Jenmy = Social Media Expert? Her?

I have a feeling that my title will never be “Social Media Expert”. Emphasis on the word expert. I think it’s a false claim. I heard once that in order to be considered an expert you have to spend at least 10,000 hours devoted to a particular field of study. That’s a lot of hours to spend on social media although I know a couple Facebook addicts out there (not me of course). I’m not claiming to be an expert in anything so take whatever I write in the next two weeks with a grain of salt. I’ll present what I have noticed so far and try to create a dialogue of conversation.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you can be a “Social Media Expert”. There’s so many websites out there such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to name a few. I could go on and on but would run out of space. Social media is evolving in the hopes of becoming more user-friendly but is it really? Every morning I wake up and check my e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and personal blog. Not to mention the other sites that I’ve set up a profile on but check on a bi-daily or weekly basis and the blogs I subscribe to. The more networks I discover, the more time I spend on them. Is it really worth it? I probably spend 2-3 hours in social media on a daily basis. Is that too much? I’m unemployed so I find myself using social media and the Internet as a tool to find leads and to research companies of interest. Emphasis on the word tool. I prefer to interact with people in person but it’s a way to generate job leads and connect with people in a more casual manner. How about you? How many hours do you spend? Do you think your time is spent well? What are you gaining through interaction with others electronically?

At the rate I’m going, I can become a Social Media Expert about nine years. I’ll be counting down until then.

Comments

[AL]

I agree with most of the comments on this thread. Social media websites are clearly an effective way to keep in touch with others; there are many people I have on Facebook that realistically I would never be able to track down without it. Whether or not these sites are a good, value-added use of time is debatable. I'm leaning towards yes; however, some of the newer social media outlets (i.e. Twitter) probably provide a level of interaction/detail that is at best probably unecessary and at worst potentially harmful.

[n_dawg]

It is interesting that when one discusses what social media is or how they've spent so much time clicking away at it (especially at work), few are incline to comment on the "media" aspect of social media. Communication has evolved (perhaps revolutionized) significantly with the advent of the Internet, and social media is a byproduct of networked advertising. Example:

Facebook initially started out as a electronic 'facebook' (a pictorial directory commonly found in American colleges of freshmen and/or the entire student body). If you had the opportunity to use Facebook when it was still in the early stages you would realize that it was simply an electronic directory of your classmates where you could leave whimsical comments on their profile pages.

AND THEN, Facebook realized that they could create a business model around this 'directory' (that happen to hold so much information that marketers get wet at night thinking about). And the rest is history - 'social media'; friends advertising to friends for company's goods and services. Muddled in this networking medium is carefully constructed (and many not so carefully) targeted advertising messages. These are not the little ads on the side of webpage, but the subconscious "hmmm John just used the iPhone application, maybe I should get an iPhone and be just as awesome as John".

So take it for what it's worth, the more you 'waste time' on social media the more you contribute to the next wave of marketing. Something similar, but not as profound as jumping on the bandwagon at the introduction of branded shopping bags. It is what is, I just wish companies 1) realize the significance of social media, and 2) know what the f' they're doing with it. Like a virgin doing it the first time, many social media campaigns are awkward and quite unpleasant, but with practice and thoughtful listening to their audience, marketers should be able to rock our worlds. Just watch out for the fake orgasms.

[CS]

Personally I try not to spend too much time on social networking sites. I have Facebook, but I don't read blogs (unless they're created by a friend), I don't have Twitter, and while I'm on LinkedIn, I currently consider a tool to be used in the future when I'm looking for a job again.

There is such a thing as sharing too much of yourself online and letting EVERYONE know what you're doing every minute of every day. For example, status changes on Facebook. I don't need to know you're currently hungry. Or that you're shopping now. NO ONE CARES.

I think Jenmy hit it on the mark. True relationships are established through face-to-face interaction or even through the telephone. While social media networks are a good way to intiate a conversation or start a dialogue, nothing is as engaging as seeing the person and engaging with something tangible versus virtual.

[Jason]

I find the interaction between various social media sites very interesting (e.g., your Facebook status is your Twitter update). I also find it odd how I don't feel ok with updating Facebook everyday but at the same time it's ok for multiple updates on Twitter. I think that leveraging many sites are once it pretty valuable in terms of reach and saving time!

[RKH]

I think that this is just the beginning of social media. What originally started off as a tool for people to keep in touch with former classmates, teammates, family members, and so on, suddenly became a tool to find a job and network (i.e. Facebook to LinkedIn). While this is just the way that our society is moving towards, I think that the most important aspect of this is balancing reeping the benefits of social media and protecting your own personal privacy. I know too much about some people, and I think that we need to take steps to educate young people on how to filter personal information - cause once it's on the internet, there really is no way to take it down.

[BR]

it's true, the value of what we get from social media sites is not well-established. I think that, for the most part, people use them more because they enjoy them and derive some value from that. Personally, I don't use facebook, twitter, my blog, or tumblr to 'network' in the business sense (although I could). Really I'm just passing on funny links or sharing pictures or talking about myself. More often than not it's a pastime rather than a tool.

[CS]

interesting thought... I think social media can be overwhelming. It is definitely taking over our lives...i.e...i am commenting on this blog while i should be working... I will comment more later. but keep up the good work!

[Bec]

What am I "gaining through interaction with others electronically"? A lot of information that I never really needed to know! I mean, don't get me wrong, I think Facebook and Twitter are great ways to keep in touch with friends or see what people you used to know are up to these days but it can all get way out of hand really quickly! If you are not careful you can spend hours scooping out the profile of that kid you went to elementary school with and at the end of it, not be any better off. I think the internet is a great tool for getting information like what a company is looking for with a certain job post or when an interesting event is going on but I agree with you Jenmy, person-to-person interaction can never be replaced by posts to a website when it comes to the value of an encounter or creating a lasting impression with a potential employer.