Community, Conversation and Collaboration

With all the hype about social media being the new “it” thing for marketing, more and more people are losing sight of what social media really is. Nowadays, people think of jumping onto the social media bandwagon for the money they can get out of the time they invest in the different social media sites out there.

Sure, to some extent, you can say that you invest time on learning the ropes of social media for the betterment of your company or organization. But the key to getting the most out of it is to not forget the core values of social media.

The core values are pretty much summed up by these 3 C’s:

Community. Communities abound the social media circuit. They may be bound by the industry they work in or a common interest they share. Whatever it is, the essence of socializing will be lost if there is no community to interact with. The best part of having online communities is that you are no longer bound by your location. People from different parts of the world can be part of the community without having to fear prejudice and discrimination. The community is bound by a common love for any and everything under the sun. And social media serves as the bridge to close the geographical gap.

Conversations. Social media transcends traditional media. Information dissemination is no longer one-way. It has become interactive. Social media is about being sociable, engaging in conversation be it with a friend or a stranger. The lines of communications are open and we fully use it to connect with other people all over the globe.

Collaboration. Geographical limitations become virtually irrelevant when it comes to working alongside other people to achieve a common goal. With the many Web 2.0 tools available, helping each other out on projects, big or small, has been made easy. It can be done through something as simple as sharing an insightful comment or contributing new ideas to a project. This all boils down to sharing what you know to the project.

Social media is a very useful tool, be it for personal enrichment or for business improvement. The important thing is to not lose ground of what’s really important in social media.

I want to hear from you, though. What do you think about this?