Social Media is Like Water
I haven’t recorded a carcast in a long time and to get technical this would be a truckcast. I don’t think I’ve ever done one for Managing the Gray.
I’ve been using the iTalk iPhone application and working through some problems with it that now appear to be fixed and I love that I can record anywhere I am.
I had this idea about social media being like water. It all came about from me telling someone that too many companies are diving into the shallow end of the pool without thinking about hitting the bottom. As I drove to a meeting that idea kept bubbling and bouncing and I wanted to capture my thoughts and figured why not share them with you.
You’ll hear me call this live brainstorming and that is exactly what it is. It is far from a fully baked idea and I’d love your input on it. Some of my thoughts included:
- Don’t be afraid to dive into the deep end of the pool. Sometimes it makes more sense.
- Always look at the water you are diving into and try to make sure there are not major rocks or sticks that you are going to hit your head on.
- Sometimes going in feet first makes a lot more sense then head first.
- Water by itself can be boring after you have drank it a few times. What can you add to it that makes it more fun and refreshing?
- Water is best when added to other things.
- Water is made into beer.
- When you first walk into a pool or the ocean it is cold and scary, but the longer you spend in it you get more comfortable.
Am I crazy to say that social media is like water? I REALLY want your input and thoughts on this. I’m already putting together the presentation in my head.
Thank you for the continued support and if you have a moment leave an iTunes review. There have been some new listeners around these parts lately and I love hearing from you. Drop me an e-mail anytime.
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Riffin’ on Water
Too much water can make things waterlogged.
Too much water can make one drown.
Why are we looking for water on Mars? Because without it we die.
Water makes up the majority of our bodies. Should it make up a majority of our Marketing budgets?
Water keeps us cool in the summer.
Water makes the slip-n-slide work.
Water made the Grand Canyon…but it didn’t happen overnight:-)
CC: it sounds like you mean “Social Media is like a BODY of water”. You reference jumping in, looking for obstructions and such.
You could easily expand this thought into LIFE in general. Think about doing things like going to a party: Who will be there?, will I have a good time?, will there be people there I know?, …
Or going to the supermarket: Will I get everything on my list (if you shop with a list), is there anything on sale, what have they got on the clearance area…
Or going to a Concert: Will the opening act be good?, will they play my favourite song,
How about commuting, Will there be an accident that makes me late, Will I catch my Train/Bus/Boat/Plane?…
Most of these things are just part of life, and no matter how well you PLAN something, most often, the result is NOT what you have pre-determined. Here is where the beauty of Humanity comes to the surface (another water-diving reference). The more adaptable you are, the better the outcome will be. Some people are better than others in this sort of thing, and better yet, those that don’t place a desired outcome on the endevor usually have a better time, and get more out of any given situation.
I agree, you should Dive in to any situation. This is the only way you will learn new things, either about the situation, or about yourself and your skills. The more you expose yourself to new things, the more practice you get on developing your survival skills. By doing such, you will improve your quality of life, your confidence, and gain respect from your peers and from strangers. Not that they’d say you are fearless, but that you aren’t afraid to try new things, or look at things from other’s perspectives.
Perhaps I feel this way being a rather new First time Father, (20 month old girl now), and how I see her watching things, trying things and learning. It never ceases to amaze me what comments or reactions she makes to things that I take for granted. She has tought me a lot of things just by watching her, in the fact that she hasn’t seen many things before and it is all new to her. I have picked up on this, and am trying to apply this outlook to situations that I find myself in. I have already put it to use to find ways to be more economical, saving time and money at work and at home.
Another area to expand upon your water experience is ripples and waves. This reply is one such ripple in the pool you have created in asking for thoughts to expand upon your idea.
You have dug a hole, and now it is beginning to fill up with ideas and thoughts, collecting from what is all around.
The next thing that will develop from this is CURRENTS and EDDIES (counter-currents). With more input from others, there will begin a flow. It will be for each of us to swim with it, against it, or put up a dam and try to block it.
A good thing to remember, however, is that Water is the strongest force of nature, it will go where it wants to go, and you have to learn how to adapt to keep your head above water, lest you drown and loose sight of your goal(s).
How’s that for the first drip into your pond?
CC – I’ll make an analogy to learning how to swim (if you are going to be in the deep end, you need to know how to swim, right?). When you first jump in the deep end as a child, everything is scary, and if you were anything like me, you thought you were going to drown. But you quickly realized that if you just reached out your hand, your mother or father were there to save you. There are plenty of people in the social media space that are more than happy to be that lifeline to reach out to if you need help. Fairly quickly, you learn that the deep end isn’t really a scary place to be at all, and you no longer need to reach out for help every time you jump in.
Good grief, I can’t help myself…
Water is corrosive to some things (iron) but can be stored in others (aluminum)
Depending on temperature, water comes in three different phases: ice, liquid, and steam.
Add temperature to water and pressure is built up…enough to have powered the entire railroad industry.
In the past, waterways made up the trade routes for nations.
The same water that powers the Hoover Dam is the same water that destroyed New Orleans.
Loving this open brainstorming we’ve got going on here. Some great ideas already and in directions I had never even thought about. Keep it coming!
It’s funny, I immediately thought of Bruce Lee’s “be like water” quote and of something I wrote after reading the book Join the Conversation: http://morphingthrough.blogspot.com/2007/10/mastering-conversation-or-how-listening.html
But yes, you have some interesting metaphors
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This is worse than a “song bomb.” I’m gonna get you for this Chapman!
Water is used for putting out fires, but not ALL fires. Throwing water on a grease fire is DANGEROUS!
We dig wells to find water.
We’ll use anything that we can to find water, including peculiar methods like dowsing.
We describe moments of enlightenment as “watershed” moments.
Hey C.C.
Very interesting post you have here. One thing about water – too much of it at one time is a flood! I think many companies try to fit their message into the social media spectrum without researching or knowing how their customers USE their product & simply try to broadcast over them. Seth Godin calls it The Meatball Sundae.
Granted, having a lot of water is not necessarily a bad thing either. In fact many people pay a premium for a lot of water in a controlled situation – it’s called beach front realty. Knowing HOW to use the tools social media provides is essential to creating the kind of experiences that provide the most growth – and profit!
So really, it’s all about control & how it’s being used…or at least, that’s what I got out of your podcast.
Keep up the good fight, Mr. Chapman
Mark M.
C.C. Good stuff – similar idea struck me a few months back: Testing the (Social) Waters (http://justanothercustomer.com/testing-the-social-waters/97/). A few different takes on my end but I really do like the analogoy.
Andrew
I just discovered your podcasts on iTunes. Thus, I’m listening to a Dec ‘08 recording in Sept ‘09.
I use taglines like, “Having an online presence without a strategy is like owning a Ferrari without wheels.” In a recent presentation I used, “Having an online presence without a strategy is like having a swimming pool without water.” (This came with a warning: “You’re feet are wet, but don’t dive in yet!”) So, I too, used water as an analogy to social media, but as it relates to strategy.
Check out slides 6 and 8: http://www.slideshare.net/debidavis29/startup-model-1706149
Debi
. . . and one more I like: Learning about social media is like drinking from a fire hose!