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Social and Anti-Social

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The 21st century forms of communication include social media. These venues, like Facebook and Twitter, feature the opportunity for interaction. Comments or replies, likes or favorites, those are the things that put “social” into social media.

Together with our blog site at 228Main.com and the weekly email newsletter, digital communications helped us stay connected with you when life was challenging. I’ll ever be grateful for being in the right place at the right time to use these methods to stay connected.

Social media can be a source of news and information and perspective. Experts in many fields are on Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook. These are sources we did not have in the olden days.

But there is a dark side to social media. Some use their participation to send negative messages or say hurtful things, or promote stuff that just isn’t worthy of your attention. We’ve heard some say “Twitter is a cesspool” or “There is so much garbage on Facebook.”

The slang term for a person who posts objectionable viewpoints as comments on another’s post is “troll.” It may just be part of human nature, not a unique feature of social media. At the café, barbershop or salon there is also a mix of people with a mix of opinions and varying ways of expressing them.

But objectionable people and posts can be blocked or hidden on social media. Life is too short to pay attention to trolls. Blocking and muting are valuable skills you can use to keep your social media from being a ‘cesspool’ or full of garbage.

Nobody needs to be on social media to get our viewpoints, not with 228Main.com out there and the weekly email newsletter. But if you are on it, you are welcome to connect or follow. There are social media links on the home page of 228Main.com.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

Our Digital Communications: 4th Anniversary

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As we complete four years in the world of digital communications, it makes sense to take stock. What have we gotten done, where are we headed?

We began with three thoughts. We had the intent to be able to communicate at the speed of light when events demanded – sort of a civil defense system for times of stress. And we wanted to communicate with all of you each week about our current thinking on a wide variety of topics. Finally, make available a complete archive of our philosophy and strategies, for you to find and read on your schedule, available 24/7.

We worked out a way to deliver these things with a combination of three methods. Nobody needs to access all three, but we can reach more of you by being more places.

228Main.com hosts our blogs, nearly 400 already published, one or two new ones each week. Daily posts in social media offer additional features, plus links to the blog articles, comments about developments in our thinking, and weekly short videos. And weekly email newsletters provide links to the new blog posts and videos, along with schedule notes.

We love the way you forward emails or like or share our Facebook or Twitter posts. Some of your friends and relatives have gotten to know us this way, at their leisure, with no threat of us bothering them with unwanted approaches (as if we ever would!) The 21st century is a great place to live if you like to communicate.

We are working on consolidating selected blog posts into books, thinking about a YouTube channel to make our video library more searchable, and continuing to explore new ways to communicate.

21st century communications played a key role as we met the challenges of the last few years. But instead of being a pale substitute for the way we had done business before, we learned that more communication is just plain good for you and good for us.

If you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

New Media is Bigger Than You Know

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The first birthday of our online communication efforts is upon us. 228main.com was intended to provide us with a means to talk to a lot of clients at once, especially useful in times of stress. There were other objectives as well.

We know that communications influence behavior; behavior influences investment outcomes; and client outcomes are what we are about. The new media lets us highlight each day the thing we find most pertinent or interesting. We can drive home the lessons that help people invest and plan effectively.

If you follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you know we have created some regular features to help us tell our story. The Junior Staff and Market Haiku show up weekly, along with links to pertinent articles and news.

The most surprising thing we’ve learned about the new media is how useful it has been to people we know, for much broader purposes than business communications. One retiree became acquainted with Twitter to keep up with a grandchild’s college sports team. A sports fan has grown a custom news feed of local print and broadcast sportswriters as well as recruiting clearinghouses, player and team accounts and other knowledgeable fans. A political junkie collects thoughts from candidates, opinion leaders, polling experts and major newspapers. We follow the best minds in the business world. Others pursue news about hobbies or interests.

In other words, Twitter can be a customized information source, tailored by you to your preferences. You choose the sources to follow. Whether or not you register, you can see our daily quick notes and commentary. You do not have to ever post anything in order to use the tool. However, if you do have a message, you can get it out.

LinkedIn, we’ve noticed, is more of a business forum and networking affair. Facebook is popular with many of our clients for many reasons. People see what their children or grandchildren are up to, and keep up with more distant relatives like never before. Facebook also allows businesses to have pages, which is how we can communicate with those who choose to ‘like’ our Facebook page.

Perhaps the biggest misperception among non-users is the idea that the whole world will know what you are up to if you participate. The fact is, you choose what to publish and who to interact with, if anybody. Many people just take in information, and post or publish very little. You might explore these venues to see if they can improve your life. The menu buttons at 228main.com can connect you.