The Social Media Skeptic….Changing My Mind

A few months after I graduated from college my friends were all signing up for this new site called, Facebook. In the early days of Facebook, you were required to enter an .edu email address to sign up. Since I recently had my .edu email revoked, I was forced to look over my roommate’s shoulder at her Facebook page and also started a MySpace page. After a year or so, I stopped looking up high school classmates, old boyfriends, posting pictures of my weekend adventures out at the bars, and let my MySpace page die. At that time Facebook and MySpace were nothing more than a way to keep in touch with my friends who had been scattered across the U.S. after graduation. I believe most people have had similar experiences with social media sites, you sign up for one or two, use them for a few months, and the novelty deflates.

Four years later, .com email addresses being accepted on Facebook, the evolution of Twitter, the purchase of my iPod Touch, and this little widget called “share” on almost all websites, has changed the way I use and view social media. In addition to these changes, I switched the industry in which I worked and am now managing an ecommerce site. My use of the outlets has evolved from keeping in touch with old pals, to keeping in touch with industry information and as I call it “continuing industry education credits”. It is like taking a 10 minute class each morning on what is new in my industry. Who doesn’t want to know what is affecting the industry in which they work? Why would I wait for my industry magazines to come in the mail, when the same writers are blogging once a week? Every morning I log on to my NetVibes account, view my Twitter account, Facebook page, read through any new blog posts, and respond to any questions or comments.

The evolution of my perception of social media started with two people, Derek (Authority Domains Director of Social Media) and Barbara Walters. Yes, the 79 year co-host of The View and famed interviewer, Barbara Walters. Derek hammered home the notion of gaining invaluable industry knowledge by being an active social media user and the generation leads from having a social media presence. Occasionally, when I feel the need to listen to five women talk over each other for an hour, I watch The View. Over the past two months, Elizabeth Hasselback, Sherri Shephard, and Joy Behar have been talking about Twittering. They have finally persuaded Barbara Walters to start Tweeting. Whoopi just starting flying on airplanes, so they have a ways to go with her. If a 79 year old career woman is Tweeting, I am definitely behind the curve.

Three weeks ago I started simple daily Tweets, a Facebook Fanpage for the ecommerce stores, located a few interesting bloggers in my industry, and setup my NetVibes page. The total setup time was not more than 30 minutes. I was nervous, and thought ‘what do I have to say to the world and what can I really learn from these outlets?’ My answer after three weeks, there is a lot I have to say and so much more out there that I can learn and grow from. Beyond keeping connected in my industry, I am learning more about my customers and how to involve them with our Fanpage and following the companies whom we purchase from. I have already had people contact me with new products for the site, in addition to finding out about fantastic promotion ideas.

My girlfriend’s like to poke fun at the fact that I tweet and keep up a fanpage. They consider it to be ‘an over load of information’. They ask me “Why do I want to know what Ashton Kutcher ate for breakfast?” My response is, “don’t follow silly people.” If you connect with quality people and the right businesses – you will see the real power of social media.

A former social media skeptic –

Janel

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