Jeffrey was in agreement with Gladwell’s stance on social media. I am not. Not completely, anyway. In the interview, Gladwell says, “People aren’t spreading ideas on Twitter, they’re spreading observations, perhaps.” I strongly disagree with this statement, for several reasons, and this statement particularly had me thinking because at the time I was preparing to give a presentation on social media at Duquesne University on this very topic — how businesses and entrepreneurs can use social media as a PR tool. You know, PR, public relations – a form of communicating ideas.

First, some background on Gladwell. He does not use social media himself. In his words, “There’s only so much you can do in a day. And I don’t feel I lack for platforms for expressing myself.” No social media? That’s one strike. His books, if you’ve never read them, can be summed up as statistical sensationalism. I first read The Tipping Point about seven or eight years ago, and while it was a very good read with some compelling arguments, I was disenchanted with Gladwell a few years later when it was apparent how easily his arguments can be disproved. That’s two.

And Google “Gladwell full of shit” and see what you find.

But the point of this is not about whether Gladwell’s populist books are bullshit, but about whether his opinions on social media have any substance to them.

And I think it largely depends on your experience with social media and how you use it. If you only use Twitter to tweet that you’ve ran a mile (big deal), or eaten strawberries with creme fraiche for lunch (who cares?) or to send a link to a music video (that one is in question), than no, you’re probably not spreading big ideas. You may be, however, making connections with people on a small level — the same as you would in the office chit-chatting about nothing – your lunch, your exercise habits, your interests.

But do you consider this statement an “idea”: “A friend gave me some really good advice. ‘Your self-esteem can’t depend on other people.’ I keep thinking about how true that is.” Is that advice or an idea? I don’t know, but it made me think. And it made me think about a friend I have that could use that very same advice at that moment, so I sent it to her.

Or what about when I make apolitical statements on Twitter, only to be bombarded with people telling me how I should form my opinions or how I should or shouldn’t vote? I do this quite often, mainly because I like to hear other people’s opinions, especially when I can’t make up my own mind. They are spreading their thoughts and ideals directly towards me. And I should note, these aren’t random people, they’re people I have come to learn and know and respect, mostly from their writings, but also due to having listened to their ideas over time.

Or what about this scenario: Local Pittsburgh Blogger, Secret Agent L, uses Twitter and she also blogs about all the good deeds her crew of secret agents are doing. She’s recruiting more good-doers and encouraging people to “be nice, no exceptions!” . In fact, local t-shirt company, Wear Pittsburgh, has recently made a t-shirt for her, further spreading her ideas about how to treat others.

Also, take this very blog post as an example — if I hadn’t seen Jeffrey’s tweet about the Gladwell interview, I never would’ve wrote this post spreading MY ideas about social media.

That said, if you’re simply posting what you’re doing on Twitter and not getting in on conversations, or just using it to read the news, no, it’s not a vehicle for spreading ideas. If you’re only using FaceBook to login every few weeks and see what your friends from high school are doing or where they went on vacation this summer, no you’re probably not spreading ideas.

But if you’re using social media to meet people, make connections, learn, and share — hell, yeah you’re going to be integrating yourself and your thoughts and your opinions and your mindset into that mix. Will it be a big deal? Maybe not to all of your “fans” or “followers”, but even if it’s to one or two, you’re making a connection.

Which brings me to “friends” and “followers” — I much prefer the name “followers” over “friends”. I have several “friends” on FaceBook that I haven’t talked to in over 15 years. These are not my friends. I am not delusional in thinking I have 160-some friends. “Followers” on the other hand, can mean anything, but I’m also not delusional either in thinking that my followers are following my every tweet. I bet only about 5% of them do. And this is where I can say I probably do agree with Gladwell, and especially Jeffrey, on some level. But 5% is 70 people, and those 70 people, the ones I interact with everyday online, the ones I see at “tweet-ups”, or even in the grocery store, do have an impact me on me, at least on some level, and they do own my heart.

Jeffrey made a good point in his blog post about the number of followers or fans you have not being a very good metric for success,  ”marketers are using antiquated metrics to measure online ’success’. The bigger a network gets, the easier it is for true communication to break down.” That’s true – the more followers or fans or friends you have, does not make any big difference — it’s how you communicate with those people, how you engage them, and how you respond to them that is going to have an impact. I’m down with that.

And maybe 140 characters isn’t quite enough to spread ideas, but it’s enough to start conversations. And maybe the conversation only starts on Twitter, but it branches off to deeper discussions via other social media vehicles such as blogs, which can then be linked to from other blogs and then tweeted about or re-tweeted about. Or maybe that then encourages other people to write about the same idea on other places on the Internet, such as articles, and wikipedia entries, and who knows what else, but the point is — of course we’re spreading ideas because we’re COMMUNICATING.

That’s right. Social media is a form of communication. And, yes, while the platforms (MySpace, Friendster come to mind) may come and go, the connections are still made, conversations are still had, and people still learn from each other and share with each other. It’s very simple really — of course you can spread ideas through social media, the same as you can spread ideas through everything else you say and do.

Social Media and Your Heart is a post from: Clicks Internet Marketing in Pittsburgh, PA

I also met some really great people, including people I’ve been following on Twitter for a while, but haven’t had the privilege of meeting in person like Lauren Lawley-Head of the Pittsburgh Business Times, Jeff Schroeffel of Pittsburgh Internet Consulting, and Chris Chris Dilla, owner of Bocktown Beer and Grill.

And I met some great NEW people like Megan Burns, Rich Wilson, and Salene Kraemer, who was even live-tweeting during the presentation!

Here are my slides from the presentation:

I hope to make it back next year, and to possibly partner up with Paul Furiga again on another Social Media & PR seminar.

Social Media & PR – Seminar & PowerPoint Slides is a post from: Clicks Internet Marketing in Pittsburgh, PA

If you are a heavy Twitter user, and you are a fan of the meme, #followfriday, raise your hand. If you didn’t raise your hand, I believe it’s not because the meme itself is a noisemaker and a complete waste, but the way people are USING it, is sometimes…well, annoying.

You see, #followfriday is like a tribute – if you really like someone’s tweets, in particular, you pay tribute to them on a Friday, by telling all your followers that they should, too, follow this person.

This is much like social etiquette IRL, in that if you tell a group of friends they should also be friends with your new friend Sally because she just installed a new home theater, of course they’re going to welcome Sally into the group, and become friends with her in hopes of being invited to her next Super Bowl party. And Sally is going to be grateful to you for hooking her up with all these new friends that she wouldn’t have met without your help.

However, if you introduce your group of friends to 1,000 people at once and tell them to be friends with them for no particular reason, your current group of friends is not going be able to keep track of all those people, or have any good reason to befriend them. Likewise, the 1,000 people that you are trying to introduce won’t get any real value from this introduction, and therefore won’t remember you or have cause to be thankful.

Here’s a case in point:

This person has listed (two tweets in a row!) all the people he feels are worthy of following. But what good is this doing anyone? Where is the value?

Here is another example of #followfriday, but this time the person tweeting is giving a good REASON to follow someone on Twitter:

In this example, @thehrgoddess has accomplished a few things: First, she’s established a reason for following @ldguymn – for the great leadership content of his tweet.

Secondly, she is using two memes, #leadership and #followfriday, to get her name out there for people who follow the memes. (After all, that’s how I found these people, I wasn’t following them initially!)

Thirdly, she’s established a direct one-on-one connection with @ldguymn, because he can see that she singled him out. His reply?

So ultimately, as we all know, Twitter is about building relationships. This is just one of many, many ways to make the most of our experience.

What are some other good uses you have seen of #followfriday?

Stop Chirping and Sing a Song, Twitterers. is a post from: Clicks Internet Marketing in Pittsburgh, PA