Headspace
I’m live writing ths today, on account of not being able to write anything I’m really happy withh yet. I want to explore all these platforms and best practices, but some days you’re just not up to it, and it’s time to go back to first principles. It’s the philosopher in me. But I’m not sorry.
I’ve described social media as a space, rather than a tool, and there are days when that’s intensely apt. The notion that these beautiful spaces, where people confess their feelings and commit faux pas, where they double down and post pictures of their latest double double, are some kind of marketing tool like flyers or commercials is simply preposterous. We come to social media to laugh, to love, to learn, to bully, to confess, to shop, to smile and sneer and snicker and marvel. We come to connect. The reason marketers love it so much is because we can’t help doing it honestly. Our every remark, no matter how devious, betrays a bit of ourselves. It makes us vulnerable.
That is worrying, but also wonderful. This vulnerability lets us find new sides of ourselves, meet people and undertake ventures that we never would have otherwise considered. We can do this for good or for ill, and often do. Sometimes you can’t resist the snap comment. Sometimes you make a mistake, or say something the wrong way. Every person, organizatiion, and brand on social media is vulnerable. This is not bad, because being vulnerable is what helps you connect.
And if you didn’t come to connect, you can pack up and go home right now. Wander back to television, the newspaper, flyers, or wherever it was you came in from.
Don’t go, not really. Stay a while and listen. Learn about the people around you, what they like, what they don’t like, see pictures of their lunch and hear funny stories about their kids. Realize that they’re people you want to get to know, and appreciate the magnificence of their honesty.
Reciprocate. You have an unprecedented power to be honest with an incredible number of people, and it is that honesty, that vulnerability that will help them connect with you, not your books, lectures, or articles, but you. Take pictures of your lunch. Share stories about your kids. Tell bad jokes. This opportunity to know and be known to so many is your to seize.
That’s all I’ve got for today. Honestly.
