The Social Side of Social Media
Welcome to the present era of social media, voiceless interaction with the overwhelming amounts of information held at our fingertips. I think we've all known or accepted that, increasingly over the years, social media just isn't that social anymore. There's a lack of sincerity, a lack of opinions being shared for fear of being shut down, a lack of real communication. Hell, social media platforms have even recognised this. No longer are we intellectual individuals capable of sustaining meaningful dialogue, we are simply "Followers".
On a more personal level, we even have averse attitudes when friends try to communicate with us over these platforms, wrongly thinking "what does he/she want?". There's a plethora of negatives, and this article seeks to remind its readers of the simple interactions we can take on a daily basis to put the social back in social media.
Remedies
Sincere Interactions
This simply encourages you to go beyond a "like". If you find a post that truly inspires you or even encourages argument then let that restrained opinion across. Don't feel like you're obliged to do this publicly, even sending a private message helps to express your standpoint. "Likes" are definitely convenient but never let them replace the strength of your voice or views.
Keeping in Touch
A straightforward action but severely underused. In my opinion, this was (or should've been) the original goal of social media platforms. Keep in touch with family or friends that you haven't seen in a long time. You'll be surprised at the significance of leaving a little message for an old friend to see.
Converse through Social Media
Consider conversing through social media and not on it. I'm an advocate that SMS texting should be used for one of three reasons: To schedule a meet-up; to deliver a purposeful message; or to follow up with a phone call, similar to leaving a voicemail. You should apply the same principles to devices such as Facebook. Conversations over these messaging mediums can actually lead you to miss out on the important elements of real communication. Albert Mehrabian and Susan R. Ferris argue that 93% of communication is actually processed through nonverbal actions such as gestures and body language. You can find a summary of their work here. While a debated figure, it does highlight how difficult it is to express feelings and emotions over the internet.
Hold that conversation over some coffee.
The real aim of this post is to try and inspire thoughts of community, whilst also acknowledging that social media currently dominates a large part of our lives. So to compromise, I'm arguing that you should view Facebook and other Social Mediums as a way of interacting with your community, rather than a simple news feed. A little change in mindset can go a long way!
Have any thoughts on the article? Any social interactions I left out? Get your views across in the comments section!
Original post on BreakBeyond.net
