Connor BrookeWe’ve all come across them… we all know they’re out there… we may even know some of them personally as is the case here…
I have a friend, a true lifelong friend. He’s Godfather to my daughter and was in my wedding. He’s worked for a now defunct large retail (cards & gifts) chain which was based in Philly. He’s also worked in a bank and now currently works for Social Security.
He’s a very well-educated and well-read man. 
But he’s a non believer. See he doesn’t use Facebook or Twitter. Doesn’t blog or use Linked In and if I were to bring up something like Digg or Stumble Upon he would ask something along the lines of “Why did you stumble upon a dig?”
He knows of what I do so he decided to pose the ultimate, $64,000 query ALL of us who see the true power of Social Media for what it is…
“What is Social Media?”
He followed it up with this…
“Facebook? Twitter? I am neither a 17 year old girl nor a celebrity craving shut-in therefore I do not subscribe to either.”
How would you respond to that?
Before you answer… I responded… telling him my opinion of social media and if you’ve read anything I’ve posted here, you know I believe Social Media to be one part of an overall comprehensive marketing/advertising strategy.
His response…
“Show me one piece of legitimate business that produces quantifiable results that is done on Facebook or Twitter that isn’t related to the entertainment industry and I’ll bake you a cake. Facebook is merely a place where married men solicit adulterous affairs and young girls go to talk about boys and that Vampire movie”
How would you respond to that?
Before you answer… I responded… by showing him some tangible examples of how Social Media can help AND has helped many a business… I shared this story from Mashable.
His response…
“Oh stop it. Quantifiable results… that’s all that matters. Show me where going on Facebook contributes to the bottom line. You can’t because it doesn’t.”
I didn’t respond to this latest retort rather I wanted to get all of your collective thoughts, answers, etc…
How would you respond to all of this?
How DO you respond to the question: ‘What is Social Media?’
How do you respond to someone to who clearly doesn’t see the power of Social Media?
And what do you say to a Social Media non believer?
I am very curious and thankful for all of your help in advance.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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Stop banging your head on the Wall! If he has gone to the Mashable link http://mashable.com/2010/05/21/surprising-social-media-business-success/
And doesn’t get it……you can’t help those that won’t help themselves.
Thanks for bringing up this topic, Steve! I’m just curious what you would typically say to someone who doesn’t believe in social media. Definitely looking forward to your follow-up!
To answer your question, it would depend on the person asking. In the last week I’ve had conversations with two separate people with different perspectives and uses for social media. They both have their toe in the water, but don’t see the value in full immersion.
With the older friend, he was having a difficult time accepting that he needed to engage on a daily basis and gets irritated at the tweets in his Twitter stream because he feels they’re a waste of time and bordering on presumptuous. So he’ll leave it for a month until he starts reading articles that make him feel left out. So he’ll go back for another try, and eventually leaves disillusioned. Back in his heyday, it was difficult to be heard, to earn respect, to have a voice outside your small circle. Only the industry rock stars could get that kind of exposure. Twenty-five years later and the world has become flat. I tell him that the world is flat and it’s not going back to the eighties, and you just have to embrace social media or be left behind. It is a train going 200 mph and the longer you wait at the platform, the further behind you get from the early adopters who are doing the exploring and pioneering. And a lot of other people are miles ahead of you every second you wait. Jump on NOW.
The younger friend who’s in her early 20s is into Facebook (surprise, surprise), but she’s never even BEEN on Twitter once. She doesn’t understand what social media really means or why it matters. She just engages in Facebook and leaves it at that. I told her this exciting story about meeting awesome people, serendipitous run-ins, and working on profound new projects with intelligent clients. And then I told her it all came as a result of Twitter. She got the point.
The world is flat. If you’re off on the sidelines of social media, you might as well be clawing your way up a very tall ladder.