For a front-end, gaining-in- knowledge WordPress convert, I learned a lot at WordCamp. I appreciated Jeremy Wright’s keynote address about social media.  Jeremy talked about some of the “failures” of social media – but really he was pointing out how we have cheapened social media.  He mentioned

Jeremy Wright Keynote WCTO2010 flickr.com/photos/blucier

• SPAM problems – spamming is counter to SOCIAL media
• people having a mob mentality (we’re too influenced by who is saying what)
• the rise in Twitter Interns and how this changes social media from SOCIAL media to social MEDIA – we put the emphasis on the wrong idea
• An entitlement mentality – sometimes we’re just looking for the next handout
• Twitter Followership – we are still working for numbers – we’ve forgotten about the social part

Jeremy suggested some ways that we can filter all the noise so that we can focus on social media basics.

1. If someone is talking all the time, they aren’t listening.
2. Social media is all about  ‘how can I help’
3. Listen first, then get involved when it makes sense (then exchange business cards)

Then he gave some great SOCIAL media reminders:

1. Listen more than you talk – don’t expect to get until you give
2. No boasting – don’t paint the old as new
3. Don’t steal – give credit to people (whether it is photos, text, ideas… anything)

I may have missed some of his other really important points.  But I have to say that I didn’t miss his main point.  I can’t stop other people from cheapening social media and turning it into “what can I get from it”.  But I can look at my own social behaviour and ask myself  “Am I making social media into social MEDIA or am I keeping it as SOCIAL media?”

On a more personal note, Jeremy and several other speakers made a similar important point for me.  For WP newbies (and I kind of consider myself one of them), he stressed that we should just get started blogging … don’t step back and develop some big strategy – find something you enjoy – figure out what you want to say and then start saying it – work on strategy later.

I heard this so many times this weekend that I couldn’t help but think of the adage that when the student is ready, the teacher shows up (or something like that).  So I am going to relax, blog about what jazzes me instead of trying to write blogs about what I think I should be writing about.

Thanks Jeremy for bringing me (us) back to SOCIAL media basics and thanks for speaking to me directly (even though we didn’t even meet f2f!).

Last week, I was challenged by someone on Twitter, to update my blog, with the promise that he/she would drop by to visit once the blog was updated.  I waffled back and forth between excitement that someone had taken the time to look at my Twitter profile and website and mild annoyance that someone was coaxing/recommending that I update my blog.  As a classic rebel, I don’t always do well with good advice.

So I got to thinking about Twitter and that one small interaction.  It was my first person to person interaction.  I was happy that I was not just speaking into the Twitter cloud along with all the other Tweets. I was talking to someone and someone was talking to me… it wasn’t a lot of white noise conversation.  And it has made me rethink how I will use Twitter….  Here is what I have learned.

• DM’s (direct messages) are better than putting stuff out there – you might get real interaction.
• I was using Twitter to learn from others – now I will not only gather info but will thank people for their tweets when I use their information or find it beneficial.  How can you build a relationship with someone if you don’t thank them for what they have given (didn’t my mother teach me that?)
• Ask people to let you know (using DM’s) when your information is useful.
• Be one-on-one with people – at first I put out tweets that were like standing on a soapbox. Now I plan to engage.

So I am grateful for that interaction last week. I will no longer use Twitter as a platform to gather information, but as a platform to engage with people.  I know, I know  -  it was intended to be used that way in the first place.  But for some reason I wasn’t using it that way.

So thanks, Twitter friend, for that small interaction.  It moved me away from being an onlooker to the place of wanting to engage. 

Where are you at on the Twitter spectrum?  Are you an onlooker – an outlier? Engaged? Information gatherer?  I would love to know where you stand… and while you are at it, tell me what you have learned.