All in Social Media

We are creatures of habit

Don Martelli

Whether you call yourself organized or whether you are a fly by night type of person, we are all creatures of habit. We get up in the morning, head off to school/work, hit @dunkindonuts, get to our destination and settle in for a day filled of mini-routines (checking email, Twittering, updating your status of Facebook, entering your time, etc.). Regardless of what the routines are, we all have them.

With that in mind, I've been closely watching people get on and off the train as I head to work every morning. When I get to State Street Station, there are two options coming from the north side - either you head up the stairs on the right, or your walk around to the escalator that's on the left. Typically, there are familiar faces on the train everyday (doing their routines). I've watched them decide which way to get off the train and head up to Downtown Crossing - some left, some right.

Finding inspiration on the Interwebs

Don Martelli

Flickr Photo Credit: shadphotosThe people that know me (an no, not the people I am friends with on Twitter), but the people that tailgate with me, hang out in my backyard and BBQ steak while drinking @magichat and puffing stogies, will tell you that I'm an even keeled kind of guy. It takes a lot for me to get riled up about something -- unless it's sports. I don't have ADD or anything like that. It's basically what I call veg-out mode.

Veg-out mode is something I experience at least once a day with the Interwebs. You see, as someone who has to stay on top of all things social media, I feel like I'm online constantly. That's not what gets me into veg-out mode. What does get me into that mode is the content. I think I'm fairly well read. I subscribe to a ton of blogs and watch a ton of videos. For a space that's on the "cutting edge" it can get a bit stale after a while. Lots of people are writing about the same things. They are creating podcasts that talk about the importance of community. They are talking about trust. They are talking about a lot of things. Yes, I understand what I'm reading and the implications of things like trust and community. What gets me into the veg-out mode is duplication of content. There are a few people out there that are truly leading the conversation about social media. The rest are just carbon copies. 

The kids don't tweet

Don Martelli
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I was at a Northeastern University event recently where the audience was a mix bag of administrators, faculty, staff and students. It's always interesting to watch an audience of one brand mix and interact. I've working in education before - both at the college level and the prep school level - and the distance between each group is pretty much the same. The faculty is always riffing with the administrators. The students enjoy the buffer between them and the teachers. And so on and so on. 

It was interesting to hear the groups interact with each other and talk about university issues. One of the common topics was social media and its use. A lot of the talk was about the fun aspect of it and connecting with old friends. One small conversation I was part of evolved around Twitter. To my surprise (though I'm not sure why it really shocked me) was that no one really seemed to get it. What can we, as a university use it for; how should we use it; who should be using it, etc. The biggest message I received from the group was that all the stories about teens not using Twitter is absolutely true.

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