There’s been a thread of thought bouncing back and forth in my head lately. It stems from some conversations with a few different people as well as hearing the response from other individuals as they speak of and refer to a variety of social media platforms.
Many of my friends are aware that I’m active on Facebook, flickr, blogging, StumbleUpon, twitter, BrightKite, YouTube, Vimeo and a variety of other social sites. Many of those same friends don’t "get" some of them, while others they can see the value.
Most of the time people don’t get twitter. They think it’s only about updating everyone on the fact you’re waking up, eating a meal or going back to bed. If you’ve been using twitter for very long, you probably know it’s useful for so much more than that. I’ve already written about how it’s been useful for me (although I can’t seem to find the link to that post now).
Here’s the deal though, if you’re the type of person that’s not really interested in having a conversation with someone offline (aka the "real" world), then communicating with people via social media isn’t going to make much sense to you either. Even if you understand the potential, if it’s not your personality, I doubt you’re going to be active. For that reason alone, Social Media will NOT be the answer you’re probably looking for in business or even your own personal endeavors.
Don’t waste your time and ours by setting up accounts that will grow dusty with unuse and being ignored.
Similarly anyone can setup a blog, but not everyone will have the discipline to be a writer and keep that blog updated. It’s really no fault of your own, you’re just not interested in writing and you’re not interested in your voice being heard. I believe you can show someone how to write and what to write, but you can’t make them a writer.