IBZ Group Blog

I hate to admit this, but I’m beginning to think I’m in over my head. Spurred on by the overwhelming “roar of the crowd,” I not long ago jumped feet first into an exploration of social media. I threw my skepticism to the wind and am now the proud holder of accounts on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Delicious, Eons, Plaxo….remember I said I have accounts, that doesn’t mean I have any idea what to do with some these. I watched President Obama’s Tonight Show appearance the next day on Hulu; I found an interesting article on and signed up for Digg; I have yet to explore stumbleupon or Mixx; I have followed many email referrals to funny videos on YouTube— and I have heard all I need is a webcam and the world is mine through Skype.

This all started because to a marketer, Social Media is the New Frontier -cue the Star Trek theme music (did you know the Star Trek Theme has lyrics?). It started so I gain the first-hand knowledge to effectively steer my clients, who are anxious to jump on the social media bandwagon, in marketing directions that are right for them. It’s my job to ensure the messages I am hired to deliver not only reach the millions of social media enthusiasts, but that the right message gets to the right “socialites” with enough oomph to motivate them to act.

It’s been approximately 6 weeks since I began my social media adventure, and now, it’s time for my first update since “answering the siren’s call.” My social media time over these weeks has been spent mainly with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I have visited each of the others mentioned above. On some I spent very minimal time. On others, I explored enough to get at least a precursory indication of the site’s users, focus, and appeal.

Today, I’m going to focus on my experience so far with Facebook.

I had my hesitations about Facebook. I worried about its “addictive” nature and how that might derail my daily activities, or even worse become a substitution for sleep. So far, so good—happily I’m still working diligently – and haven’t sacrificed any sleep over Facebook.

I have found I appreciate the opportunity Facebook provides to re-connect and communicate with people who have and continue to be important to me. What a gift to be able to hear about the lives of friends, colleagues and even acquaintances who made an impression during various stages of my life thus far.

First, there are those with whom I shared so much in the past and have neither seen nor spoken to in 5, 10, 15 years!. It’s a joy to see the photos of them, their children, their spouses and partners and of course, their pets. A few connections even brought me to tears. Among my connections are the very close college buddy I had lost track of for too many years; the colleagues I worked with, some of whom live right here in DC and yet we never see each other; the many talented people I spent night after night, day after day with rehearsing one show after another, but whom I haven’t spoken to since that last curtain call. And there is that one dear friend who was like family, and somehow our last encounters weren’t the most pleasant. Through Facebook, that friend and I have rediscovered our mutual respect and affection.

Facebook offers each user the opportunity to create a profile. This would be a great tool for “catching up” – but few of my reconnects have compkleted full profiles.  In particular they haven’t taken the time to complete the “About Me” with a short bio of where they’ve been and what they’ve been doing over the past few years.

I find I’m confused by the lack of information folks seem to want to provide on Facebook. Rather than each reconnect “filling-in-the-blanks” for each other, I find most of the postings are geared to the current folks in users’ day-to-day lives. Many Facebook users simply forget that their reconnects may have no idea what they’ve been doing since they last spoke, and that they need to catch us up. So, instead of writing “I’m tired from a long day at work” –Iwant my reconnect to tell me what your job is, what it was that day that made it so long and tiring. Personally, I’m ”friends” with many theatre people who write about the long rehearsals, the lines that need to be memorized, etc. But few think to mention what they are rehearsing for or with whom. Of course,  the communication breakdown is in part in my court because I don’t always ask.

There is also a certain self-absorption in reporting mundane daily actions. It’s not all that interesting for our connections to hear that you had pasta for dinner (or salad, or chicken…). But, if you so enjoyed the pasta that you want to share a great pasta recipe, or recommend a terrific restaurant for the best ever pasta – then it makes sense to spend the time writing about that darn pasta! Just this morning I received the following from one of my DC connections: “Had the best “churrasco” in town tonight at Rumberos. The music was wonderful, salsa from the 70s, merengue and boleros. An exquisite night!”This post makes me want to schedule a visit to Rumberos very soon!

I’m beginning to think social media sites like Facebook may be either misnamed, or in their basic formats and desire to provide fun “applications” are counterproductive. To me, socializing is dependent on dialogue, conversation…an exchange of thoughts, emotions and ideas, not merely quick quips. That’s the missing link on Facebook—dialogue. Rather than increasing socialization, I see my highly intelligent friends reduced to one line mundane comments like “I’m hungry” or “I woke up early today.” And I’m rather surprised to see they spend so much time taking vacuous quizzes like “Who would be your celebrity boyfriend?” (These are adults, most over 30!) And I don’t grasp what is sociable about sending “virtual cocktails” (or burgers, or cookies, or…) to almost everyone on one’s friends list? Enough virtual and more real time communication (and cocktails) please!

Finally, the Facebook users I’ve encountered tend to shy away from the issues of the day. They are quick to comment on a connection’s boyfriend quiz outcome, but no comments on newsworthy posts like one friend’s post about the global Earth Hour, or the article I posted about a UK school that is adding to its curriculum a requirement for children to master Twitter and Wikipedia.

OK, so if you are wondering when I plan to get down to business and discuss how Facebook, and the other social media sites can be effective as marketing tools you’ll have to wait a little longer. Since I’m still learning, that will come later when I have explored more thoroughly and am prepared to offer suggestions by having achieved a higher level of competence.

Coming Next: What I’ve learned – and have yet to learn about Twitter.