Discuss: How is the Social Media Tsunami Affecting Relationships?

For better or for worse, I believe that social media have impacted our world as much as the telephone or the electric light.  In particular the ubiquitous phenomenon of “sharing” our lives online must be affecting human relationships in many ways. What are Your Thoughts? Please Comment… (Notice that I use Comment Luv to link […]

How Are Social Media Changing Relationships?

Social media relationships are impacting our lives in many significant ways. First and foremost, the quantity, diversity, and locations of people we’re enabled to connect with has expanded dramatically. Social media are changing our relationships and including many more “weak ties.” For networking purposes “weak ties” could be more helpful than strong ties, because they connect us to resources and information we would not otherwise know about or have access to.

Social Media Relationships Can Be Powerful

Social Media makes it amazingly practical to form new relationships anywhere in the world. They make it convenient to communicate globally, instantly, virtually for free. This is truly revolutionary!

The vastly increased pool of potential friends made accessible by social media allows us to sort and find relationships that are a better fit than we could find from a much smaller set determined by geographical proximity. Now our exciting challenge is to nurture and cultivate deep relationships with “the vital few among the trivial many,” as in “Pareto’s Law.”

Interpersonal Communication and Relationship

Relationships are Built with Communication Interpersonal communication is the fundamental basis of relationship, regardless of which channels we use to communicate. The internet has added several new channels of communication to the toolbox. These new media work well when combined with the telephone — and preferably face-to-face encounters, as well. The “Togetherness Blog” expresses my thoughts […]

Components of Multimedia and Usage of Multimedia

Multimedia Usage and Non-Verbal Communication Components of multimedia include a broad spectrum of channels and devices. Usage of multimedia spans an even more diverse explosion of applications. As a professional networker, I am most interested in the usage of multimedia for connecting with new friends and nurturing relationships with existing friends and followers. Especially on […]

Social Networking Online and Offline

Social Networking Social networking has been around for centuries.  Synergy and empowering relationships are the essential ingredients of civilization. The internet is an efficient channel of communication for human beings who would like to interact for mutual benefit. I’ve been a fan of social networking for decades, and I was delighted when social media arrived […]

Attraction Branding and Perceived Similarity

Interpersonal Attraction   Attraction has been linked to similarity of attitudes, belief, and interests in university research since the 1960’s. Personally, I invested four years in post-graduate research into interpersonal attraction. The implications for social media are profound, because we open to the public intimate details about our attitudes and interests on our Facebook profiles. […]

Traffic Jams on Facebook and Twitter

Get traffic? The volume of “traffic” flowing through Facebook and Twitter feeds make the Los Angeles freeway system look like a rural country lane. But social media experts continue to advise marketers not to transfer the old freeway billboard advertising technique to social networks like Facebook. Unlike the freeway, the traffic on the new internet superhighway is becoming […]

The Social Network

The social network online is only part of the real global social network, which includes human society as a whole. The old email chat acronym, IRL (In Real Life), no longer makes sense, if it ever did. Most of what constitutes human life, such as emotions, reasoning, needs, wants, and commerce, exist online and offline, and often overlap both. […]

Facebook Fans “Like” But Not Asking for Spam

Social media has powerful potential for viral exposure. But studies have shown that more than two-thirds of Facebook users say that “Liking” a “Fan Page” does not mean permission to send me advertising messages. Marketers need to understand that the vast majority of “Fans” click that they “Like” a page as a message to their friends, […]

Building Trust with Social Media

Trust is a key component in business (and personal) decisions. Greg Ferenstein wrote an interesting post on the Mashable blog about trust in social media, in which he quoted Professor Judith Olson, who has studied the essentials of building trust in digital communication. One of her most important findings is that “responsiveness is key” in building […]

Social Media Strategy

Begin with the end in mind. As a leadership consultant I have always asked “WHY” before “WHAT.”  Intention helps focus efforts in the direction of desired results. Craig Galati wrote about social media strategy in the Las Vegas Sun: Social media is important, but it must fit into a marketing strategy. Social media is a […]

How to Build Relationships on Social Media

The foundation of any lasting relationship is a positive value exchange. In personal relationships the value is often intangible. It may be a subtle deposit in what Stephen Covey calls the “emotional bank account.” Making such deposits spontaneously and without calculation is most effective. In fact being relatively unconscious of the value exchange may be […]

Relationships Depend on Follow-up!

Whether online or offline, nurturing a relationship is like growing a rose garden. It takes patience and persistent attention. Following up is like fertilizing and watering your relationship roses; it must be done consistently to keep them alive and flourishing. But not all follow up is created equal. Just as some gardeners grow prettier roses than others, […]

Social Media Campaign

Social media campaigns need to be different from advertising campaigns which push products. Unfortunately the more you try to sell, the less you sell. The situation is analogous to the rest of life, where focusing on contribution leads to more success than chasing personal gain. Modern consumers are wary of pitches and commercials. People love […]

Internet Relationships or Illusions?

What kind of relationships do you really have with Facebook Friends and Twitter followers? How does a virtual relationship differ from an offline relationship? We may get some clues from an article Mayhill Fowler wrote in the Hoffington Post, entitled Taking the Me from Social Media, quoted below:

But the heady sensation of connectedness induced by social media whisks the user quickly past contemplation of the sands upon which these Internet relationships are built.

Are “Friends” or “Followers” Really Listening?

I’m not sure about SEO, but when relationships are the goal, I believe that we need to slow down and invest more attention. Remember the Facebook motto, “Changing the world — one Friend at a time!” When I think of listening, I think of lyrics from some of my favorite songs: “Slow down, you move too fast,” “People talking without listening”…

Social Media Relationships Revolutionize Advertising

Traditionally advertising has been pushed to consumers. In contrast, social media have given control to consumers. Hank Wasiak, in an article on Mashable.com, pointed out: Marketing has traditionally focused on the four “Ps”: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Social media has morphed into the fifth, and possibly most important “P”: People. A people strategy is at the […]

Quantity vs Quality in Social Media Relationships

Quantity or Quality of Social Media Connections? Social media culture seems to place an overwhelming emphasis on quantity of “friends,” “followers,” and “Fans.” Yet most social networkers claim that their goal is relationships. “Dunbar’s number” (approximately 150) is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships, according […]

Listening on Social Media

In an article for CNBC.com, Professor Ivan Misner, the founder of Business Networking International (BNI), and author of Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections, wrote: The only way you’ll benefit from social media is to build relationships with your online friends through engaging in the conversations you start. Otherwise, you’ll quickly earn a reputation […]

Social Media Effect on Relationships (+ or -)

“We may enjoy online relationships using social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, for example, but the difference between these kinds of interactions and interactions with people in the physical world is clearly vast,” according to Alex Lickerman, M.D.  In his recent article in Psychology Today, Dr. Lickerman wrote: As long as we expect no […]

Relationship Overload

Real relationships are precious treasures, but those of us who spend a lot of time “networking” tend to accumulate a backlog of contacts that may seem overwhelming. Personally, I enjoy meeting new people more than I enjoy following up. From a relationship building point of view that seems backwards. I have to remind myself that nurturing special relationships is like cultivating a garden. Flowers will bloom after a season of watering and fertilizing.

Social Media and Magnetic Attraction

Magnetic Personality   Attractive personality characteristics, like charm and charisma, normally radiate naturally from the authentic heart of a person. Although charm and charisma are powerful leadership qualities, attempting to display them deliberately is risky. Appearing phony or self-conscious would be counter-productive for a wannabe leader. Sincerity is just as powerful and attractive as charisma. […]

Non-Verbal Communication in Social Media

Non-Verbal Communication  93% / 7% Social Psychologists generally subscribe to the theory that “93% of interpersonal communication is non-verbal, and only 7 % is content.” Geoff Snyder’s leadership blog describes the components well: Almost every facet of our personality is revealed through our appearance, our body language, our gestures, our facials expressions, our overall demeanor, and our posture […]

Relationships are Back in Business

Social Media provide new, and perhaps more efficient, tools for communication, but let’s not forget what they’re for! Social media is bringing relationships back to business. An interesting article in Search Engine Guide reminds me of the movie, Back to the Future. In her post, “How Social Media (Didn’t) Change Business,” Jennifer Laycock points out […]