World Bum

Why is it that it’s just so easy for some people to create conversations in the social networks even around the most ridiculous, who-could-possibly-give-a-toss topics? I see this happening with my own Facebook friends (but organizations seem to follow a similar pattern, yet the rules of conduct are different, but that will be another post). Some would post interesting, amazing and insightful information and get no response from the crowd. Others would report on the status of their hangover, the strange new glow of their cat, or some other such specific nonsense and the commentary would pour in!

So, what is it? What’s the stuff that makes others want to interact with us in social space? Well, there doesn’t seem to be a fairy juicy that you can rub on your keyboards; rather, it’s a response to how we behave in and out of the social networks. Here are some thoughts.

Outreach

If you engage with your friends or community in the first place, they appear to be much more inclined to return the interaction. Commenting on their posted items, mentioning them in your tweets, asking questions or linking to their blogs — these are all good ways to improve online relationships. Next time, they will do the same for you, which in turn will help promote your content and give you some (social) buzz.

Congeniality

This is tricky, but it also comes down to how many of your socially active contacts actually think you’re a nice person. No one will respond to anything you post if they think you’re an asshole (yet, they may still be in your network… don’t we all like to keep an eye on our enemies). Very few will react to something you say if they’re indifferent to who you are, or if they don’t know you very well. Again, this is not a judgement on you, it just speak to how others perceive you.

Content

Most people have a mix of personal and professional contacts on their social profiles. For example, I have nearly 600 Facebook contacts and I would say that about 200 of those are work peeps. The rest of are my immediate community, some echoes from the past and some that I don’t actually know. This all translates into demand to create diverse content that your major groups can connect with and have something to contribute to. My professional contacts love it when I spill the beans on something I’m working on for the first time on Facebook, while my personal contacts will probably ignore it. My personal contacts would appreciate keeping track of my whereabouts (especially when I am tweeting pictures from the BEST gym ever in Manhattan — and everyone I know in DC has a Manhattan fetish), but the work folk won’t feel comfortable reacting to that particular post. Yet, both sides are curious — and while they may not respond to content that’s not relevant to them, it would add to their experience with you when they learn a bit more about your other sides.

Schedule

You don’t have to have an actual calendar to manage the posts of your personal profile, and in fact, spontaneity is a favored quality. You do want to be fairly consistent — perhaps once a day, perhaps a few times a week — so you can continue to appear in the news feeds, even if people don’t respond to everything. Out of sight is definitely out of mind in social space and it could take a while to build awareness back up after a long break. (oh, and there’s a complicated Facebook algorithm that favors the more active)

Asking

I’ve noticed that if you manage to insert an actual question in your post, you would get a greater response, as opposed to if you simply stated a fact or made an observation. There power of “what do you think” or “do you know if” seems to be much greater than “here’s where I am about this”. By asking questions of my community, I’ve been able to get a good landscaper, amazing wine recommendations, tickets for sold out shows, speakers for classes I’ve taught, and other stuff I should probably not mention.

Multimedia

Posting photos and videos is a very engaging way to create interactions. I love snapping random photos and posting them to my Facebook page via Twitter. Short videos are not as easy to snap and post, but just as cool if you have the mechanics down. Friends and colleagues seem to love getting a picture of what it is that you find interesting. It is 1000 words. While it’s a very easy way to satisfy someone’s curiosity, there’s no need to be bummed if not many people actually comment on a photo or a video. It’s worth noting here that most people are what you would call “spectators” — they love to watch what others are doing, but they don’t really go through the trouble of participating in the conversation. Last night, I posted this one little photo form a wall I climbed… and while only one person gave it the thumbs up on my Facebook profile, the photo had gotten 180 views on twitpic.com last I checked.

Happy networking.

Thanks to @richmintz for sharing his thoughts with me on this topic.

What do you think? Is something missing from the list? Leave me a comment.