August 17th, 2008
On Social Media, All of Us Are Extroverts
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Pete Cashmore at Mashable raised an interesting question today when he asked if the leading proponents of social media are, in fact, social media introverts —
Wouldn’t it be a great irony if the leading proponents of the “it’s about people” mantra weren’t so enamored with meeting large groups of people in real life? Or, perhaps…fitting. Perhaps social media affords us the control we lack in real life socializing: the screen as a barrier between us and the world.
I had always thought of myself as a loner until I realized that people have different social styles –
Everyone has a different social style, so, understand yours and start from your comfort zone, before you challenge them.
Some people like meeting new people at parties where they can look beautiful, click pictures of each other on their camera-phones, get drunk and dance late into the night, and become lifelong friends without even saying a full sentence to each other (because the music is too loud to talk).
Other people like to meet new people one on one — over coffee, let’s say — so that they can talk to each other, get to know each other.
Still other people like to structure their social life around shared interests or activities — movies, theater, music, or sports — so that they can use the shared activity as the starting point of the relationships.
Some of us like to organize events, so that we can focus on taking care of other things and other people and forget about our own social awkwardness. For instance, I like being the host, so I’m most comfortable meeting new people on my blog, or at my house parties.
None of these social styles are better or worse than others, they are just different. It’s ideal if you are comfortable in all social situations, but it’s okay if you aren’t, as long as you know how to work with the ones you are comfortable with.
The power of social media is that it allows you to engage in all these social situations simultaneously. It allows you to be a host (on your blog), get to know people one-on-one (on e-mail and chat), bond around shared interests (on niche social networks) and even throw yourself into the social media equivalent of an-overcrowded party (on Twitter), all in a day, or all at once.
On social media, all of us are extroverts.
