Getting Liked, Followed, Connected to Those That Really Matter

(A look at how social media moves the boundaries of personal and professional relationships: Blog 3)

Much of our current generation clambers over itself to get found and followed, without truly knowing the meaning or relevance of actually connecting with an audience that matters. It’s all just too easy to get seduced by the latest media trend, money maker (scam), or numbers game. Lost in the gimmicks of new technology or the persuasive words of non "experts." There is always a perceived "formula", and those that evolve quickest, with ruthless efficiency and focus, are the ones that make a difference. They rapidly adapt to changes that spawn opportunity, and via appropriate networking, transparency and mutual respect, stay ahead of the predictable hangers-on that scrap for subsequent crumbs. This is our culture, it’s whatever instantly gratifies and works. It’s less effort that way.

Opportunity and innovation get pushed and pulled in every feasible way. Make money, make friends, make noise, it all gets so tiresome and unbelievable. Such that when it has no substance or worth, it dies quickly and everyone moves on to the next big thing.

It seems we care less about respect and charting a course to prosperity, and more about being present, in someone’s face, shouting to be heard over one another, regardless of what "stuff-and-nonsense" we have in mind. We want to be heard! But we don’t seem to care who’s listening.

There is a clear difference between the way current and previous generations look at society, work and play. Private or public, office or home, work or leisure... Everything is now merging into one. But take personal, face to face contact away and it is so much easier to be brave, loose tongued, challenge authority, disrespect experience and mock guidance. Take away social and professional responsibility, now the corporate world and society at large has a much more volatile environment in which to try and leverage/nurture knowledge experts.

We have to use our knowledge, humor, skills per se, and project them to people that actually understand, and want to be engaged. That is fundamentally how we get found and followed. There is such an overload of digital media, overrated and spewed from every outpost of the information superhighway. In that regard Google and its beloved Panda had a point when they went after all the bamboo.

Being a difference maker in social media circles is tough. With so much regurgitation and dumbing down, what’s unique? Where is the integrity and trust? Being Liked, Found and Connected to people that really make a difference hangs on our capacity to digest, then discard or articulate information appropriately. That is true of all professional or social networks, we should be looking to command respect, confidence, and rapport at all costs. Wider reach and diversification to other audiences will come once we establish these core principles. Genuine and powerful like-ability, following and connections come from our ability to innovate with social media while harnessing the most effective technologies as the platform of choice. Where it helps, embrace it, where it hinders, kick it out. Empower and engage, and they will come!

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Photosani

Series

• Blog 1: Nobody Really Cares About You!
• Blog 2: The Visual Display Unit Has a Lot to Answer For

The Visual Display Unit Has a Lot to Answer For

(A look at how social media moves the boundaries of personal and professional relationships: Blog 2)

Whether at work or play, society is increasingly getting drawn into a culture of staring at screens each and every day. Whether it be a PC, TV or Smartphone, all the time we're wired up, connected, sucking in a world of digital "reality." This creates constant distractions that can have a paralyzing effect on our productivity.

Why is that? Well, governments, media outlets and major corps are very savvy, especially when technology provides the platform to reach into every facet of our lives. Then consider the power of these beasts when coupled with social media portals. Their collaborative superpowers create a sense of self-fulfilment for us, but it is negligible, if not fake – power, wealth, security, a sense of being? Maybe, but it’s so easy to get distracted and not leverage them for your own success.

Ask of everything, what value does this truly add to my life? I’m not 60, but what happened to the good old fashioned pleasures of taking time, sitting and relaxing, talking face to face, walking in fresh air... what’s the point of all that!

Don’t in any way believe continuous technological advancement is destroying society... of course it isn’t. We are taking the art of work and play to new mediums, wider audiences, more appropriate groups of friends, colleagues and associates. Never before has the knowledge base and communications network been more powerful. But we do have to appreciate, what’s the point FOR US? Where should that thirst for success - however YOU wish to define it - find a balance with health and well being for our own greater good? Whether that is as an organization, professional, family or friend.

Be dynamic, be creative and don’t cut corners or try and short change people. Show a common courtesy, voice opinion with articulation and authority. Not just for the sake of it or without substance. Knowledge dissemination is about understanding what makes sense, and that talking – not shouting – to the right group of people is paramount. Be real, earn respect, keep things natural and on-point. Expand your network, sure, but do so on the fundamental proviso that it makes sense in the grand scheme of your professional or social endeavours. There are enough guru's out there that frankly are not. Don't fall into the trap, go off subject or try and fit your square peg into a round hole.  Case in point... Flashy term – Guru! Gosh we have a lot of those in our midst. Love them all for trying, but how many content "experts" from the Philippines truly know how to perform root canal surgery or provide hands on experience of the iPad3 - before it's even been released!


Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Mihai Simonia

Series

• Blog 1: Nobody Really Cares About You!
• Blog 3: Getting Liked, Followed, Connected to Those That Really Matter

Nobody Really Cares About You!

(A look at how social media moves the boundaries of personal and professional relationships: Blog 1)

Social media plays an increasingly large part in our lives, that fused with technology has taken away much of the personal, tactile relationship building which enables people to prosper. However, because of this fusion nobody REALLY cares about you! It’s simply about what you bring to the table.

It’s that "what" they care about. That "what" is your knowledge. It is what it is, because technology and media reach has evolved to such a degree that they now rule many of our daily actions. People believe far too much of what they read, and scrap amongst one another to be heard…

... in a sense that’s such a shame. While digital media is good for many reasons, the trade off is considerable. We have eliminated much of the need for personal contact, built on good old fashioned values. To the point where now, who and what makes a difference has shifted the boundaries of corporate and community success. Professional and social networks become all encompassing or marginalized, "expertise" gets freely banded around, in a web of virtual diatribe – there is a huge void between what is believable and what is not.

Put your ego aside for a minute and ask - what do you offer? Do you make a difference? Intellectually, financially, emotionally? This is a relatively new dawn for technology and media, but it has become a breeding ground for skepticism, regurgitation and dilution.

Social media started off hot, and has now reached melting point. As a result, a new breed of worker must manifest. The problem is, because of technological shifts, today's culture and lifestyles are merging and changing completely the concept of relationships. Driven by a heightened sense of impatience and intolerance we get bored quickly, flitting from one thing to another. We don’t see things through and as a result rarely feel completely satisfied.

It’s all about instant gratification; we want and crave it, now, now, now. So we chase time, money, lifestyles, that are evolving and even disappearing before our very eyes. As such the corporation and community must be agile to changing pace or direction. Gaps in knowledge can be bridged, but loosely and without depth, loyalty or genuine buy-in. Knowledge is more transitional, based on diversity of need and troubled economic times. To succeed we must be transparent and collaborative.

Employees too have to evolve quicker than ever. If only because technologies and their gambit of uses increase by the day. There is a huge difference between the psyche of a knowledge worker in 2012 and that of their counterparts 10, 5, even only 2 years ago. Skills are morphed, competitive choice is in abundance and we can very easily get lost in the crowd. So we must adapt and embrace, being patient, focused and driven. That is some balancing act!

We want a work/life balance, we want all the trimmings of fun, empowerment, wealth, but we also want more, more, more! Of everything! It’s time to take a step back and decide if you are effective and add value to the professional and private lives around you. After all, nobody really cares about YOU!

Photo Credit: Dreamstime.com/Katrina Brown

Series

• Blog 2: The Visual Display Unit Has a Lot to Answer For
• Blog 3: Getting Liked, Followed, Connected to Those That Really Matter