MNAMA '09, Part Two: Social Media Roundup

Now that Jen has had the opportunity to share a few of her impressions about the MN-AMA conference, it's my turn to dish a bit about the social media presentations we attended. I'll admit this right up front: I was curious to see if the presenters would be building up the Social-Media-as-Panacea Phenomenon that I see all too often. I was happy to see that my common sense manifesto was the prevailing theme of the day.

To shamelessly paraphrase James Carville, "It's the relationships, stupid."

As a social media consultant, I see my role as demystifying social media — taking down the veil of mystery (and the accompanying wave of panic!) that social media represents for so many savvy, intelligent people. Jen and I live and breathe social media — it was a no-brainer that it would be a core element of our business model. Just imagine the look on our faces when one of the introductory speakers for the keynote address was discussing the (large) proportion of Facebook users who log in daily and she extemporized, "Who are these people?" Seriously? At that point, I began to wonder just a bit at what the day was to hold for me on the "social media" track.

My fears were quickly assuaged when I entered the hall where the Geek Girls — Nancy Lyons and Meghan Wilker of Clockwork took the stage. Entertaining and engaging, they had me cheering internally with their message that social media is less about "fabulosity" and more about forging real connections. I guess you could say they were preaching to the choir.

My favorite moment in the presentation came when an audience member asked a statistical question and moments later, an iPhone-wielding librarian in the audience handily provided the answer. Now that's the power of technology (not to mention librarianship) in action.

Next up was John Olson, who also aimed to back up from the "noise" surrounding social media, focusing his speech heavily on connection. In a professorial fashion, he took us from La Belle Epoch to Palermo's grassroots anti-mob campaign fueled by black-and-white flyers up to the use of Twitter in the Iranian election in June in his overview of how various tools have been used to forge connections. It was refreshing to see social media given a bit of grounding in a historical perspective.

I was surprised when Olson — who spoke at length about his agency's approach to thinking in social circles — claimed to utterly neglect his own Facebook profile. "I don't really understand broadcasting your life," he opined. "Perhaps someone here could explain it to me." I didn't take him up on that particular challenge, but I did note with no small amount of irony he followed that rejoinder up with an incredible story of how through Facebook he was able to reconnect across countries and languages with a former caregiver for his adopted son. Pretty incredible stuff.

So there you go, folks. Social media offers you a new set of tools to be used in service to the timeless human goal of creating connections with those around us. This is true whether you are thinking in terms of your private life or your business. Not exactly groundbreaking in terms of my own professional development, I'm afraid, but a most enjoyable day all the same.