SAFUN

I joined the San Antonio Social Media Club a few months back but hadn’t had the chance to attend an event yet. Today was my first breakfast event. It’s basically a meet and greet and then you will have a guest speaker to discuss a topic of interest. Today, Luis Sandoval (@pandaran) spoke about how to manage all your social media tools. This is key because there are so many platforms out there and it can be so overwhelming to try to keep up with everything. You don’t want to just join everything and simply have a presence but not be active, that defeats the purpose of social networking. They key is finding communities that give you the most bang for your buck. What are you trying to accomplish? Answering this question should help you find the communities you want to be a part of. Not everything is for everyone and it is imperative to recognize this or you will find yourself wasting your precious time messing with something that brings no value to you or others.

Following the speech, there is an open forum for Q&A. I noticed that people still struggle with understanding the purpose of Twitter. Companies don’t want their employees wasting time on these social media platforms. That is not a Twitter issue. That is a company culture issue. If you breed a bottom up culture, a culture where your customers are the star, a company where your employees feel like entrepreneurs – Twitter is an open door opportunity. Those companies that aren’t accepting Twitter are leaving that door closed because they are too scared to see what is on the other side. If you aren’t on Twitter, your competitors are.

I think I hear Twitter more often then I hear the word Google nowadays. Did you Twitter it? instead of Did you Google it? Remember in speech class when your professor would count the number of “um’s” you would say and knock off points from your grade respectively? It would be interesting to track down the number of times we say “Twitter” everyday. Twitter has been mentioned in the news more often and it’s hard not to wonder, what the heck is Twitter and why do I need it?

Let’s take a step back and talk about social networking in general.

I happen to work in the IT Hosting industry, for PEER 1 specifically,  and we speak Geek. We are constantly updated on the latest technology and latest internet trends. In some cases, these are our clients (YouTube, WordPress, GreenPatch) so it’s hard not to notice, and in other cases we use social networking to connect to clients. We are consumed by the Internet because quite simply, we run that **it.

I have to admit, when MySpace came out, I didn’t embrace it. I didn’t understand the purpose. Why do I want to post my favorite TV shows or what my salary is? Does anyone care? And if they do, does that make them my friend? I just didn’t get it.

As social networking has evolved, there are now multiple avenues for you to take.  This is what I use and why:

Flickr – Share my photos. I love taking photos (recreational purposes) and enjoy sharing my photos with others.
LinkedIn-  A must have for a business professionals. In my opinion, it replaces business cards.
WordPress – I blog because I enjoy writing. I find it to be therapeutic. If people happen to enjoy it my posts, awesome!
Facebook – Connect to family, friends, and colleagues geographically disbursed. Rule of thumb: Keep it simple and only accept people that you will say hi to at a restaurant.
Twitter - I find Twitter to be a way of sharing your thoughts, ideas, opinions, valuable information so that you can inspire, empower, educate or motivate others – in 40 characters or less. And you get the same in return.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. Actually, not really.

I have always taken photos. I have always uploaded them to my computer. Now I just take one simple step and upload them to Flickr to share with my family, friends, and other photography enthusiasts.

For LinkedIn, you only really update this profile when you change positions or companies. Same reason when you change your business card.

I try to blog when I can. I have always loved to write and have kept personal journals, now I just keep it on all on my computer and publish entries to my SAFUN blog that I think others might enjoy.

Then Facebook is my hub. Flickr, SAFUN (my blog) and Twitter all feed into my Facebook account.

So what’s this Twitter thing again?

The definition Twitter gives is:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter actually saves a lot of time, depending on what you use it for. You are able to connect to tons of people in one simple “tweet” (140 characters or less).  Rather than sending a mass email,  a mass text or going to all your favorite websites to find updates, or visiting forums – Twitter is a one stop shop for all of this.

It did take me a while to understand it and embrace it. The thing about Twitter is that they really left it up to the users to figure out what Twitter is for within these simple limitations:

• Tweets can only be 140 characters or less
• You can follow whomever you want
• Whomever can follow you if you have a public profile (you can make it private if you wish)

People might say, well I don’t care when “so and so” is going to the bathroom. Well, don’t follow them then! You are in control of who you want to follow.

I follow a variety of people from locals  VisitSanAntonio, MySA, SACurrent and even local reporters so I can find news out before it hits the new stations. I have found out about so many cool local San Antonians doing great things such as Jennifer Navarrete, Sam Lerma, Nan Palmero. I would have never found out about these cool individuals until Twitter.  I also follow people and companies within my industry. I follow our President and First Lady Obama! What better way to get real time information on what our government is doing? oh and what Michelle is wearing   I follow to get information, to get inspired and to have a few laughs in between.

The other question is, do you need Twitter? Well, that is up to you to decide. You can choose to follow a bunch of people but you might wander, what do I have to say to others? Do they really care? You’d be surprised. The power of the people is enormous. I truly believe that there are more good people in the world than bad. If we can join forces together and connect to more people and share positive messages, I believe the world would take a turn for the better. It sounds cheesy but that’s what I truly believe.

Tony, CEO of Zappos, is one of the most followed on Twitter and was an early adapter. I think he wrote the best article on why he uses Twitter. Here is an excerpt but please read the entire thing if you are interested:

For me, it comes down to these 4 things:

1. Transparency & Values: Twitter constantly reminds me of who I want to be, and what I want Zappos to stand for
2. Reframing Reality: Twitter encourages me to search for ways to view reality in a funnier and/or more positive way
3. Helping Others: Twitter makes me think about how to make a positive impact on other people’s lives
4. Gratitude: Twitter helps me notice and appreciate the little things in life

I know it can be overwhelming. I just think that as new forms of communication come along, they will replace old forms.  And if you choose not to embrace Twitter or other forms of communication, I don’t think it’s any shame on you. Quite honestly, I’d prefer to spend more hours in the park on a sunny day then on my computer. The way you balance your life is your choice. But remember, if something great happened in your life or if you learned something new, share it. People need to hear all the goodness that happens so they can see light at the end of the tunnel. Even if it’s simply telling others that your kid just hit a home run at his Little League game but ran from 3rd to the dug out instead of home.  It’s the little things that move us the furthest.

If I made someone smile, laugh, or even allow them to think about their own thoughts – I have done my job.

Here are some of my “Tweets”

Our Product mgr just passed by me with 3 bottles of wine in his hands. He says “It’s not what it looks like.”

Making Tilapia. Couldn’t find the Thyme. @jbartels says “just look at your watch” – So silly but we couldn’t stop laughing.

Why pray and wish for world peace if you are not willing to make peace with your neighbor?

Just had Pop Rocks for the first time – I didn’t know they actually popped in your mouth! The office found this to be very amusing.

Sometimes you don’t realize you are on a journey until you look behind you.

Erik Darmstetter from Salesby5 was interviewed today on the Kens 5 Great Day SA show. He talks about how you can start your own business and you don’t need a lot of money upfront, just a lot of creativity. You have to find what will be a true benefit to the end user. If the uniqueness is absent, you will be forced to compete on price.

You also have to be able to pitch your solution in less than 10 seconds. Nowadays, people are so consumed by so many various distractions – Blogs, iPhones, Blackberrys – you need to gain that interest right away for it to be worth their time.

I have personally met with Erik and my company, PEER 1, will actually be working with him and his company, Salesby5. How did I find out about Salesby5? Twitter! I was doing a search for something and came across the Salesby5 blog. I found the topic at hand interesting and I began to look at what Salesby5 offered. I was instantly impressed. I then come to find out that they are located right here in San Antonio; even more impressive!

I had the pleasure of meeting with Erik and his colleague, Nan Palmero, Chief Inspiration Officer. Nan is a strengths coach, a writer for Blackberry cool, and and an avid Twitterer (is that a word) with l775 followers as of today. I am looking forward to working with both of them.

I’d also like to add that in order for you to be successful, you not only need to have a creative idea but a creative way of getting your idea out there. It is imperative for start ups to embrace social networking. Traditional forms of advertising are expensive and not cost effective for start ups. Further, you need to rely on word of mouth, the best form of marketing, and what greater way then to use the free social networking tools out there. You’d be surprised by the power.

Below is Erik’s interview:
Erik Darmstetter Interview on Great Day SA