How do You Take Your Social Media?

It’s almost ceremonious.

Sitting at a meeting, I watched Dave fix his coffee. He opens and pours in a packet of sweetener. Stirs. Opens and pours in a container of hazlenut creamer. Stirs. Folds up the sweetener packet. Inserts it into the creamer container. Opens and pours in sweetener packet two. Stirs. Opens and pours in a container of half and half. Folds up the sweetener packet. Inserts it into the creamer container. Stirs. Drinks.

My way? Pour in some milk first, then coffee. Drink.

Everyone has their own way of fixing coffee. Dave’s approach is almost a ceremony. Mine is quick, fast and simple.

I’m finding that just like coffee, everyone has a preference for the way they like to take their social media.

How do you take your social media?

A bigger question: What kind of social media tastes good to you?

While Dave’s coffee wouldn’t taste good to me, my coffee wouldn’t taste good to Dave. Yet, we both like it and fix it the way we want it.

Here’s a collection of recent social media observations, each tweaked a bit to be almost real. How does each one “taste” to you?

Preserving High School on Facebook

Setting: Cell phone store

Situation: Getting sons cell phones, which took too long.

Conversation: While Missy explained how the phones worked to the boys, her co-worker, Greg, showed me his Facebook notifications on his cell phone. “I have over 200 friends on Facebook. Almost all of them graduated with me. Here’s a prom picture somebody put up today. I remember that night. Doesn’t it look like we were having fun? Oh, look – the comments are coming in.”  Missy starts complaining about how her mother lives on Facebook. I think about how my high school past isn’t present on my Facebook, yet for my kids Facebook is an always-on high school connector.

Reaction: Did Greg’s class graduate or are they still stuck in high school? Son two is standing behind Greg making funny gestures. Son one is asking if he can update his own Facebook on his phone. Is Missy friends with her mom?

Pre-programming twitter

Setting: Phone conversation

Situation: Meeting Kim, exchanging information and networking –  in checking out their online persona while we’re on the phone, their twitter stream is mostly automatically generated promos with link to one site

Conversation:  “I know they want you to be live on twitter, but I don’t have time for that. So I programmed updates in for every two hours.” Kim tells me.

Reaction: Are you a robot?

Giving Your Keys Away

Setting: Marketing mixer

Situation: Tom’s talking about how he manages social media interactions

Conversation: “I found a virtual assistant who finds articles and updates the links so that it looks like I’m sharing good information –what a time saver!”

Reaction: What do you think?

Being Real About Not Being Real

Setting: twitter

Situation: a thank you, from me via a reply on twitter results in this direct message: Hi! I’m just a feed from the ______ group – if you want to talk to real people then join us here: linktogroup

Conversation: hmmm . . .

Reaction:  Feeling funny about talking to a “feed.” How would you feel?

What does your social media taste like? Instant, fresh-ground, sweet, bold, bright, on the rocks?

What I love about social media is: you can make it be whatever you want.

Here’s the caution: social media is what you make it.

Carrying on the Conversation: Your Turn

How would or do people engage with you? Do you listen to people who talk at you? My favorite: do you have a body – do you know who’s in it?