This is a guest post by Jeremy Chandler, social media director at Souls 4 Souls, a charity that collects shoes and distributes them around the world. Jeremy is all over Twitter and Facebook.
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Let’s go back a few years to when you first started noticing the potential social media could have (circa 2006). Back to the days when the idea of creating a community of friends in a digital world excited you. Remember the days you actually had to ask someone if they were on Facebook?
Social Media not only connected us with friends from high school and new acquaintances, but people around the world who shared our same interests. It was a new and easy way for us to bond together for something greater than ourselves. With social media, we had the power of a new collaborative technology to impact the world in a way we never had before. People were joining together on sites like Facebook Causes to partner together to make a greater impact in the world. And it was awesome.
Since then, there’s been a shift of sorts in the fundamental thinking about social media. As more and more people are getting into it, the less “social” it is becoming. Over time, the chance to become a social media rock star has captivated our focus & intentions. It’s become more about the “me” than about the “we”.
The problem is that we’ve forgotten what made these elements so intriguing in the first place.
Think about it this way, when someone gives you a compliment in front of their friends in person, you don’t repeat what they just said about you or pull them off to the side & whisper thanks in their ear. Yet, in social media, we are quick to retweet nice words someone has said about us or send them a direct message saying thanks. I’m just as guilty as the next guy.
When we stop being social, we lose what this new media is all about. We’ve forfeited an opportunity to make a real difference in the world.
There is still hope. Jon Acuff has worked hard to develop his platform, but decided to use it to make a tangible difference in the lives of kids in India & Africa. TwitChange is an organization that is leveraging the fame celebrity twitter accounts have accrued to help nonprofits increase their impact.
So what does this mean for us? As social media continues to develop, no matter if its Facebook or Twitter or Quora, may we never forget the reason social media became so popular in the first place, and carefully guard against forfeiting something bigger than ourselves to make our name big.
What advice do you have about guarding yourself from social “ME”dia?
Have you seen how social media has become all about “Me”?
