I recently watched the movie “21” for the first time a couple weeks ago. I know. It came out in 2008. It was one of those movies that slipped through the cracks. It was a really great movie. One of the lines that stuck in my head after the movie was this: “You know what I like most about Las Vegas? You can be whoever you want to be,” said by the character Jill Taylor.
Two things that I think a social medium offers to a user are access and recontextualization.
The first is simple and awesome. When you’re using social media you have a new found access to people and organizations. Twitter user @adrianparsons said it best: “Facebook is the people you went to high school with. Twitter is the people you wish you went to high school with.” I’m connected to so many awesome people through Twitter. I follow people who are rockstars in my line of work and people who are infinitely more talented than I am, and some of them even follow me. On Twitter, you can even follow celebrities and you never know when one of them will recognize you with a mention or a reply. And when you have a bad experience with a company, it’s really easy to vent in a social media arena and get a quick reaction from that company. That may not be the best and most civilized way to handle things, but it works. Social media is powerful in that sense.
The latter is extremely interesting and more power for the company. In each social media arena, people are going to be if nothing more, a slightly different version of themselves. You’re connected to different groups of people through different networks and that will affect what you say and how you say it. This idea of recontextualization can prove extremely useful if companies use it to shape the way they treat and interact with their customers. Someone who is normally a shy, quiet person in real life may be quite the opposite on Twitter. When you come in contact with people through social media, keep this is mind. Take care of those who engage with your company through social media as well as in real life. Treat them well. Recognize them. Make them the rockstars of your tribe.
