My Tedious Relationship with Social Media

This was authored several months ago, but I wanted this to be my first post on yet another socially-enabled platform.

Do you smell that? Don’t know what it is? It’s some fresh air permeating the Internet now that mid-term elections are over. Politics led me to this post but it certainly doesn’t end there. As a marketing and communications professional, social media is a big part of my world. By virtue of my clients, I need to be involved. My business mandates that I spread my message across the social medium. In my personal and family relationships, it’s a great way to stay connected with people I wouldn’t otherwise see or hear from. That’s a bonus.

I’m not one to take away from anyone or anything that changes the world, and social media has certainly reached that level of notoriety. It’s accomplished some wonderful things, like democratizing publicity and the sharing of content. It’s reshaped the way world events are communicated and reported, and that’s a positive. It’s empowered different segments of society around the world to express a distinct voice without filters. These and many other attributes of social media are all wonderful achievements.

My gripe, however, is the downside of all this empowerment and equalizing of voices. It’s turned us into a quivering mass of attention seeking, unfocused, self-serving and ultra-fickle troglodytes. I’m guilty and you are too. *(Uh oh. Here comes the forty-something management-type that has a righteous opinion about everything, and can’t get his bald head wrapped around Grumpy Cat. I’ll bet you he’s a Republican. I’m sure he drives a BMW. No way this guy is on Ello.)

Hear me out before you roast me in two sentences on Twitter, please. I don’t want social to go away. In fact, I want it to evolve into something more meaningful and impactful. It will without assistance, but I think the masses can help expedite the maturation process. I also believe it’s one brush stroke in a much bigger painting — and here’s a list of things I like to keep in mind as we wander into the social future.

We have no idea what the rules are

Just like the technology that fuels social media platforms, the governments and laws of countries around the world are completely unprepared to handle the intellectual property, defamation, licensing and criminal implications of what’s going on. We need to strongly empower (and fund) industry and government consortiums to establish rules that can cross borders, give latitude to test those rules, and provide a framework for evolving them over time. Today, it’s reactive legislation. That needs to shift direction and get ahead of the curve.

Fact and fiction

Social platforms need to monetize somehow, and sponsored ads and content are logical first steps. What’s not clear is the line between unfiltered, filtered and sponsored content. That needs to change, and quickly. Think about the volume and velocity of opinions that are expressed every day on social media. Now correlate that to a global audience with a dwindling attention span, and little interest in validating what they’re reading or seeing. This is a recipe for disaster over time, requiring a better system for labeling content — not filtering, but labeling. It’s time to start thinking about what’s genuine.

We need fragmentation

Ah yes, the “race to one million”. Who can launch their social platform and get users fast? Is my valuation at $1b yet? This game will change, and it’s already started. The venture capitalists and private equity folks have realized there’s more to social than user counts. It’s a key metric, but the business model is getting more refined — and the ability to leverage an audience is more important. Social sites like Ello, and others tailored to a specific community or market segment, will flourish and we will support them. It’s human nature to gravitate towards like-minded people.

Personal accountability

Human beings are just that, and we all violently believe our own bull. But what we’re missing is the long term implications of what we’re saying on social. It’s not going away. It’s there, forever coloring both cyberspace and the way others perceive you. People need to start applying some plain common sense to what they’re doing on social. If not, we’re diluting the common denominator value by orders of magnitude.

We need thicker skin

The impersonal nature and anonymity of social media seems to liberate the worst in all of us at times. And, because of this, we are all too frequently treated to content that agitates us — either in disagreement or insult. I think the basic issue here is no different than any school playground. You can’t expect to be in a public place, voicing a public opinion, and not expect to see or hear or read something that doesn’t fit your views. Remarkably, there are a ton of social media participants that seem to think they shouldn’t be exposed to it. You know what? Grow up and change the channel.

Accepting the bigger picture

Social media has changed the world, but Moore’s Law is accelerating at escape velocity. Technology is changing the way we interact with everything, including each other. Let’s face it, the human experience is being altered the way it always has been. It’s not about social media, the next great smartphone or the latest uprising in China being fueled by peer to peer messaging. It’s about dealing with change in the context we’re given, and being collectively smart about what we do with it.

*For the record, I am definitely forty-something. I vote across party lines based on candidate. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and yes, Ello. I’m not bald, and I don’t drive a BMW.