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Email ThisYou remember being at the dinner table when you were a child and your parents always said the same thing…
Just try it.
Now that Gen-Y is starting to take a stance in the workplace, we are uttering those same words to our parents and their peers. Millennials have taken the lead in this whole Social Media world, and we get it. We use it. We build with it and think our futures will be bright will more online networking, lifecasting, photo sharing and online life experiences.
In a recent article by Bea Fields on the Millennial Leaders blog, she throws out an analogy that really hit home;
I had a conversation last week with a leader who asked me why he and his company should be on Facebook? I then said “Why do you go to conferences, board meetings and networking events?” His response: “Well, to build relationships!” Relationship building is HUGE, and Gen Y knows this. Networking on Facebook, blogging, podcasting or sending tweets is just a smart move. If you want to be a leader, you have to be willing to use the most current tools and know how to use them to your advantage.
Gen-Y is stepping up to the plate and trying to get the X’ers and the Boomers, who are up the corporate ladder and have the decision making power, to understand that Social Media is not an unnecessary evil, but in fact a tool that can yield results, turn over ROI and increase brand awareness, customer base and future income.
As kids, we didn’t want to eat our vegetables because we had a perception that vegetable were supposed to taste bad. Boomers and Gen-X have a preconceived notion that the Internet is bad and everything that comes with it, the YouTubes, Myspaces, Facebooks, Twitters and all the rest of the Community building applications that are considered time wasters by their biased opinions.
Well, now it’s my turn. “Just try it.”
Those vegetables turned out to be okay after some time and, well, I bet they consume a good part of your diet now. They do in mine. I think they may even be good for your health.
Social Media is in the same boat. Are you ready to swim?
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Greg,
You make a great point. I hated spinach as a child, but it’s now one of my favorite foods.
I think just like spinach or other interesting foods, you have to acquire a taste for Social Media. When you first taste it, you don’t “get it”. Once you get it, you will fall in love with it.
When I started using Facebook about two years ago, I struggled…not sure why I would need the tool. I now use it as my main communication tool, and it’s so easy to ask a question or connect. I feel like my life and network have grown so much in the process.
Boomers and Gen-X have a preconceived notion that the Internet is bad and everything that comes with it, the YouTubes, Myspaces, Facebooks, Twitters and all the rest of the Community building applications that are considered time wasters by their biased opinions.
Woah woah woah Greg. I’m willing to believe that this may be your experience, but it sure hasn’t been mine. My experience has been that that Boomers and GenX are the ones trying to listen and to bring social media into the workplace. They have to be; GenY doesn’t have the weight behind them yet to move these kinds of initiatives. At 60-something, my company vice president has his own blog on our corporate extranet. My department hosts an blog and a wiki for internal use. In your words, we are “just trying it.”
I think where you’re finding the pushback is when you try to push things like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Although you lump them together as a part of “all the rest of the Community building applications”, the fact is, some community-building applications really do have a use in modern business … and some are just high-tech places to waste time. The trick is recognizing which is which, and standing behind the community-builders that really have merit.
You claim that Boomers and GenX categorically cry that “the Internet is bad” … well, does GenY truly believe that the Internet is always good? Really?
You know who gets it? Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. I blogged about Zappos.com today and how his whole company uses Twitter.
http://speakingofmbti.blogspot.com
First off - no one should ever think that the Internet is all good - it is pervasive, it ruins privacy and often it wastes a lot of time.
However, when it comes to using social media for certain efforts - it can be a much more effective and cost efficient means to reach the masses. Using the Internet as a populist media platform or using new media as a means to infiltrate the popularity contest of content isare great methods and means for using the Internet.
But, like most things in life - even with vegetables - there has to be a balance. There can be too much of a good thing.
@Sean - You are correct when you say that Gen-Y doesn’t have the clout to bring about change in Social Media policies. That is where the listening or “just try it” comes into play. Not every 60-year old CEO has a blog and no, most companies do not have an internal wiki (and they should).
As for all of Social Media and the Internet being good, hell no, it isn’t. Facebook isn’t for every company, neither is Twitter. Maybe a blog can be retroactive for some.
@Jen says it great that too much of anything can be a bad thing.
It’s how we manage these sites and these tools, how we monitor them, that they become effective.
Thanks for your comments guys!