Jim Murray

7 years ago · 2 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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A Mercifully Short Metaphorical Essay On Deepening Relationships In Social Media.

A Mercifully Short Metaphorical Essay On Deepening Relationships In Social Media.

usight. Hindsight . foresightMy friend, and former client, photographer Michael Kohn, who is a very bright guy, posted an interesting quote from Malcom Gladwell in which he was referencing Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.
"Connection is the goal. The quality of that connection, the quality of the information that passes through it, the quality of the relationship that connection permits—none of this is important. That a lot of social networking software explicitly encourages people to make weak, superficial connections with each other and that this might not be an entirely positive thing, seem to never have occurred to him."
Malcolm Gladwell (Really Smart Guy)

Everybody figures this out in their own time and in their own way.
The digital marketing community, represented by the big sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc.. are like whales swimming around with their mouths open sucking up anything that vaguely looks like food, referred to generally as plankton.
This plankton is the content that people like you and I are happy to provide. But more than that, it is also us as people.

Murray + Creative Director Onwords & Upwords Inc. & beBee Brand Ambassador I am a communications professional, arily a strategist & writer. I work with small to mid sized businesses, designers, art/creative directors & consultants to ate results driven, strategically focused mmunications in all on & offline media. Iam also a communications mentor, lyricist & prolific op/ed beBee blogger. : 416 463-3475 + Bmail: onandup3@gmail com » Skype: jimbobmur6l
These whales have conditioned us to look at this process of being food for them as something that will benefit us over time. They never actually say how long that is. And we believe them, and why not? We have no frame of reference for any of this because it is new in our experience.
The leaders of these digital entities become gurus because they control their own media flow, reach, direction, intensity and message.
I call it the big con. And we're all marks in it. A lot of people don't take it seriously, but they have us all completely profiled and are constantly selling our information to people who, in turn, want to sell us stuff.
But this only works as long as we're here providing food. It's a symbiotic relationship between us (the plankton) and the whales of social media.
We need them for amusement and the promise of connections to other plankton. They need us for content and profile data.
At the end of the day, however it's a hell of a lot more profitable for the whales .
The way you break the pattern is by leaving. But the whales have a secret weapon.
Our addiction and our need for interaction with each other, even if it just the tiny screams of plankton echoing in the blue ocean of bubbly goo.
This insight is not intended to persuade everyone to up and leave. Instead, it underscores the need to deepen our relationships with each other here inside this particular whale called beBee. Because I have come to believe this is a whale of a different and more humane persuasion.
Me

Don't let anyone dictate rules of behavior to you here. Be yourself. Reveal yourself. Solicit information and insight from others. Deepen your relationships to the point where they become beneficial to you instead of just interesting.
We are only using about 20% of our capability here at any given time. Up the percentage and see if you can't put your participation here to better use for you and the people you connect with.
I have done this several times. And, glorioski, it works.

dcbeca01.png

If your business has reached the point where talking to a communication professional would be the preferred option to banging your head against the wall or whatever, lets talk.

If you want to read more of my posts, you can do that here: 

https://www.bebee.com/publisher/@jim-murray
Download my free ebook, Small Business Communications For The Real World, here:

https://onwordsandupwords.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/small-business-communications-for-the-real-world/

All my profile and contact information can be accessed here:

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/this-post-is-my-about-page


All content copyright 2016 Jim Murray.



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#Essay #Relationships #plankton #Social Media #Mercifully Short
Comments

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #21

#29
Jim Murray beBee is great because of our bees. I much appreciate ideas to improve, and positive people. That's all. It doesn't mean that you need to agree with them. You have a lot of channels to let us know ( support, email, private message and this one ).

Jim Murray

7 years ago #20

#28
Thanks Javier beBee. I agree totally. I just don;t like writing posts that are all cheerleadery. As you probably know by now, that's just not in my nature. But I love BeBee and love to promote it.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #19

This is great Jim Murray. beBee is working for getting better , deeper and longer business relationships. The most important thing is to have a clear focus on what to do. We will deliver the best user experience as possible. But beBee is buzzing because of our bees. Buzz on !

Jim Murray

7 years ago #18

#25
Praveen Raj Gullepalli. That's very true in theory. The key is putting that theory into practice and there you invariably run into the 80/20 Differential with only 20% really taking advantage of the opportunity. BTW, I'm being generous with that 20%

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #17

#21
Great "daily giggle" - thanks Phil!

Jim Murray

7 years ago #16

#17
Phil Friedman....You're a poet and I'm pretty sure you know. Hope you don't blow it.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #15

#19
Thanks Wayne Yoshida

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #14

#18
Wayne, check out: https://youtu.be/beJzxaYzUqk . This one is funny.

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #13

Thanks Jim --- all users of social media platforms - meaning all of us - are "products" that are bought and sold. Any platform is useless without user input, which becomes content for the platform - and feeds the profile engines so we can be bought, sold or traded. Something to think about when a platform offers "premium" memberships for some price - who really benefits? What about platforms offering something for us users/creators of the content? Instead, they give us - more advertising and profiling and pop-ups and registration forms to fill in before viewing content for folks who want to sell us something. Maybe this will change . . . .

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #12

#17
Where are the Malteasers?

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #11

For the record, my first computer was an Apple II Plus. And my first smartphone a Motorola. So although I am a BeeZer, I am not a geezer. Or a sneezer. Or lately among the buzzing bees, much of a pleaser. Thank you, Jim, for this thought teaser.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #10

For the record, my first computer was an Apple II Plus. And my first smartphone a Motorola. So although I am a BeeZer, I am not a geezer. Or a sneezer. And lately among the buzzing bees, much of a pleaser. Thank you, Jim, for this thought teaser.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #9

#10
Brian McKenzie. I like a man who appreciates a 'huge' metaphor.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #8

#12
Claire Cardwell...They are indeed a distraction. Every time they make a noise people respond Like Pavlov's dog. I have a flip phone I treat like a home phone. I pick up messages just like back in the day. I only text my kids on my Ipad or computer because it's hard to reach them any other way.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #7

Jamie Davis....That's actually a veyr interesting point. The guys I am closest to here on beBee are all pre-digital like me. We've even called ouselves the Beezers. But also, thet are all great writers so we have that affinity. Win Win.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #6

#7
Jim, around dead things the only buzzing is by the flies. :-)

Jim Murray

7 years ago #5

#4
Nobody likes a smartass, Phil Friedman. Well, maybe a few of us.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #4

#3
I don't have a smart phone so I won;t be doing a live buzz. You'll just have to be happy with my plethora of dead buzzes.

don kerr

7 years ago #3

Great piece Jim Murray. BTW: be careful of Friedman's offer. I know it sounds enticing but I took him up on it and i swear the Brits were 'previously enjoyed' if you catch my drift. @Phil Friedman.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #2

Terrific post, Jim Murray. I agree 100% with deepening relationships in social media. BTW, did you get the T-shirt I sent you for liking my Facebook page ten times? If you retweet 30 of my tweets, I'll add a pair of briefs from Bikini Luxe.

David B. Grinberg

7 years ago #1

That's a whale of a message, Jim Murray, and a good one at that (as usual). I think more bees should use Live Buzz to deepen the social relationships you noted. There's a big difference between reading one's content and actually seeing a live video from the person to further articulate their points, message, personal brand. etc. I've also proven that one not have superstar good looks to utilize Live Buzz, nor must one be an expert speaker. To the contrary, it's the intrinsic human vulnerabilities which make us appear more human. So what do you say, Jim, how about a Live Buzz about the Blue Jays and your excitement about their being one step away from the World Series? As you say, the buzz is growing louder! Buzz on, my friend. cc: Javier beBee

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