Career News 24/7: The Cynical Girl: Social Media is Pointless Without the People

Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Cynical Girl: Social Media is Pointless Without the People

Social Media is Pointless Without the People

Posted: 23 May 2012 03:45 AM PDT

Back in 2009, I sat on stage at a SHRM conference in New Orleans and talked about social media, technology and Human Resources. It was the last session on the final day of the conference — and the session changed my life.

No, it didn’t change my life because it was so intellectually awesome. I’m not sure we really broke new ground on social media and HR. The panel changed my life because I became REAL friends with China Gorman, Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee and Lance Haun.

And if I think about the people in the audience on that day, I became friends with many other HR peeps in attendance. In fact, I fell in love and have shared many hotel rooms since that conference with one of them.

And some good people in that room were inspired by that session and started blogging because of the really smart things said by China Gorman, Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee and Lance Haun. How cool is that?

Social media is dumb and makes us lonely unless we can convert our narcissistic impulses and voices in our head into meaningful interactions in life. Texting, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter can’t help you find a soul mate or your kindred spirit — but if you are someone like me who lives thousands of miles away from the people that she loves, my smartphone can bridge the gap.

And isn’t that what life is all about? Yes, sharing ideas on my blog is fabulous — but I want to see the people I love and eat ice cream and cupcakes.

So I’m probably going to haul my ass down to Atlanta in June to connect with amazing HR professionals. Who cares about Twitter and Facebook groups? I just want to visit with my friends at SHRM12, get a little smarter by association and enjoy the company of the people I adore.

Forget about social media. The media part is a tool. The social part is a lifeline.