Ink Inc. Media Relations/PR

Dick Grove

Social Media Has Made Us One Big Community Again

06.13.10

But many of the doors are now locked…

I come from the Midwest and grew up in a place and a time that symbolizes both in fiction and reality a simpler way of life and a more trusting way of life.  It’s actually true, you know, we knew most of our neighbors…the good ones and the bad ones…by their first names.  Communication technology was so advanced when I was a kid in that small town that most families even had a telephone…only one of course, and centrally located in a foyer or main hallway.  We even knew the local operator by their first name and she (yes, sexism was rampant at the local telephone exchange) would listen in, as all of us would periodically, on a party line to catch the latest gossip.  “Party line”…that’s similar to an online forum for you folks of less advanced years.  And it’s also true that locks more often than not went untested and unused.  It wasn’t a matter of naïveté’ but rather of trust amongst us that our neighbors within the community wouldn’t breach our privacy.  And if the need to do so arose, there must be a pretty damn good reason…not for their personal nefarious gain but usually for our own safety or protection.  We actually looked out for each other in those small communities.

But that was a long time ago in a place now far away.  Communities are no longer defined by geographic and cultural borders nestled against a river or mountain or seashore, and held together by a common goal of common interests, good will and advancement.  Communities in today’s Social Media age are virtual without physical borders.  And while still bound together with common interests and advancement, good will isn’t a key element any longer except as a courtesy to not impede the advancement of the common interest or knowledge.  Facebook, Linked in, Twitter, et.al. are the new “hometowns” of everyone, everywhere…hundreds of millions of human beings connected with other hundreds of millions of human beings sharing everything from the mundane of pet food recipes and relationship gossip to the importance of intricate technological formulas and global business strategies…and literally everything in between.  Staggering! .

And “privacy”…well ironically that’s gotten a little more complicated.  On one hand on the personal side we can’t wait to reach out and expand our network of relationships with others of similar interests, goals, and commonalities.  But to do so, we must by definition relinquish that same information to the Internet abyss as the bait to attract others to join our community network.  But isn’t that the point of using social media to expand and grow your community…to open ourselves up?

It’s on the business side however where the irony of social media privacy is even more prevalent.  Networking as a business tool is as old as social mankind itself.  Learning of someone or something new from another is the very essence of building or maintaining a successful business. I believe it’s called progress.  And obviously one of the real business advantages of the Internet and social media in particular is its networking capability.  Why then if networking is so important to success, do so many businesses and business executives decide to go “stealth” i.e., make themselves difficult or impossible to contact by others that might greatly expand their business acumen?  It’s like locking your door with a triple lock within the business community you’ve chosen to live.  My favorite is the private email or non-existent email address…but with an added layer of an old-fashioned receptionist gatekeeper to keep it even more secret.   Or on Linked in for example, one is forced to play a game of “Six Degrees of Separation” just to hopefully make contact…not to invade someone’s privacy but to simply network for positive results.

Modern technology…the Internet…social media…If you’re going to enjoy the benefits, get used to a few inconveniences.  Even in a small town in a time long ago, we knew that hiding was a dumb way to grow a community or a business.

Categories: Grove Report

Tags: pay-for-performance, pr marketing