© 2008 Jed

Human After All

After a very insightful conversation with James Whatley about how to rescue a community, I’ve seen the light.

James has managed to write the post I’ve wanted to write for about three months now. Swine.

Social media is about being human.

Such a simple concept, but so powerful – and it’s not just applicable to social media, it fits with everything. Be human to the guy in the local shop and he’ll be human back, let another car out of a junction and they’ll give you a friendly wave. It’s really the old adage of a smile being contagious – and it’s especially true of social media.

So here was James’ four functions;

  1. Listen
  2. Ask questions
  3. Sympathise
  4. Fix it

And the more we talked, the more it became apparent that these processes can literally be used to resolve any situation, or open a situation. Even if you can only do one or two, you’ll have shown enough willing to be trusted again and receive a ‘smile’ back.

So, how do so many people get this wrong – in social media and in life? Surely, if we all acted (yes yes, I know that it’s not and should not be an act) more human, we’d build better relationships, with more people and have an all round better time.

Do yourself a favour, make someone smile today.

27 Dec Written by Jed, on December 27, 2008 at 11:00 am, covering Public Relations, Social Media and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Save the link. Track comments using RSS. Comment or back track, I mean trackback.
  • Great stuff and *completely* in tune with what I trying to say..

    Nice one Dude, glad you found it beneficial.. Looking forward to catching up in '09.

    :)
  • I think the reason how so many people get it wrong so often is because very few people can do the first step well, Without first listen well you can't do any of the other steps well either and you're more likely to a scowl than a smile.
  • I agree. I still manage to freak my friends out by saying 'oh I was chatting with this person on the tube today....' apparently you're not meant to chat with strangers but I love being part of a community so will always smile, chat & listen & most of the time it works. One random act of kindness at a time
  • Absolutely spot on... make the point early on in "Understanding Digital Marketing" (http://url.ie/mbh) that Digital Marketing is about people, not technology.
  • That is digital marketing is about people not technology....
  • Jed
    @James,
    I'm glad I was on message! One of the most important things is that we share this and promote the ideas as much as possible, then people can begin to take it on properly.

    @Kerry,
    People need to understand the process properly, and as brands and people become more confident about stepping into the online lake, we'll see best practice take on the above processes.

    @Bridget,
    That's one of the most important things to take from offline. Making friends is nothing to do with technology, neither is community. Without sounding too evangelical, if we can teach people humanity then it'll apply in any environment, online, offline or inline.

    @Calvin,
    Surely the internet is about people, a web of information joined together by people. I always imagine it like the local pub!
  • You made the post about the post that I was going to make before I could make it. It did resonate didn't it

    It also occurred to me that somehow the personality - or perhaps its more attitude - shines through over a period.

    That may not be great news for everybody of course... :-)
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