We live in a social media driven world that is connected at every turn yet in our everyday lives many people think that we have never been further apart as a people. We use instant gratification and over sharing as a means to escape our lives in ways that to our forebears would have seemed trivial and downright petty. Despite the down economy we are richer and have better healthcare than ever, but yet we feel worse and have poorer relationships than any time before. It makes you wonder where we went wrong.
Well here are my thoughts on it;
we forget there is another human on the end of the “line.” We need to start reflecting more on what we can do for our fellow man and less about where new toys are out or what someone is doing wrong. Even with the hard times that Americans have experienced we are still obsessed with stuff. Take a moment and unwind, unplug and reconnect with those who truly matter around us. It may be hard at first but give it a chance.
Social media should be social. It should be brief, and it should not be all consuming. Teach our children to play in the sunshine and to connect with others face to face. I know this sounds cliché and trite but it may just be essential to our survival as a species. Look at where you are and what you are doing – do not just forge ahead blind to the surrounding world.
Our social media should help us do this. It should help us help others. This help may be through services and products but let those services and products be useful and nurturing to all of us. If something is slowing you down don’t just toss it away. Look at it and see what else you can do to make it work and go from there. We give up much too easy nowadays when things seem to get hard. Use social media not as a dumping place to pacify this need to give up but as a means of shoring up to build strong foundations for creating the future.
Reach out on your social media channels and use them to inform, educate, and uplift rather than to moan, groan, complain, denigrate, etc. Those of us who work in social media or even interact on social networks through our business profiles have not only the opportunity but the obligation to help better the world around us. There are a world of great causes out there – why not pick one and champion it for a season? With four seasons you have the ability to help out four separate causes per year.
At the end of the day we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror and answer the question as to what we did to help out our world today. At the same time though, the public can look at our social network activity and answer the same question… Do YOU want to be the business or individual known as the one who doesn’t seem to care?
The old adage that sharing is caring still readily applies. That is what social media should be. Caring for the world around us. Do this and you will quickly see how successful your business can become.