How do you Communicate?
filed in Communications, Social Media, Thought Leadership on Apr.13, 2009
One test of social media effectiveness is whether people are listening to each other and relationships are being built. Some of the social networks I participate in are prone to shouting, with little evidence of people listening. Probably because of LinkedIn’s professional networking positioning, people tend to not only listen, but respond, contribute, and share.
I recently asked a question on LinkedIn about how people prefer to communicate. Since most of us (Boomers) have grown up with Outlook as our mail client, we rely on email as our primary communications channel for business. With the introduction of social networks and micro-blogging sites, we have more options these days, and I now receive a stream of messages from within the framework of LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
It’s all good, but I question the efficiency of having to keep up with multiple communications streams and constantly evaluate which ones are contributing to real business as opposed to sopping up precious time only to be rationalized as building my personal brand. I also wondered if members of Generation Y would choose differently than other demographics. So I asked:
“Which channel is your preferred one for regular communication? How do you decide when to message from email, LinkedIn, or Facebook? Why aren’t more of us using Twitter to stay in touch in “real time”? Please address as much or as little of this as you can. Your responses are highly valuable.”
I received a healthy dose of responses and any shortfall in numbers was overcome by the passion of the replies. I categorized responses in 7 categories: Face to Face, Phone, Email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter & Skype. Percentages reported are based on the number of responders to the total who indicated they regularly used the channel.
Predictably, Email won out with 75% indicating it was a principle communications tool. More interesting was that Facebook (37.5%), the Phone (37.5%), and LinkedIn (33.3%) ran almost a dead heat as a second priority. Face to Face meetings pulled a 20.8% figure but the low number could have been influenced by the way the question was written.
In the case of this modest survey, the qualitative remarks were the highlight.
The pros and cons of Email were noted: “Email is preferred for in-depth dialogues and information sharing experiences”, though “In an email, I can’t read inflections or any other visible signs. Also, I don’t know how long they have been polishing their answer to me – 5 seconds or 15 minutes. Finally, email is to easy to ignore by the receivers”.
Other channels had their lovers and haters:
Social Networks:
- “Social networking sites are good for mass, impersonal communications”
- “I prefer Twitter (and LinkedIn) for 1:many”
LinkedIn:
- “Linkedin … never lose a message, easy to find responses”
- “Due to the time constraints I primarily try to stick within the LinkedIn network”
Skype:
- “Used more than any other form of communication for voice, IM, and text”
- “Skype video conferencing for more in-depth communication”
Twitter:
- “Public and direct messaging through Twitter opens up totally new channels of communication and new ways to network”
- “Twitter is for twits, twerps, twots and who dunits”
- “As for Twitter, I generally think it’s impractical for most business use”
Facebook:
- “Facebook is extremely productive for groups – both public and private”
- “I personally see Facebook as a recreational tool, not a productivity tool”
Amidst the passion, I was reminded that relationships trump any favored technology ” Virtual communication … is not a substitute for the value of in-person or live voice-to-voice intimacy. When you really need to “talk”, make a date, Skype, meet in person, or speak by phone.”
And, even though F2F meetings didn’t pull big numbers, I couldn’t help but weight this vote with a healthy dose of common sense: “There is, and always will be, only one preferred method of communications. Eye ball to eye ball. Mano to mano. Look ‘em straight in the eye and make ‘em an offer they can’t refuse.”
No, Al Pacino is not in my network.
The response continued: “So, meet me at the bar, at the race track, on the golf course or over a hot game of poker. Look me in the eye and tell me what’s really happening. But be careful. I’ll know instantly if you’re full of @#it.”
With that sobering instruction, I was ready to call the Queen of Networking, Andrea Nierenberg to brush up my people skills.
One of the responders emphasized that synthesizing options would yield the best results: “With all of these … ways to communicate, it really comes down to finding about 3 tools to serve your purposes, personal, business, a cross-over or hybrid of both, and being able to cover all that from a mobile perspective is really the best marriage of tech and social media….relevant is the keyword”
Relevancy and suitability to task, these seem to be the umbrella learnings of the day, summed up with this practical advise “Of course as in anything in life, it all depends on the situation. Face to face is ideal and so is the telephone to really hear and connect. I use all forms as part of the communication.”
My thanks goes out to all the people in my LinkedIn network who responded to the question. I’ll never stop learning and hope you won’t either.
April 14th, 2009 on 9:15 am
Social networks are all about who you know and how you can utilize the right sources to your advantage, while continuously building social and professional relationships. Right now, Twitter is the social media phenomenon providing users with the ability to send mass messages to a wide ranged group or direct messages to individuals in real time, allowing connections to be established fast and conveniently. But with all of these different networks popping up, how are sites going to maintain a faithful member base when the next social trend kicks in?
I suggest checking out how eZanga.com, a search engine specializing in pay-per-click advertising, has revamped social networking with their recently launched site, http://www.HopOnThis.com. Members earn cash and prizes by staying socially active on this free site, providing businesses a strong member base to market your product and/or service.
April 14th, 2009 on 5:06 pm
I find this so interesting. There is a massive amount of information here, all relevant, & interestingly enough, I wish I had been able to respond to your survey request (I’m not usually a big fan of ‘the survey’… but I would’ve loved the opportunity to provide my thoughts on this one)… that said, I’ll give my two cents now, for what that’s worth (ha!)…
I’d like to note, first, that I see that you ‘throw in’ bits of irrelevance hither & thither, (Outlook?) in order to ‘up the ante’ on your feedback, am I right? Goodness… what a stroke of brilliance! The problem being for me, I’m the type of person not only wanting, but NEEDING to respond to every itty bit of it; but I’ll refrain, (with much regret and consternation), since I am a believer in expedience & the efficient response. Which as you see, is all but impossible for me.
My most desired forms of communication, would be dependent upon the task, that said, most recently, I’ve been in search of affiliatory work relationships… I’ve discovered Twitter, and am hoping to move business into a global exchange of ideas, so reaching into a larger community of interest with Twitter, is a huge benefit. That’s where I start. Once a connection is established, & there is a common bond or area of workable interest, I connect through a more reasonable, more elaborate means of communication, and since writing comes easily, email works best, although that could also be accomplished through LinkedIn, depending upon whether there was any sort of security or safety fear on my part… I believe that would be a better used resource for a woman, under those conditions, since it is a bit more public, and under someone’s watchful eye, as it were. I haven’t yet been able to move beyond this point, and I can foresee this being an obstacle, since I’m not able to effectively communicate via phone, I have a worry with regard to video chat or web-based video solutions, and, furthermore, I require, as you’ve intimated in your article, eye to eye contact in order to communicate at a level of understanding I need in order to move forward. I move on intuition, & understand with clarity, as do you, it seems.
I’m astounded. You’ve made me eat words I never expected to devour. Surveys, word abundance, loyalty programs, sales… all words I’d effortlessly removed from my repertoire, which now need further review.
I suppose I should thank you & ask for a hearty portion of your time in order to incorporate these practices into my experience.
Hope to talk soon.
April 15th, 2009 on 1:04 pm
Bill,
Thanks for the compiliation and the tongue-in-check references to my earlier post. Your post truly proves the real value of the network and the social media which help enable it. We both knew this years ago when we flew around the world, building a one-of-a-kind global loyalty network by offering research, information and know-how as real value in return for network participation and local market knowledge. F2F was instrumental – although all other tech enabled communications tools facilitated the approach – it was NOT until we showed up to legitimize the exchange that trust, truth, and confidence created the foundation for communications.
While I rely on social media for informational value, networking facilities and eventual business exchange, I worry about the shouting and the potential for distortion. I have recently closed my first assignment where the lead was solely traced to social media but my approach is still cautious. The info, the network’s power and the eventual outcome are, and always will be tempered, until we trust each other. And no other channel builds trust (or destroys it) faster than F2F.
The next time you see Al Pacino, tell him I apologize.
April 16th, 2009 on 11:08 am
Thanks for the comments. Being a “green” thinker, I am always curious about emerging technologies, especially those that we may leverage to create more sincere and valuable dialogue with our customers, business partners, network. I am also cautious and therefore agree that F2F is where trust is solidified, if not wholly established. Think of social media as casting your net wider than you ever thought possible. If you’ve tossed a cast net, you know that it collects all sorts of stuff, animate, inanimate, useful, and not at all. The phone, email, and F2F are the tools we still use to sort out what comes in our social media nets!