about the opportunity cost of time. That said, as Malcolm and Ryan point out, over time you get better and more efficient at using it. You spend more time using the tools that bring you some sort of value, and disengage from the ones that don’t. I think this is the secret to a successful social media strategy: you start off testing many channels (so there is a large upfront cost), but over time you weed out the ones that don’t seem to have a positive ROI.
ReplyDeleteI have the concern that these tools are like toys. They are tons of fun when shiney & new. But what happens when you get bored of using? Could you really form a habit knowing in the back of your mind that others are starting to buzz about a new 'toy' (tool)? I know I'm skeptical, but the point here is more than that. It's time mgmt. Spending all this time learning a new tool and then switching to newer tools just to stay (or feel) connected seems ludicrous. I learned to use a phone, email, and in-person communication. As far as I can see these are valuable over atleast a 5-10yr period.
ReplyDelete