You wouldn’t know it with some of the things I’ve written in the past about social media… but I DO find social media valuable… in fact, extremely so.
I can’t credit a dollar I’ve made in my life to it, but as well there’s some things I can ONLY credit social media for… and it’s these things that lead me to the conclusion that MAYBE this is what social media is good for…
You know what it is?
And it’s funny because I have a feeling this is what social media was intended for…
MEETING PEOPLE!
Since Elysia and I left Australia, we wouldn’t have made one single new friend if it weren’t for Twitter. The coolest people and the best friends we made this year came after random Twitter meetups with people who we learned through Twitter were doing cool things online and happened to live nearby.
On the business side, I’ve become closer to a bunch of people also in online business that through the year I’ve learned alot from, met at seminars and had a reason to begin a conversation with or that have introduced me to other cool people.
All these are relationships that without social media, wouldn’t exist or wouldn’t be so strong.
Personally, I can’t say I’ve met anyone who’s become a JV partner, something that I could claim as an “ROT” (return on time) from Twitter, but I don’t doubt that at least a few relationships solidified through Twitter could become JV partners in the future.
So maybe that’s what social media is REALLY good for… maybe that’s it’s purpose. Not traffic, not revenue boosing… just good ol fashion networking!
And it’s interesting because networking is something that all business people do… no one ever tries to measure the ROI of it (how many dollars you make per hour spent networking at a conference) but most agree that (depending on the business) it’s a valuable and a worthwhile thing to do…
Maybe a bit of food for thought for today.
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Thanks for making this post, Andrew! Sometimes it astounds me how many people talk about making gazillions of dollars with Twitter, but very few marketers ever mention the purpose for which Twitter was created: PEOPLE!
I am in no way addicted to Twitter, but I have found it very useful in talking to my subscribers, meeting cool new people and even a few business deals have emerged from its use.
You hit the nail on the head with this one. This would be a perfect post for every IM newbie out there thinking about spamming their way to fortune with Twitter. This could potentially reduce the number of threads in the Warrior Forum by 50%..LOL!
Cheers man,
Josip
I agree! Because of Twitter I landed a room in a HOUSE in NYC which, if you know anything about finding apartments in NYC, it’s hard!
Other than that, I too forged relationships with artists and people I would have never met in normal circumstances because of Twitter. It’s a great outlet to meet and share. I’m glad more people see it’s cultural value over it’s marketing value.
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Haha…
I’ve always treated social media as an adjunct to my face to face networking. Which is a good place to start from because it insures that I use all the good networking basics (give first, connect other people, etc.).
I agree with Josip in hoping that this attitude can spread to many of those thinking Twitter is going to make them rich.
Beth