I just read an article about how Ashton Kutcher and CNN had a friendly race to see who could get 1 million twitter followers first… you can bet that CNN thought they’d beat him by a landslide. I’ll give you the link to the article in the P.P.S.
But guess what? Ashton won.
He gets that social media isn’t the same old CNN media — it’s, well, SOCIAL. It’s about connecting with people on a more personal level, interacting, not just reporting the news.
This reinforced a conversation I had this morning with Rebecca Shapiro (on Twitter, @RebeccaShapiro) talking about how the world has gone flat again.
Until 1492, the general belief was that the world was flat. Christopher Columbus bumped into America and blew that idea out of the water. *Poof!* reality is turned on it’s head and the world is round.
2004 – the term “Web 2.0” is coined and the social media emerges like a phoenix from the ashes of the dot-com collapse. (I’m generalizing here, don’t quote this as gospel) This is when Rebecca and I have decided the world flattened out again.
Before Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, people couldn’t connect as easily and instantly from all points on the globe. I got an email from and artist in Australia today who has been enjoying my blog… I just started blogging in June and I’ve never been to Australia so I’m pretty sure social media is responsible for the connection.
With this change in the way we can access people, interact and relate — we need to change the way we do business. No longer can you just put something online and assume customers will come to you. They have more choices than ever. They want to know, like and trust the people they do business with. Talk to. Social Medialize with.
And that’s why I think Ashton won the race. He was live-streaming, talking, reading tweets and getting to know us. CNN told us to follow them so they could win. I turn to CNN for my news but I spend 100 times more time on Twitter I can assure you.
So why am I telling you all of this? To get you to think about how you are working your business. How are you interacting with others, networking and getting connections?
Thankfully you don’t have to golf and belong to a country club to succeed anymore, you can sit in your pjs, online and tweet away! I’d be sunk, like my golf ball in a deep lake, if I had to rely on the “good old boys” way of networking because I have interest in golf. But give me a keyboard and I have some things to say!
But for now, that’s all I have to say about that! Have a creative day!
~ Tara
P.S. Rebecca is the founder of a very cool onlin community for women entrepreneurs. (Not just artists, although she is one) Check it out at: www.thesavvycollaborative.com
P.P.S. (Click here to read the article)
Ah yes, the world, she’s a changin’. Looking forward to the coming years!
Great post. 😉
Tara,
You hit the nail on the head. These old media folks don’t get how the world is changed.
Look at these stats as of 4/18/09:
Ashton Kutcher: 1,165,995 followers, 80 following
Tony Hawk: 430,312 followers, 46 following
Oprah Winfrey: 281,922 followers, 10 following
CNN: 1,065,671 followers, 6 following
These big time media people are doing it the same way they always have. They expect us to listen to them, but they aren’t listening to us. CNN is only following other CNN feeds and Anderson Cooper. Oprah is following Larry King, Ashton, and Demi. They are only talking to other celebrities.
The magic of social media is finding surprising connections. A couple of days ago, I was having a silly Twitter conversation with a few folks about a funny video. A woman who I had never heard of piped up, and we exchanged a couple of Tweets. The next day she listed me for Follow Friday as one of several “Near and Dear” to her. I wrote that I was honored she thought I was “near and dear” and I hadn’t known her 24 hours yet. She said that making her laugh goes a long way.
Here’s the kicker, though. After reading each other’s blogs from this chance connection on Twitter, the two of us realized we may be able to do some business together.
That’s what social media is all about.
Follow me: @JayKoch
You just never know who you will meet on Twitter! Last week I had a font expert as a guest on my AskTaraReed.com call – we “met” because of a tweet I posted about cooking chicken for dinner.
You and I connected on Twitter during the Teleseminar Secrets class and then chatted in person in San Francisco. That entire event would have been so different for me if it weren’t for social media.
Thank you for the great addition to my thoughts — keep smiling and twittering!
Tara