I’ve got this friend named Twitter, she’s pretty much awesome. Even awesome friends push you away sometimes. It’s OK, she’s in my inner circle of friends and in no time we’ll be best buds, hanging out together again.
While Twitter and I “take a break” I’ve got this other friend LinkedIn. Oh my gosh he is the be all and end all for connecting me with the folks I do (and want to do) business with. This whole time Twitter and I have been figuring out we needed a break, LinkedIn has been whispering in my ear about all the great stuff he and I can do together. Turns out he’s one smart dude and now that he’s in my inner circle, we’ll be spending more time together.
Then, there’s my bi-polar friend Facebook I can’t decide if I love her hate her on any given day. She connects me with friends I have not seen or heard from in a long time. She even shows me pictures of them and their children. So, she helps me keep track of friends from the past – pretty cool really. Well, it would be but some of them play Mafia Wars and never was a more annoying “game” ever invented. Yes, yes I know how to block and filter the parts of Facebook’s personality I don’t care for and I do. The real problem is she frequently changes the terms of our relationship and it all feels very one sided. I’m not so sure she’s in my inner circle of friends.
Finally, there is my therapist and business advisor. His name is Third Tribe Marketing. I pay him to be my friend and I’m OK with that. I sure don’t visit my Doctor seeking advice on my health for free so why should sound business advice and ideation be any different? When Twitter pushed me away I went and spent some time conversing with Third Tribe. He runs a lot of group therapy sessions so I was actually conversing with other people just like me that had come to see Third Tribe(affiliate link) for similar reasons. Sometimes I’m helping them and sometimes they are helping me. Sounds pretty win-win doesn’t it? Third Tribe Marketing is at the center of my inner circle of friends.
I’ve gone back to Twitter but if you follow me there you will see my activity is far below what it was for a while. I’m finding the two way benefit to be more apparent in Third Tribe and on LinkedIn. For me Twitter is fun to hang out with if I am looking for the next networking meetup or want to see what kind of information(links) my friends are sharing. Trending topics become clear pretty quickly with Twitter as well.
Any feelings about my “friends” you’d like to share in the comments?
It always makes more sense when you map it out like that Jim. Wow, you're great at that, thank you.
…and the weird part is when I write a post like this I'm just dumping what's in my head to the keyboard. Interesting because you also liked “The calm before the launches” which was written by the same method. It's kind of like taking all the spaghetti thoughts in my brian and laying them out straight in nice rows on the kitchen counter. 🙂
Never, ever leave Twitter. That is all. (I need you on my early-morning wakeup crew!)
Great insight here. Over the past two weeks I have also drastically reduced my Twitter usage to refocus my efforts on projects, clients and life.
All forms of social media are fun in their own way. But deciding the purpose for each and when the time is appropriate to use them is key. What is the most profitable for you? Not only in financial sense but as a whole. That should be where your time is spent to continue to grow.
Great job on realizing that. Some folks don't notice that until it's too late and the important friends are gone. They get caught up in the 'fun' friends that take their mind off of things and show them a good time. 🙂
Never ever forever I promise. 🙂
I like your reference to profitability or ROI as not necessarily being monetary.
I'm kind of surprised no one has mentioned the gender I picked for each of the social media channels…..
Thanks. I'm a big advocate of ROI not always being money related in the strict sense. Time is money. We have a small amount of it and that's why how we use it makes all the difference in the world.
I noticed the gender immediately. I found it amusing that the unstable and/or casual ones were female. 😉
Definitely with you on the Third Tribe business advisor role, Jim. It's the place to get everything sorted out, and get the inside track in online biz. As for my love affairs, Twitter and Facebook have my attention day and night. 🙂
I'm so conflicted about Facebook. It's almost like the phone company of old. Much as you hated them you really needed a phone – right?