This is a post I've been meaning to write for awhile -- a tweet this morning prompted me to action.
One of the cliches of social media is that most of it (the content) is meaningless--"Having a coffee" or "getting haircut" or a video of a cat. I've often found myself repeating these cliches (I talk this in my book) and then at the same time have noticed I do the same thing. Hmmmm.. The book is about marketing, and written from the perspective of using social media in your marketing program. But the Social Web is bigger than that -- it's for "people" and sometime marketers are "just people" too.
As background, I have a home in Austin, TX but also live in New Delhi, where I now spend most of my time. As I've been talking with other people about this experience, and thinking back on extended stays in Spain in the early-mid nineties, it has become apparent that Twitter, in particular, has become something of a social anchor for me.
How so? Consider that my family is in Texas, and I am currently in India. As well, I travel frequently to the Bay area, to Boston, and other cities. Three weeks ago, for example, I returned home from Delhi, two days later was in San Jose for SES and visiting friends, the following week spent a day with Community Health Systems in Nashville, and am now am back in Delhi.
If my experience in each of these cities were truly separated--if the only forms of communication between people depended on physical presence or postal mail, for example, this type of travel would be potentially unsettling, in a social sense. Yet, it doesn't feel that way. largely because of Twitter.
No matter where I am, I flip open my G1, and a big part of my social community is right there. This is not to say "as a replacement of my physical community, or "3D friends" as Beth Harte calls them. Rather, it's an augmentation, and one that becomes important as we become increasinlgly mobile. Twitter gives a me a place to unwind socially, to talk with people I've gotten to know about ordinary things (other than work). This in turn brings an apparent cohesiveness to my social community, one that is quite stabilizing for me.
It surprised how important and valuable this had become. I'd love to hear about your experience: How are you using Twitter?
I am playing with my dog.
and so on. Till last week, it was not clear to me whether Twitter has any application in real life or not. It just seemed to me as another medium of distraction. Last week I read an article on Mashable, that proved to be an eye opener for me. Few days back I was in a book store just to see what's hot. My sister picked a book on Social Media Marketing. It was your book. The research I did last week proved beneficial to me. I now realized what is Twitter and how it can play a big role in business promotion. Still, I feel the need for expert help to learn how to use these tools effectively.