It’s been interesting being on the other side of the world for a couple of weeks with no emails to read, and observing the rhythmic patter of social media output from friends and acquaintances.
It’s been a real treat having quality time with my family, literally no work emails and no work to think about. (As you may know dear reader, I am “between jobs”.)
I read a great post from a guy in the States who disconnected totally from the internet for a year (he was paid to do it), and the results were surprising. Initially he loved it and became a better person, but towards the end of the year he became slovenly and impossible to reach.
It’s all about balance.
You may be wondering why have I even logged on at all? I suppose to keep in touch and see what friends have been up to. I’ve also found it a great way to organise catch ups with folks over here, not having access to the phone at all.
Distance has also afforded me a unique perspective to view how various people use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Here are some observations from afar:
1. Sales people – merely showing me links to your latest products or services is damn lazy, and about as effective as walking up to random people in a supermarket and shouting at them ” Buy this!!! ” I have taken great delight in cleaning out my lists and deleting such people.
2. A lot of show casing, and show boating is going on. Showing off really. I do it too! But a few people don’t. They subtly contribute, add value, like and share and retweet … They are the heroes of social media. They are the people that pass on and share interesting stuff, make you think, in some cases make you cry (really).
3. Expertise from wanna bees. You know. Someone wise once said ” if you’ve never made a mistake you’ve never made a decision”. One of my favourites. It’s OK not to know, or to get things wrong. You don’t have to get it right every time, in fact it’s unlikely you will. That’s OK! Self deprecation is much more appealing.
4. Google is awesome. From searches of local amenities, to directions to the next place, to reviews of nearby attractions, to Google Earth, gmail, youtube… it has all been a God send. Talking of God, we drove by a church the other day that had a sign out front: “Google does not have all the answers”. Made me smile.
