Why I'm Sick Of Social Media II

Image by: BCB

Apparently, if responses on this site and on twitter are an indication, many readers weren't too happy with my decision to limit --note the word limit, not abandon -- my use of new social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as a handful of others.

And judging by the number of thumbs down, they weren't too happy with comments – supporting and cautionary – made either.

So, I have to ask myself why. It's not like I said social media was evil or should be completely ignored. In fact, I said the opposite: that it was a good communication tool that was being used too much and often for the wrong purposes.

It seems that reaction was divided into three camps, which probably reflect larger divisions in the modern information world.

In one camp were the cultists who see social media as some kind of new world order, probably like the hippy movement of 40 years ago. They are usually dismissive of anyone who questions the movement or any aspect of it and often see naysayers through a generational lens.  

In another were the "conservatives," for want of a better word, who tend to see social media as just another form of communication. They also see communication methodology as a matter of personal choice. I put in this camp someone I know who will never converse with anyone unless it's in person or by telephone. Extreme, perhaps, but certainly more manageable than multiple conversations.

Finally, there is a group somewhere in the middle that sees the effectiveness of social media and most other forms of communication for certain purposes but isn't  about to abandon old ways just because they are old.

I'm probably in the last group because information flow is my business. I spend 12 hours and sometimes more every day finding, assessing, curating, and producing information, for myself and  clients. Since the overriding objective of any information transfer system is to deliver it efficiently and effectively, it seems to me that personal likes and dislikes are a very large factor.

I design information systems for a living, so the Sick of Social Media post was also an experiment of sorts. I wanted to see how deeply people plunged into information in the age of social media. Okay, it was hardly a master's thesis, but as a quick test, it was interesting.

My suspicions that many today are only skimming the surface as the river of information swells were confirmed by some of the primitive responses put forward. Some people clearly reacted only to the headline even though I completely subverted it in the first sentence.

But what surprised me was how many people actually read it all the way through and then produced cogent and thoughtful responses.

That tells me that we don't have too much to worry about even though, for many, social media is creating a kind of information maelstrom in their lives.

People are adapting and learning to handle it in their own way.  

• Tags
  • tony wanless, 
  • Digital, 
  • Social Media, 
  • Marketing and Communications