What’s Next Now

Used by people reluctant to engage in social media

There was a short thread over at the LinkedIn Web 2.0 group that answered this question.  Here’s what I wrote:

From a business perspective, Twitter is as much (or more) about actively listening as it is about providing “follow-worthy” content, links, concepts, etc. There are numerous google-able examples of how active listening on Twitter leads to business wins, particularly in the customer service area. I’ve personally gotten big wins with Embarq and Comcast through Twitter… and I’ve tweeted to the world their praises afterward! I also landed my photographer a wedding gig by responding to a tweet.  So, the “win-win” scenarios are particularly interesting with this cool new social tool.

I want to follow people I might do business with locally, those I might learn from, globally, and those who appear to fit my prospect/client archetypes. Toward this end, I use various Twitter tools and mashups like Twellow and TwitterLocal (and about a dozen others) to find people to follow. Last week I attended my first “Tweet-up” and actually met face to face with several of the folks I’ve befriended on Twitter (including the bride of the aforementioned wedding).

My friends need to get this stuff, so I’ll keep prodding.

I’ll get around to discussing treatments for those who suffer from Social Media Avoidance Syndrome (SMAS).  I wonder if these are the sorts of folks who decided about a hundred years ago that they didn’t ever see the need to have an automobile because the horse suited them just fine.

Sharon Stinner who writes about boomers on the Internet at Examiner.com makes a good point in contending that we are actually shifting from an “unnatural” set of communications practices back to a more “natural” set.  We’ve gotten away from some of the vital pieces of human interaction that make society and culture cohesive and instead have, in large part, allowed ourselves to be told how to think by purveyors of one-way communication processes.

No wonder the print media can’t seem to get its footing in the social media landscape!  It runs too much against its grain.

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