I think we all need a pep talk (thank you Kid President).
Social media has become one of the most abused channels of communication currently out there. Partly because everyone and their mother-in-law can post anything anywhere, for whatever reason. Another key reason is, people simply post anything with no quality check, or without any benchmark to determine what is lousy versus what is OK versus what is totally awesome.
Am I exaggerating? Let’s see.
Answer this (look at the various blog posts out there, not just the ones found under the banner of business publications who do their due diligence before a writer is accepted):
Out of 10 “guru” blog posts, how many really impress you?
How many offer a true “Aha!” moment?
More often than not, I find myself wanting more when I’ve finished reading some post.
It’s Called Social
for a Reason
Social media is just another channel of communication. Don’t believe me? This video makes it very clear.
But like any media (or communication channel), it gets abused by the majority and respected by the very few.
How abusive can this get? How much time do you have? 😉
The video below looks at the usual channels of communication any company uses and the abuses that have become the norm.
You see what I am talking about? Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you experienced the above assault.
And unless we raise the bar to create awesome material, insightful conclusions and worthwhile observations, we just let everyone down, because “the average” is reduced to a new low (and some of the great stuff that should be seen won’t ever get found).
The Other Offender:
A Substitute for Human Communication
Add to the above offense this other “social media” faux pas: the replacing of good, honest communication with lousy, automated rubbish.
Below is a pathetic example we’ve each run into at one time or another:
The lesson is don’t let technology dictate the outcome. You dictate the outcome and if technology can get you there, then more power to you.
That’s all I wanted to say.
In short:
- Let’s respect the recipient with quality material
- Let’s not unload a bucketful of mediocrity in an endless tsunami of crap, and
- Let’s not put some automated answer in place of what could be real, authentic human communication. (Automation is cool, just use it as a tool, not a crutch).
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