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.