To me, I believe most things are good and bad. I mean most things have either a positive or negative response with the actions you take. Then again you’re only as good as you are responding. – This thus leads me to the whole meat and potatoes of this post, social networking and social media.
To me, the whole reason for the social networking/media sphere is to communicate not blast me with ads to try and sell me something. I guess turning off ads to me is second nature, unless of course you catch my attention, but that’s a whole entire blog post in itself (Which I’ll possibly elaborate on).
As far as communication goes it’s usually between two people, though with modern technology it can be with several different people all at the same time. Thus this is where the social networking sphere evolves. Networking sites such as Twitter are usually a good place to start. I for one am on twitter and there are people who I enjoy talking with. Though there are some people who I wonder what their sole purpose of using it is?
So I’m usually notorious for lists, and I suppose I’ll list some things that I’ve learned from other people as well as being social in general. I think the main focus is going to be on my favorite networking system which is Twitter, so here we go.
1. Communication is the sole purpose of how we connect.
If you start up a conversation with me, I for one am likely to talk back with you. Most of my fellow twitter people could vouch for me on that one. The way for social media/networking to work is for you to actually socialize with your crowd. Really sometimes a simple hello is enough to strike up a conversation. The more you engage the more information you’re going to gain, the more knowledgeable you’ll be, and well you’ll potentially earn friends who keep you entertained as well as informed.
2. Don’t be a douche bag/asshole.
Just because you have a couple thousand followers, if you’re a real jerk about certain things you’ll be losing them just as fast as you’ve gotten them. Remember these people follow you because they either a) find you a valuable person with valuable resources b) everyone else follows you (or so it seems that way) or c) they’re mooching off your friends list. – I’d go with A, but the other options are also possible. Be nice, you make a lot more friends that way.
3. Stop trying to sell me things.
I know that Twitter is a potential market, but it doesn’t mean I want to buy anything from you. For one if you’re there just to blast spam the likelihood of me following you back is slim to none. There’s a huge difference between spam and valuable link resources within your close knit circle. No I don’t want to see how I can make $5000 dollars in a week and retire at 21, but I do want to see valuable resources on package design, logo design, and things that are going to appeal to me.
4. Interact.
It sort of goes hand in hand with number one. Interaction is key, ask questions and answer questions. Ask for help and there’s a likelihood someone is going to help you. The more you interact and engage with your audience the more positive of an image you have. Now, as reference to number 3, if you’re a douche bag people are just going to think you’re a douche bag, if you’re nice and valuable and talk with people then I’m sure they will pass along the word that you are indeed someone who personally gets back to people and does not ignore them. No one likes being ignored.
5. Be Helpful.
If you’ve ever had someone tell you that there’s no such thing as a stupid question then they were probably right. Unless you’ve tried really hard to form a question that is stupid (which I’m sure is possible for some people). Mind you, you don’t have to know everything or even pretend you do. Everyone has valuable knowledge to share with other people and keeping that knowledge to yourself is kind of selfish if you think about it (I mean really think about it). Besides being helpful makes most people feel good. It’s better to be helpful than useless.
6. Quality over Quantity.
This issue could be debatable, but on my terms I value quality over quantity when it comes to socializing. I respect being dedicated to answering questions and listening to what others have to say. There are people I know who have few friends on twitter, but make a difference, then there are people I know who have thousands of friends on twitter and can’t simply reply to all of them. To me, I’m there to build relationships with people not try and see how many followers I can get because I want to be number one. Ironically I do actually listen to the people I talk to and respond back. I’m not in it for numbers or ranking, I’m in it to be helpful and useful for the folks who I do consider my friends as well as the people who do follow me.
Hope this post was helpful to you and feel free to add any more things that you think are useful in the comments below.
– DEF
DEFgraphics 
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