My last Social Media Social Good column talked about some lessons learned when the “haters” went after me. Next, I’d like to share how my use of SoMe has changed, both as a result of that experience and a result of my evolving goals (from Social Media). I hope you’ll share how your Social Media and Tech use has evolved!
I was “hit” by the haters over a single tweet (out of nearly 200,000 I have sent) and ignored when I explained and clarified it. The details are ultimately irrelevant but the lessons for me (and perhaps for you) are invaluable.
How do you use Social Media? How do your friends use it? And, how do those that you know that don’t use Social Media, think of it? A recent post I put on Facebook provided some clarity for me and reinforced one of the main purposes of Social Media in my life.
I bought very expensive tickets (over $2,000 for three “VIP” tickets – all that were available when I tried to get regular ones EXACTLY at the time they were supposedly made available) to the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco, which occurred just this past weekend. I was informed – by email – that the tickets would be mailed within two weeks of the event. That was exactly the time that I was moving from California to Utah. Consequently, I tried REPEATEDLY to reach Ticketmaster to make sure I would get the tickets (wristbands in this case) in time to make arrangements for attending the event.
I grew up in Los Angeles and most of my birthdays as a child were celebrated at Disneyland. It was in Anaheim. It was the ONLY Disneyland. Ever heard the expression, “an e-ticket ride?” Well, in those days, Disneyland had A through E tickets (for each attraction) so you had to parcel them out and be careful not to use up all your E tickets, which were for the “best” rides (like the Matterhorn).
As many of you know, #DadChat and I were “hit” by haters earlier this year. It made me re-evaluate my thoughts about Social Media as a whole and my place in this ever-changing landscape. #DadChat was “my baby” and I loved the good we were doing by discussing topics as tough as Sexual Abuse, Religion, and Race. We also had many lighter topics, often music-related.
We’re moving. Loads of fun. And, finally after ALL these decades, I’m getting rid of stuff. Much of the stuff was stuff I collected and took pains to keep, store, and take from home to home. Much of it, such as my record and comic book collections were really heavy. I had 25 long and short boxes of comic books, all meticulously catalogued, bagged, and boarded.
I’ve gone from literally a 24/7 presence in Social Media to a semi-shutdown and withdrawal. Perhaps it wasn’t as hard as those people that go cold turkey with smoking cigarettes (I never smoked) but it was still a shock to the system. It also wasn’t an immediate “shutdown” though it accelerated pretty quickly. The reasons are significant, paramount, and revelatory – a nice run of adjectives, don’t you think? Are those adjectives? I never was particularly good at grammar. Auto-correct occasionally saves me from myself.
