ARE FACEBOOK AND THE INTERNET GOOD OR BAD?

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She grimaced when she warned me of the risks of teenage girls being on Facebook.  I was attending a birthday party for my three year old grandson, Eric, in Atlanta.  The woman, who works with abused children, is a friend of my son.  She explained that older men get on Facebook, prepare a bogus profile pretending to be a teenage boy… gain the girl’s trust and make arrangements to meet…putting the girl at risk.  I guess this is what we see on Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator.  She said she would never allow her children on Facebook.

A few minutes earlier I had been talking with her husband.  He is a doctor who is currently doing some teaching at Emory Medical School.  He was telling me how the Internet has changed the teaching of medicine.  He said when students used to work in the emergency room; they would try to memorize the protocol for any given situation, but would have indexed pamphlets to look up information. 

 Now he says, the students whip out their cell phone, Google a question and are able to begin the treatment of the patient in less than five seconds. 

 So are Facebook and the Internet good or bad?  Well, the answer is obviously some of each. 

 Here I was visiting with friends and family 150 miles from home.  Much of my interactions and conversations were the result of us following one another on Facebook.  I’ve known my son’s friend, the doctor, since he was a little boy.  But only seeing him on occasion, what did we have in common? His first comment to me when we shook hands was, “I notice you are active in social media”…setting up our discussion. 

 I follow the pictures and postings of my daughter-in-law in Atlanta and her Mom who lives in Tampa.  I feel closer to both of them because of Facebook—and I imagine they feel a stronger connection to me.  That’s not a bad feeling.

 This is David Sher, your e-networking guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

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SOCIAL MEDIA–IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE

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I stepped into the shower at the YMCA after my morning swim.  There was an older gentleman there, probably in his early eighties, who I had seen at the Y from time to time.

He saw me walk in & said, “There’s this woman I see regularly in the pool.  She’s always so sad and wants to talk.  She tells me how lonely she is…that she lost her husband and has no one to speak with.  She then starts crying.  You can’t walk away.  You have to talk with her.”

Then he went on to tell me how important people are.  He said there’s nothing worse in life than being alone.  It was a sad conversation, but it reminded me the importance of making new friends and building relationships.

That is probably the primary reason I enjoy & appreciate social media.  I have friends I never would have had without LinkedIn, Facebook, & Twitter.    I share their joys, their disappointments, & their minor day to day problems.  I see pictures of their birthday parties, grandchildren, & happy occasions.

Many people tell me social media relationships are trivial & not relevant.  I disagree.  My partner, Phyllis Neill, found me on Twitter.  Last week I had lunch with a casual friend that had been strengthened through Facebook to try to help him work through his divorce.

Here are some amazing numbers.  It took radio 12 years to reach 50 million people; TV twelve years; the Internet five; the iPod 3 years.  And it took Facebook 9 months to reach 100 million people.

Facebook at the time of this post has more than 350 million members & is growing at the rate of five million members a week.  If it were a country, it would be the 3^rd largest in the world behind China & India.

Don’t underestimate the power of people.  And social media is all about people.  This is David Sher, your WeMentor guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

SOCIAL MEDIA–YOUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON IT

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I had lunch recently with a life long friend.  We hadn’t talked in a good while so it was great catching up. 

He asked what I was doing and I told him I was working with a partner, Phyllis Neill, to help companies make money using social media.  He didn’t have the foggiest idea what I was talking about.  So I set about explaining LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, you know, all the usual suspects.

I told him about writing a profile on LinkedIn, building up your connections, joining groups, answering questions.  I explained how he could make & build new relationships with Facebook, Twitter & blogs.  I was having the best time…when he stopped me in mid sentence.

 He said, “I know this sounds negative, but this looks like a lot of work & I don’t really don’t want to learn all this new stuff.” 

I had a quick flashback to my wife’s Mom who passed away a couple of years ago.  She lived in Florida & we’re in Birmingham.  My wife & I did everything in our power to try to educate her on using the computer & e-mail, but she resisted.  She kept saying, “I’m just too old.”

 Now, here I am, sitting across from a close friend who is actually a few years younger than me & he’s basically telling me the same thing.   

 My friend is a seasoned business person.  He has always learned & grown as times have changed.  Now here we are at the dawn of the biggest communications & business revolution since the introduction of the Internet, & he’s decided to give up.

 Social Media is not optional.  No one in business will survive without it.

 We will be invisible without the Internet.  No one will be able to find us on the Internet without social media.  This is David Sher your WeMentor Guy saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know.

TWITTER ON LINKEDIN – A GOOD IDEA GONE BAD

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What a great idea.  Now you can automatically post your Tweets to LinkedIn & vice versa.  But this upgrade has made a real mess of viewing status updates on LinkedIn.

I get great value from LinkedIn.  I enjoy Facebook & play around with Twitter, but LinkedIn is the one social media platform that helps me every day in business. 

LinkedIn lets me tell my business contacts what’s going on with AmSher & WeMentor.  My LinkedIn posts talk about our company honors, successes, and achievements.

The LinkedIn status updates allow me quickly & easily to review my first line business connections to find out what’s going on with them.  I learn about contracts they’ve signed, speeches they are giving, & other significant business moments in their lives. 

Now, because LinkedIn allows you to send your Twitter updates automatically to LinkedIn, the LinkedIn status updates are composed of random Tweets that may or may not have anything to do with business.  Posts such as, “Don’t like your Facebook friends, blow them up with Star Wars Death Star,” or “My neighbor is giving away cute cuddly kittens, but John won’t let me get one.”  Or how about, “I woke up this morning with a hangover.”

These posts may be okay for Facebook & Twitter, but are a real nuisance on LinkedIn.

Everyone seems to want to make one single entry & post to all their social media sites.  But this is a terrible idea.  What is appropriate for one platform will make you look like a fool on the other.  This change certainly has watered down the value of LinkedIn. 

There are occasions when one post works everywhere, but not always.  Try to use good judgment when making your posts.  Remember, the idea is to make a good impression.  This is David Sher, your WeMentor guy, saying it’s not what you know, but whOO you know