Have you gotten hooked on the whole social networking thing? Places like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc are great for meeting up with old friends or coworkers and you can even network and gain some new clients from these meetings. However, spending too much time networking can lead to wasted time and hurt feelings.
Let’s face it: it’s really cool to connect with people in other countries, in other time zones. But nothing takes the place of a real life conversation. As I keep saying to my pre-teen, it’s best to learn how to communicate verbally before you put too much emphasis on emails or internet networking.
Each social networking forum has a way for you to gain followers, or friends, and while there are some limits, people are very successful keeping up with large groups of followers. You can learn more about someone’s business, what services they offer, and you can also offer your advice or services if the need arises.
But trying to hold conversations, even limited to 140 characters in Twitter, can lead to comments being missed or calls for help being ignored. Afterall, if everybody is trying to expand their group of friends, someone is going to get lost in the dust.
The lesson to be learned is that while social networking is a wonderful opportunity, don’t depend on it for your regular, human interaction. Even though we’re connected across the globe, we all still need a give and take conversation now and then. Someone to literally HEAR what we have to say.
Also, be careful how often you check your social networking sites. Spending too much time each day will eat away at the amount of time you have to work. And if you have hundreds or thousands of followers, you can easily kill an hour or two just trying to keep up with the different conversations.
Use social networking for what it is: a way to keep in touch with others in your field, to learn from the experts, and to promote your business or services…without spamming, please!
