People Tweet Reaction

If I was to sum up Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do by Euan Semple in a statement, it would be: social media adds value. And it was a complete surprise to me, someone who only uses social media for personal use (to keep up with friends)

Social media adds value to conversation and knowledge sharing. Euan explains that people learn through collaboration and sharing what they know with others. This is the value that blogs and twitter add. If you blog or tweet or post your knowledge, you are adding value to and affirming it, not giving it away. This was one of the surprises to me. You always think of your knowledge as precious and the only thing that can differentiate yourself from others professionally and personally. Euan, however, argues that by sharing this information, you are showing others your expertise and calling for others to tell you more.

Social media also adds value to conversation when the blogger or poster or tweeter is good at it. By posting things people care about, asking good questions, and talking in their own voice, conversation and collaboration can happen. This is the part of social media that I have the hardest with. How do I know what people care about? What knowledge do I have to share with people? How do I find my own voice? I'm working on tweeting more, but as Euan points out, the internet is the place where success seems more obvious. Today, a friend told me she enjoyed something I tweeted, but she didn't respond to it online. When no one responds, am I still reaching people? Is someone seeing it without responding still success? Or, do I need to be more engaging? Euan responds that blogging and tweeting is about self-reflection and gathering thoughts first, and then sharing with followers second. But how do I decide what to write about? I spend time reflecting to myself, do I need to tell (potentially) the world? Will I really observe more, as Euan says?

I guess these questions are the reason why I'm taking this class.

Social media also adds value to relationships. Through the sharing of thoughts and knowledge, Euan claims that people can become closer friends over the internet than in real life. You can connect with people who you would never have met, and might have more in common with. By focusing on the quality of people who follow you or are friend with you, you can share with and talk to people who will engage with you and inspire you. I agree that the relationships being formed over the web should be given a new name. The space and context allows you to share some thoughts that you might not share with the people you call friends in real life. People who follow you might share their insight, or even funds to help you continue sharing. Euan says friends and followers are not the right terms for this commitment and connection. This is true, except in the instance where he described how he and his followers were all blogging about negative things at the same time, and successful companies project a positive message of themselves. The internet erases body language clues, but their is still tone in peoples' writings. The people reading this information pick up on this tone and either react oppositely or follow it and agree.