Social Media for the Anti-social

Ahhh social media... thou art a sneaky nemesis. Hester Prynne had her scarlet "A" for Adultress... while social media over the years has stamped me with a scarlet "H" for 'hypocrite'.

I have always held a general dislike (or outright disdain) for the companies/sites/programs that are typically associated with social media. I've ridiculed MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and company, along with their users pretty much since they've come into existence. Yet...at various times, into today, I have used MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and company.

I don't mind ridiculing myself. If you can't laugh at yourself then I feel that you're missing out on a key experience in life that allows you to maintain perspective. To that end, I'm a blond who tells blond jokes, a fat guy that tells fat jokes, and a Facebook user that mocks Facebook users. In the grand scheme of things, none of those things define who I am as a person, so I see no issue in making fun of them.

I view social media as a 'not entirely necessary necessary evil'. It's not particularly complicated, just a little confusing because I easily see the value of social media, particularly when it comes to the world of business:

1. You connect with a larger audience, almost instantly
2. With constant updates it's possible to control/maintain/change your image much more quickly than it used to be
3. You have the benefit of networking globally rather than just locally
4. From an HR management position, the pool of potential employees is virtually infinite
5. Feedback, from a wide range of sources, to adapt your product/style

Social Media allows you to market on a massive scale, and there are HUGE benefits to that, all across the board.

But I still don't like it. Mostly, it's a "few rotten apples ruining the bunch" kind of thing as the advent and explosion of social media has pushed out culture in almost as many negative ways as it has positive ones. 

From an information design standpoint, it opens up a wide range of possibilities. As mentioned above, it has turned the entire economy into a global one. With the use of services like Facebook and Twitter, even the mom and pop store in Middle of Nowhere, USA can reach consumers in far off places. This has changed how information must be presented as people now have a much broader audience to consider and design for.

As for my blog, I've included buttons for instant sharing of any of my blog posts on the various social media sites and email. How did I do this? Simple, I signed up for a blog. It's an automatic feature for many sites, and if it's not automatic, it's a few simple clicks to include it. This allows you to share your information with a huge audience across multiple platforms, in mere moments. If you're smart, you'll design exclusive information  for each medium because as a consumer, there are few things more annoying than following a person or company on Facebook, Twitter, and so on, and seeing the same exact post touted (not to be confused with: Tout, a social media service itself now) in all of those places. Not everyone uses all the services out there, but for those that do, it's nice not to get inundated with the same information all the time. 

If I were to use social media to its full extent, I would have this blog, with exclusive content, and I would share it across all the platforms. I'd also create links to my various pages and profiles so that people who find my blog first can find my other pages, and vice-versa. The logo icons for each service have become the widely used and accepted means of creating those links and though it may be tempting to be more creative in your presentation, to me it's one of those 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' type of situations. People are familiar with the line of buttons for this use, and people like what is familiar.