With the arrival of the Facebook IPO, people are saying the social media bubble has arrived. Valuations are through the roof. Some who used to be skittish about social media are jumping on the bandwagon in droves. The future has arrived and it looks like Facebook.
But where has social media really taken us? Is it truly everything we hoped it would be? Is it all noise and mindless blabber? Is it nothing more than photos with inspirational sayings? Is it a popularity contest? Are businesses growing as a result? And more importantly, are people connecting in meaningful ways?
Or is it all just collective naval-gazing?
Having written the book on Twitter, literally, I have had a bit of experience with social media.
I signed up for Twitter in May 2007, just over five years ago and have over 74,000 followers.
I signed up for Facebook in May 2006, a brief six years ago. Today I have over 13,600 fans to my page.
I'm not sure when I joined LinkedIn, but it has been a while. I've got over 7000 direct connections which link me to over 18,000,000 others.
And I hopped on Google Plus early in the game. Over 17,000 people now have me in circles.
With all this connectivity, you would think that my social media influence would be quite high, wouldn't you?
It's not. At least not the way I see it. And there is a good reason for that.
I've not really used my accounts much over the past year or so.
Sure, there is the obligatory facebook post for friends, link to article on one of my sites on Twitter and controversial article on G+.
But I have a confession to make. Over the past year or so, my interaction on social media has been quite sparse. Due to other priorities in my life, I've just not done much to create and build relationship.
One day next week, I am going to conduct a social media experiment. I'm going to spend the better part of the day posting, liking, tweeting, commenting, plussing and interacting on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. It's going to be an all-out social media bonanza.
I'm going to track my activity and watch how my stats change as a result.
Does liking other's posts cause them to pay more attention to yours?
Does retweeting give you brownie points in the eyes of the community?
Will an authentic hangout session get you added to more circles?
These and many more questions will be explored as I dive in head first to a day of total social media immersion.
I won't announce the day, but it will be obvious for those who follow me.
I will be posting results of my great social media experiment after I've had a chance to evaluate the data.
Will I have more friends? More interaction? More followers? More circles?
The only thing I can say with absolute certainty is "I don't know."
How about you? What have you found to be the most successful social media strategies to find a larger audience and deepen relationships? Please feel free to share below and stay tuned for the GSME. (Great Social Media Experiment, for those who are acronym-challenged.)
I've got you beat on twitter followers. But you know the reality is, you do have to interact to get any benefit out of social media.
this is why this social media craze has created a few jobs in that companies will hire people to run their social media.
But, I think that while there is potential there, it is just like anything else - It will work for some but not for others.
This seems to be the way with everything in life, doesn't it?
I also have twitter moments and facebook attacks mainly on my movie review site but it does require discipline and focus and I have seen little tangible rewards. Some people seem to make money though.
Hi Joel,
I wonder if the stats you get from your upcoming social media extravaganza are going to meaningful in the real usefulness of social media. I've been thinking about this a lot over the past year or so, and I'm still convinced of two things:
1) Social media has enormous potential as a force for social interaction and maybe even as a tool for social and economic development, and
2) None of us can see the forest for the trees yet.
I think your experiment will be very interesting but I'm dubious about the scope of the meaning of the data it's going to give you.
My suspicion is that social media is an organic outgrowth of the world's collective consciousness. As such, our understanding of it is going to evolve as that collective consciousness evolves.
Just my $0.02 worth...
Ron
Joel, It goes back to quality over quantity. Will the names. Convert? At outsource live now. How about a morning dance party to get your blood flowing.
Ralph
Just remember Joel, one day of socializing does not make for a relationship. What's the other saying?...Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Anything worth doing well takes time and nurturing. So...don't expect much. You're "experimenting" with people and it seems your goal is NOT to create and maintain relationships, but to determine whether or not you can make money from social media.
To me, making money with social media means to socialize, socialize, socialize, socialize, socialize, SOFT SELL, HARD SELL, socialize, socialize, socialize...etc.
Hi Joel
I talked about this on my blog last week and will post part 2 on Monday and would like to put your link in there also, that is if you don't mind.
I don't have anywhere near as many followers as you, but do find myself everywhere and overwhelmed. I agree with Joe Nykoluk and you make one point yourself when you said,
"But I have a confession to make. Over the past year or so, my interaction on social media has been quite sparse."
My question is, At what point does Social media/marketing turn into just Marketing?
When it comes to social media, maybe less is more...
I would be very in interested to see how it might affect SEO Rankings. Link your effort to one of your sites and see what happens to your rankings :).
I agree with Joe Nykoluk. Love the people not the money. In Jesus' name.
That is one perfect way to get me to follow you Joel ;) not that I didn't want to of course LOL.
I'm looking forward to your experiment and its results. I agree with Joe, though---if you do this experiment for a day, expect very little in terms of long-lasting beneficial relationships.
But I bet you get a flurry of activity!
I think I need to be clear about something. I am not conducting the experiment with a business mind-set. I am aware that relationship is primary, so that will be my objective.
Call me an old fart if you will but I never did catch the social media bug. Privacy concerns, wasted time and all that crap. I'd still rather go to forums that are dedicated to my interests and niches. In fact some posts in forums lately have been saying they are deleting their Facebook accounts. One post had a video that said pedophilia groups are invading Facebook and other social media sites because apparently it's easier for them to find their victims. It said this is being reported to Facebook but Facebook is allowing it to go on. It has to be reported to the FBI before Facebook does anything about it. The main complaint is that Facebook is not taking the initiative to prevent it. The hyped Facebook IPO today is not taking off as it was expected. General Electric has said it will not advertise on Facebook anymore. A possible IPO flop? We'll see. That all said I'll be interested in the results of your GSME Joel.
Well you know with the edge rank- you will have people back on your radar- if you like and comment on their things- some people will come and see what you are all about or see what you are used to... RT's should get thank you- and +1 should get a return something... to me its like real life, if you walk past someone and speak- typically they will speak back!
@gioperation
please get back my face book account adel_gambe@yahoo.com adel anjeia facebook name please....