Of social wars, floods, and viral

Very recently I started working as a social media consultant, it’s a learning phase for me. So far I have been a UX and user research professional under the umbrella of e-learning and web world. And one of the key things that I feel in the world of social media is that compared to peers who are mostly in their mid 20s, I am somewhat experienced, or at least old enough to remember how things used to be before we were digitally tracked, consumed, and sliced to these social media platforms. I remember the times of the circular dial on a phone, the snail mails, the long queues to book rail tickets (forget air travel, that was an ultimate luxury), business relationships built through mutually-shared trust, and good will. The key was - The Human Touch. While I was in school there was no Facebook, Twitter, or Google.  There were no social floods, wars, or viral. We only learnt these terms as part of the course-curriculum. Wars were understood as armed conflict, flood was overflowing water that could wash away every possible form of life, and viral could kill thousands of people in a day when spread. You ask, what’s common?  It’s very serious because it involved blood, emotions, and life. School to College - As years passed by we got computers and that’s when I sent my first-email, the subject was ‘hello - test mail’, didn’t actually know whom to send a digital mail. Funny!  I graduated and got my first job in late 1990s, 1998 to be specific, and luckily it was an Australian company and hence they believed in technology to some extent. They started taking  orders, sales brochures, and customer service policies etc via a strange thing called ‘website’.  No doubt it was very efficient but I could have hardly realized it at the time that, we were creating a web between ourselves and our customers, and it would only become more tangled as layer upon layer of technology was wedged between the two. It was a one-way ticket! Yes, can’t ignore the fact that people dependencies reduced, error count went down, quality improved, it was faster and less time bound, was available at any time of day or night. Just like me, most people especially the youth was enjoying this speed, where accuracy reduced to computer keystrokes. Who could imagine that one day it will be a war which is bloodless, yet dense, and competitive. Coming back to the present, there were multiple posts all of yesterday, “Twitter renews war with Google over Google’s Search Plus Your World”. Multiple users wrote, “It's unfair to other services and it's unfair to people.” So, there is war, there is world, there are people, and yet it is bloodless, what’s missing is the soul. Doesn’t that seem ironic? Behind the Twitter avatars and Facebook updates, the text messages and the Skype conferences, people are the same.  They still want to be acknowledged. They want to be heard. They want to cut through that digital distance. They want to interact digitally to form a relationship. It is once again time that we as well as organizations come out of their shells, break the barrier and use the digital way to talk to the customers, listen to them, understand their concerns and respond and make them feel valued.  I believe those who will be the most successful will be those who can integrate technology into their interactions while maintaining the human touch. As I have immersed myself in this new “social media-professional” role, I’ve been noticing  some social media trends: Twitter: Among professionals, Twitter is becoming the holiest of holy. The exclusive and  elite. Its smart and creative. You can be witty,you can be cool, #YouCanComeUpWithCreativeTags. Twitter is the conversation. It is a world without the drama of Facebook and that’s where the juicy stuff lives. LinkedIn: Every day I receive new notifications from my classmates, and  ex-coworkers. It’s been a realization that we need LinkedIn while looking for our jobs, to network, and to stay connected without sharing personal life with fellow members. Facebook: No, we’re not leaving Facebook.  Whether we post updates or photos or not, it is a way to stay connected with all your old friends, neighbors, one evening strangers who become friends and you know you won’t get to meet them again. Too many photos, lame jokes, one liners, tags, names, events, birthdays… basically too much history together.  But we have also trudged through all of the constant change Facebook has put us through and frankly, it’s exhausting. But we still choose to continue posting our lives, and the trials on FB, after all it offers us a “family-friendly filter”. We love you Facebook! Google+ In one word, FAIL. Seriously Sad.  I don’t care about our  impact on SEO. I joined. Created “circles” and BAM no updates ever. Everything that is cool about Google+ can be found elsewhere. The new ‘Search Plus Your World’, hmmm.. too early to form an opinion if it’s time to board the Google+ train, or let it pass. As of now I’m happy without it. This is indeed a fascinating issue, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think, that to prepare for the new world, it means digital, digital, digital. Texting, Social Channels, Gaming, and Networking is not going to go away. Thanks to Mark Schaefer whose articles inspired me to write this post. And a big thank you to Shivnath (my supportive boss), Rajesh and Gaurav for helping me learn what I have learnt so far. Be Yourself, Stay Social, Stay Connected!