“If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on the fence and watch the birds.” — Wilbur Wright
Today at BEA, I came across several folks who felt compelled to tell me they did not Twitter, did not Facebook, did not DIGG and did not much “cotten” to social media one bit. In fact, they said, they weren’t ever going to use it as they thought it was a giant waste of time.
They also were worried that social media and all this exposure might not be safe in the long run because social media involves one sharing real information about one’s life.
Remember when people only used typewriters to write news stories? Remember when the Wright Brothers were chased home by bigger kids flapping their arms and laughing at them? Remember when candles were the only source of light?
We’re in that kind of place with social media. I think the term itself may be throwing folks off because perhaps it is the word “social” that scares the heck out of us. My question is, “Why should it?”
“Why would you want 14,000 people following you?” Let’s think about it, if you’re a book author and you’re carrying 4000 books you’ve got to sell and you suddenly come upon a literary gang of 14,000 book lovers blogging, Tweeting, Linking, and Facebooking toward you - are you going to run the other way simply because they’re being too social?
Would you turn down an opportunity to have a virtual community of buzzmakers who read and relish every page you’ve ever written just because they happen to be Tweeters?
My Great Aunt Florence used to say, “If you’re too clever for your own good and you can’t spin a good yarn, then pretty soon no one invites you for fried chicken on Sundays anymore.”
Don’t be too clever about social media and all that you know it will not do for you.
Just pick one tool and use it. See what happens. Who knows? You might find one day, you’ll be virtually sitting at the head of a beautiful Sunday fried chicken supper surrounded by your very own large, powerful and beloved online community.
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