A while ago certain parts of Columbus, Ohio felt the aftershock of an earthquake in Canada. It wasn’t just Columbus it was actually several surrounding states. I happen to be on Twitter when the aftershock occurred (I didn’t feel it). I am amazed how fast word spread of the Columbus earthquake; within minutes my Twitter stream lit up with people talking about the Columbus earthquake. The great thing about
social media, and Twitter specifically, is the access to instantaneous news and feedback. In a way we are all journalists now recording our own unique experiences via multiple online platforms. I knew about the earthquake way before my co-workers did and they were shocked I got the information so quickly.

After the Twitter/quake experience I started thinking about how an earthquake is a great metaphor for the social media landscape. For every social media advocate there’s at least one social media hater (if not more). Us advocates have felt the social media earthquake and we see the way it’s changing communication and community. The social media haters don’t feel the earthquake; they see technology as a burden or a means to hear meaningless details about people’s lives.

There is something to be said for taking time to investigate technology and to see how to adapt to it and use it in a meaningful way, but social media isn’t new anymore. It’s time to get on board and get involved in the social media conversation and community. How do you explain to your non-social media friends why social media works for you and how it’s impacting your life?

For those of you just joining in I’m currently giving a gift and journaling about it for 29 days…go here to read the initial post, which explains why.

Gift 1

I gave gift one on the airplane on the way home from a short trip to Arizona.  The lady seated to my right decided to order a gin and tonic for the ride from Phoenix to Chicago.   If you travel on Southwest you may be familiar with their drink tickets; these are tickets you can pre-purchase for alcoholic drinks on the plane. I always seem to have some of these tickets laying around. The lady to my right didn’t have a ticket and was going to have to charge her $4 cocktail to her Visa so I offered her one of our drink tickets and she accepted. She seemed genuinely surprised that I offered the ticket.  She and I exchanged surface conversation the rest of the flight and we traded magazines. Although it wasn’t earth shattering I did learn somethings…

1.  I rarely talk to strangers on planes or anywhere for that matter, but for whatever reason I was offering her the drink ticket before I even realized I was doing it.  It just seemed to be the thing to do.

2.  This woman’s reaction made me want to give more! For example: while waiting in the Chicago airport to fly back to Columbus a woman commented she wished she had a sweater.  I found myself wishing I had one to give her.

All in all day 1 was a great expirence.

Gift 2

Gift 2 didn’t go as well as gift 1…for gift 2 I cleaned the kitchen and packed Hess’s lunch.  Typically I cook and he cleans the kitchen and we’re on our on for our lunches. It may not seem like much, but our fruit was strawberries and they had to be chopped and cleaned so it was a more time consuming than normal.  Hess didn’t really notice the extra effort and I was a little grumpy about this.  This has taught me I need to work on my intentions. If I give a gift I need to give it without wanting or expecting anything in return; afterall, that’s the whole point of this exercise.

I have yet to give gift 3, but will soon.  I’ll keep you posted as I continue to move through the process.

We all know there are a bazillion social media “experts” out there.  I don’t claim to be an expert because I don’t think it’s possible to be an expert in a field that’s constantly changing as technology presses forward.  Many small businesses are being duped into thinking they need to hire an expensive contractor to handle their social media needs, when in fact the solutions may be in their office already.  The trick is changing the company perspective on what or who an expert is.  Here are some of the questions I would ask a so called social media “expert”:

• How do you define social media?
• Can you give me an example of some of the clients you have worked for and the type of work you’ve completed for them?
• How do you establish relationships with bloggers and how do you pitch to them?
• How do you monitor what people are saying about you online?
• How do you measure results?
• Do you have a blog or a website and what’s your strategy for your blog or website?
• How long have you been on twitter ( or insert your fav. social media site or tool) and how are you using it?
• What do you think the future social media trends are?

What are the questions you would ask to determine if someone really knows their stuff in the social media world? If you are a social media “expert” how would you answer these questions?

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of kicking off a six week series on social media with a presentation on Social Media Basics. Here’s the presentation I gave; If you are just starting out in social media, I hope you find it valuable.

Click here to check out additional events in this series.