Why I love social media

On this blog/website I have a page dedicated to detailing my experience with social media and how I can help people and businesses navigate various platforms. I realize that social media marketers can come across as robots constantly spewing buzzwords like SEO, consumer engagement, organic conversation and ROI that hardly make any sense or translate to social media’s concrete benefits. So I thought it would be helpful to know what attracted me to work in social media in the first place. It’s not just about marketing for marketing’s sake for me. Truth be told, I really love social media.

Connects me with my international family–My family members reside on five out of the seven continents which used to mean expensive phone bills. Now, I can communicate with them for free on Skype, Facebook , Google Hangout or text them on WhatsApp.
Great resource for jobs and networking–It used to be that applying for jobs was a slow and painful process. Now, NPR posts jobs on Twitter. This is great for them, because they don’t have money for recruiters or fancy marketing. Yet, Twitter is just as effective at getting them great job candidates. My favorite professional tool is LinkedIn. Not only can you monitor a companies’ hiring practices by following them, but you can see how you’re connected to a company you want to work for. There have been so many times that LinkedIn showed me that a random relative that I met at that one reunion had the hook up with an established company. But, just because the tools are virtual, doesn’t mean that there aren’t protocols and standards. Something I will cover in a future blog post.
Great for sharing ideas–I am a proud introvert that sometimes enjoys the company of other people. As a creative, I often revel in the excitement that arises from good face-to-face collaboration and I also dread the mindless dribble that can leak out out of bad collaboration. Tools like Google Hangout, Skype and Google Docs help me on all fronts. They allow me to interact with people in my own space, meaning I can be all made up on top while wearing my apple pie boxershorts (they do exist) on bottom, skip out on inane pleasantries, use the handy mute button when things get bad and feign a bad signal when I want out. Also, using Google Docs with other people is the trippiest thing ever.
Great tool for human observation, helpful to me as a writer–Facebook and Twitter has normalized stalking thoughtful people monitoring. I love to people watch and sometimes watching someone breakdown on Twitter is almost as amusing and beneficial to me as a writer as writing down descriptions of interesting characters in Union Square park.  The former strengthens my cultural awareness and the latter is a practice that not only gets fresh air in my lungs, but helps me sketch out complete characters as well.
Companies can be like your best friend and that’s awesome–I talked about how you can follow companies on LinkedIn, but Facebook and Twitter are the best tools that humanize companies effectively. This is great for them, because it increases band loyalty. And it’s beneficial to consumers because there are so many choices when it comes to products nowadays that choosing the one with the most humorous or inspiring tweets and posts is a lot easier than using a magic 8 ball.

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Check out my LinkedIn profile and get access to my accomplishments.

Follow me on Twitter and a bird will come to your window.

“Like” me on Facebook and the Smurfs will dance at your next party.