Social Media For Boomerz

Posted by Jack Smith in Social Media | View Comments

As I prepare to teach another social media class, this time on Facebook, I am continually reminded of the far reaching impact of social media and the different ways different people adapt, embrace or reject. The class I am teaching tonight is for an organization called Boomerz, is aimed at that generation and is the second of a two-part series on Facebook. I will be teaching participants how to use Facebook for business by creating a Fan Page rather than for personal reasons – that was the first class on Monday. Before taking off for class tonight, I wanted to share some very serious and funny moments from Monday night.

To start with the serious and a concern that everyone should keep in mind is security. To some extent I, think Boomerz may be more aware of this concern than the ‘younger generation’ who are growing up in a world where sharing experiences that were once considered more private in nature is now expected rather than questioned. And although this concern came up last night, I don’t want to single out Boomerz as being the only group concerned with security and privacy. Everyone should have that concern and you will find people from all age groups concerned about safety and privacy. Common sense about what you post, how much you share and the level of detail provided is paramount but most of the information shared in a profile could be found by opening the phone book. Did people rise up when the phone book was published for the first time worrying they could now be found by ‘anyone’?

With that said, if you aren’t comfortable sharing some basic contact information, things you do or don’t like, or care to learn any of those things about others around you, then social media IS NOT FOR YOU! It seems every class has the person who is attending and has no intention of filling out a profile and sharing information and that is fine too. But if that is the case, know that you should stop your social media endeavors right now because it won’t be a medium that will work for you. Find a different way to connect with people or add someone to your team who is comfortable in this arena because if you are uncomfortable all the time, feel threatened or frustrated people will know it and your results will show it.

The funniest moment came towards the end of the class after we had completed account setups, reviewed security issues, added some friends and were about to break. One of the ladies in the class raised her hand and proceeded to ask if she was now ‘always going to see other people’s crap on her page’. I about fell down laughing. I told her that she would continue to see ‘their crap’ as that is, to some extent, the point of social media and that others would be seeing ‘her crap’ as well. To which she replied that she had none. Again, very funny and she was laughing as well. And again it highlights a point that if you are not interested in engaging with other people electronically whether it be through status updates, shared photos and videos, blog posts or any number of other ways, then you are again in the wrong place.

The slides used for the two presentations can be found below. If you are looking for a social media trainer or presenter, please feel free to contact me and if you just have questions or comments, leave them below as well. And lastly, are you comfortable with the level of sharing and security currently seen on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or others?

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Here is a great article from Mashable on Fan Pages as well