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3 Truths About Social Media

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3 Truths About Social Media

I hear the rumbles every time Facebook makes a change. I’m going to quit Facebook. I like Google+ way better.

And just like that, bloggers everywhere are ready to drop one of the most popular social media networks. Not because their readers have abandoned it, but because the bloggers themselves are fed up with it.

I shake my head and smile. Next month they will be frustrated with the new social media network they’ve chosen, because no one is on there.

The truth is, social media is consumer-driven. It is all about the relationships you are building with the people who are already there. And you can’t have social media relationships with your readers if you abandon the place they like best to hang out.

Of course, when it comes to complaining about social media, it’s not only Facebook that gets the blame. Twitter isn’t conversational any more. Everyone preschedules their Tweets: no one is ever really “there”. And too often, the negativity is what drowns out everything else. But as Christian bloggers, we need to lead the way in shining Christ’s light in social media as well as everywhere else we go online.

Here are three truths about social media to remember when we start to feel disillusioned:

1. Social media is consumer-driven.

It doesn’t matter how many fabulous posts I make over at Google+ if my tribe isn’t there to read them. The first rule of choosing a social media network is to find out where your readers are, and go there. Social media is about where the consumer is, not about where the producer would rather be.

When the majority of my friends and family are on Google+, then I will consider hanging out there more than Facebook. But maybe your tribe is on Twitter and never hangs out on Facebook. Perhaps LinkedIn is where you need to be making contacts. Or it just might be that those up and coming Google+ users are the readers for you. Wherever your readers are, go there. But unless they are techies, don’t expect them all to follow you somewhere new: another social media network is the last thing most people want.

2. The purpose of social media is to build relationships.

No matter which social media network we’re on, we need to remember the primary purpose of social media is about building relationships. It’s not about getting the most likes or the greatest interaction as judged by a computer: it’s about the real interaction of conversation and relationships.

Yes, it behooves bloggers to be good stewards of their platforms. It’s a good use of time to study Facebook marketing techniques and best Twitter practices. But no algorithm can measure the eternal heart-impact of a Facebook post. No graph can show the value of relationships formed through social media.

3. Social media needs good leaders.

What social media really needs is good leaders, who will do what they wish others would do, right where they are at. Miss the conversations that used to happen on Twitter? Bring them back. Feel like no one is sharing your Facebook photos? Share the photos of others.

No one wants to listen to a whiner. Negativity isn’t going to generate more likes, and complaining about one social media network isn’t going to gain you follows on another. Let’s raise the bar for the content we’re creating and sharing. Let’s set the standard high for our social media posts. Let’s lead the way in being positive and “doing unto others” right where we are in social media. 

Tweetables:
  • 3 Truths About Social Media – to remember when we start to feel disillusioned (Click to Tweet)
  • Social media is consumer-driven. (Click to Tweet)
  • No algorithm can measure the eternal heart-impact of a Facebook post. (Click to Tweet)
  • Let’s lead the way in being positive right where we are in social media. (Click to Tweet)

Comments

  1. Love this so much! Very much the social media version of “be the change you wish to see in the world”…just swap out world with “Twitter” and we’ll be good to go 😉 And what a relief to know I don’t have to be everywhere on all platforms for all people. My tribe is on Twitter. I’m pretty awesome at Twitter. I can “do” Twitter 🙂

  3. I’m just getting my feet wet in the world of social media + blogging (have done both but never really made the connection between the two until recently) and the thought of adding another platform in addition to Facebook and Twitter….who has the time? I am thoroughly enjoying the relationships I’ve built/am building online, although I’m going to have to adjust my expectations. It’s hard to be best friends with a hundred people, but I have a feeling that over time it will become clear that there are some with whom I have a more obvious deep connection and others with whom I simply have a friendly online relationship. Does that sound harsh? I don’t mean for it to be that way. All those relationships are important, not just the close ones.

    And I love this: Be the change you wish to see in the (social media) world!

    • No, that doesn’t sound harsh, Kim–it’s just the reality of the online world. Good for you for realizing you can’t be best friends with everyone, because it’s so true. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin!

  4. Good words, friend. Love this- “Miss the conversations that used to happen on Twitter? Bring them back.”

  5. I so agree! I’ve been one of those frustrated by social media and all the pre-scheduled updates. But it is also through social media that I’ve met the most beautiful encouragers and made lasting friendships. Good advice on hanging out where most of our readers are!

  6. Totally agree. For now my tribe is on FB and Pinterest. It doesn’t make sense to spend my limited amount of time where my peeps aren’t going to be.

      • Thanks.

        So I was pretty tired when I read this before and couldn’t formulate a good comment, but now that I’ve had a nap…

        This post really encouraged me because Facebook is really my love as far as social media goes and i’m on Twitter and Pinterest simply out of obligation as a blogger. In all honesty, I joined Twitter because it seemed like the “it” thing to do among bloggers and at least there some of the “big name bloggers” at least tried to interact with people in ways it seemed like they didn’t in other places. And I joined Pinterest because one of my best friends raved about how great it was for her stats (even better than facebook!) Well I haven’t found either of them to be that useful for driving traffic to my blog (I might get 2 or 3 hits out of each of them per day) or found them to be helpful to me in building relationships with people. I feel like Twitter makes it hard to follow conversations and even though I’ve read tutorials on all of the big social networks, none of them really work for me in the way Facebook does. I even deleted my google plus account.

        I suppose I could take more time to pour myself into the newer (for me) social networks and try to forge more connections, but I simply don’t have the time. So mostly, while I share all of my posts on Twitter and Pinterest, that’s about the extent of what I do there. And I have felt blogger-guilt about that for a long time (like I was doing it wrong somehow).

        But, when I look at my content, it seems that Facebook is the place where my readers are, so this post encouraged me that it’s totally okay to focus my attention there. So thanks!

        • Oh, thanks for coming back to share more of your thoughts! Really appreciated your comment.

          I hope you can lose the feeling of obligation and just be where it works for you! Facebook is still where my tribe is, too–as well as Twitter. 🙂 But it’s not like you have to be there, because if you have readers on Twitter, they will likely Tweet your posts for you!

          One interesting point about Twitter–I’ve heard it’s really hard to tell how much of a referral source it is, because of all the URL shorteners and such–it never shows all your sources as Twitter.com.

          Thanks again.

          • Oh wow. I didn’t know that. I use the wp.com URL shortener because it gives me a shortlink with every post. I didn’t know that that might not count as a twitter referral! Interesting stuff!

          • I know, I use Buffer for my Tweets, and of course, even on Twitter.com now they are automatically shortened. With so many different shortening services, that’s going to drastically impact stats. Wish someone could come up with an Analytics filter that would show us all the shortening services together!

  9. Thank you!

    Apparently that’s all I can think of to say. Not very conversational! Oh, well. 🙂

  10. Yes! So true. I love this: “No algorithm can measure the eternal heart-impact of a Facebook post.” That’s why we do what we do, isn’t it?

  11. Gretchen, these are such good points. I’m saving this post to reread the next time I want to throw my hands in the air and tell FB “I’m DONE with you!”.

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