I was just on one of my favorite blogs, Daily Blog Tips by Daniel Scocco, reading What Is Social Media?. Dan’s post was set in motion by Brian Clark’s post Since When Are Blogs Not Social Media? on Copyblogger. My comment on Dan’s post went so long I decided to keep it for myself as a separate post. That ever happen to you? Here’s my brilliant thought on the matter…
It’s a little funny, we adults with agendas (not a bad thing) sit around and tell each other what social media is while our teenage children live it all day long. Want to see what social media really is? Watch the teenagers. While we are trying to master these new tools to drive traffic, grow our lists, and create our own huge networks our children are the only ones using social media to be social. Sure, many of us play by the strictest of rules as not to blatantly advertise but what’s going on in the back of your mind? Go ahead and say it, it’s not a bad word… Yes, sales!
Surf around YouTube and watch the subscriber rates of a very social fifteen year old. Many of them could blow away the biggest marketers online without even trying and their subscribers actually watch the videos. There’s no agenda so there’s no shield up. No one wants to be sold to and our kids don’t have that obstacle – they just want to be kids and, yes, socialize with other kids.
If we could learn how to remove that ‘shield‘ we would be kings and Queens of social media (along side our children). You want to know what I think is going to be interesting? When those kids become adults interested in business. Will they still thrive with social networking skills or will they be like us trying to fake it till we make it?
