social media transparencyWhen you first jump on the social media train you hear the stories. You hear the comments of people complaining that all people do is promote themselves, talk about lunch. Yet isn't Facebook Places really all about what you had for lunch today? Or if you had the will to make it to your 6:00 am spin class or spend another hour recovering from your late night of Tweeting?

A few facts about Facebook:

  • Facebook has 500 Million users of which 50% login on any given day.
  • 700 billion minutes per day are spent on Facebook.
  • Over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events, community pages).
  • More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums) are shared each month.

*source Facebook.com Press statistics

When you think about information sharing and Facebook, what do you think about? I personally think about “Too Much Information” (aka TMI). I think about the photos, the irrational statuses posted by people in the heat of a moment, inspirational quotes and bible verses that inspire me, crazy photos of the neighborhood night out, and of course the lunches.

However, aren't all of those things life? People wake up in the morning. People work. People eat.  People connect and communicate. People watch TV. People go to games. People enjoy life. Then they go to bed and start all over the next day.   It really isn't much more than that if you boil it down.

I think many of us who live social media, marketing and business every day talk out of two sides of our mouth. On one side we talk about relationships, transparency, connecting. Yet on the other we criticize those who share.

So when we say social media is about relationships, connecting with real people how do we get to know them if we only talk about business? I think the reason millions are gravitating to Facebook is for the reason that they can feed their narcissist soul, they can talk about lunch, dinner of midnight snack. Who cares if anybody is listening, they feel good venting when the significant other ticks them off (though I highly disagree with this).

We are drawn closer to those who are more transparent. Those who share themselves. Their ups and down. The real person behind the avatar.

And yes, sometimes I might want to hear what you had for lunch. What you are eating for dinner. Sometimes.

Your Turn

What do you think? What do you share? Do you think our words and technology often conflict one another?

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