Am I Yelling?

While reading a recent on-line article, it pointed to a related video blog which I in turn watched. The video was very informative and I got a lot out of it. The thing that really stood out in it to me was a line that one of the people being interviewed used, "...using my social media megaphone...".

That started me pondering on whether I was "shouting" my message or simply sharing my messages.

I looked at my "me" folder under my favorites and counted thirty (that's right, 30) Social Media sites that I have accounts in, and that I keep updated. Incredible!!! Now I admit that some of these sites I personally deem more relavent than others. My twitter page, my Facebook page, my YouTube page and my LinkedIn page I find to be the most used.

But what about the messages I'm sharing in all my communities? Or the messages I'm seeing that are being shared?

Recently, I've had a lot of other people (especially those new to the Social Media world) comment to me about how they really don't understand and/or how they dislike certain posts they get. Examples given to me are how even the smallest things in a person's life gets shared: "Heading to get something to drink", "Well, off to bed", "Going to grab some groceries, BRB", etc.

Social Media is about having conversations, pure and simple.

Whether that conversation is a piece of wisdom, a great idea, a web-link reference post, a comment about history, news item, current personal event like a vacation/reunion, a blog, customer service & support, promotional item, asking a question, "how to", or simply "Hang on, I've got to go the restroom"...it's all a conversation. And just like in the real world where we interact face-to-face with people every day, there are sometimes things all of us would probably rather not have heard.

For me, I try to share items via my social media communities that I find personally interesting but at the same time I try to consider those I'm sharing with. Some of the posts I share are what I believe to be news worthy, some are what I consider humor, some are sad, some are reflective, some are targeted to a specific group within my community (for example my recent high school reunion), etc. I find most of my posts deal with personal branding, growing your leadership, growing your busines, or (hopefully) something inspirational. But I have, I will admit, shared some stuff that maybe made some of my community question their connection with me.

One that comes to mind was a twitter event of a hunt I went on earlier in the year. I tweet'd from the arrival in the stand all the way to the completion of the hunt. (But that hunt lead me to blog a message I thought important.) I've even tweet'd airplane flights from start-to-finish before (sorry everyone!!!). In the end I think we all grow into our "communication style" and people see that, it just takes a bit. I remember when I first started talking all I knew was "gah, gah, bah baddy blah boo" and stuff like that; but eventually I made it to the big time and put real words together to form real sentences and then on to tell real stories!!

So as I end, I have a few questions I was wondering if you'd answer for me:

What social media sites do you use the most?
What do you find to be the most interesting topics you see posted?
If you could pick only one social media site to use, which one would it be and why?
Does your work use social media to communicate and interact with your customers?
[Click "comment" below to answer.]

THANKS SO MUCH! And let me know if you think I'm yelling...

Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

[Note: photo from http://bobbycarroll.net/]


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