So many channels, nothing to say

Many many years ago, I forget when, I started a linkedin profile.

Then came facebook. So dutifully I got a facebook profile.

Then came twitter and sure enough I signed up.

Shortly thereafter, there was G+, Path, Pinterest all of which I signed up to. (sequence not important for the point I try to make!)

It was new. It was shiny. Everyone was on it. So of, course did I.

Over time I have reduced my activity to two : Facebook and twitter where I am comfortable, I have something to say and judging by the response so are those who follow me or read my stuff. (I am not counting blogging here, purely because it is still niche and dependant on personal interest)

The way I use facbook is to share/talk personal stuff. Things I find interesting or enjoyable at a personal level.

twitter on the other hand is professional, serious stuff.

That is not the recommended, or right way, just that it is my way.

I have many friends who have linked the two and what they tweet and what they post are the same. To my mind it defeats the purpose of the 2 channels. But that’s my opinion.

I mention this only because, recently I was in a conversation with a client who was harping on about the need for an app. Not that the app would be wrong, but we were discussing the channel, before discussing the strategy.

This is symptomatic of the many meetings I’ve been part of where managers want to be on every single channel that’s out there so that they can be on the latest shiny object.

Then the decay kicks in. Either because of lack of consumer engagement or lack of content or something more prosaic like budgets.

I always prefer/recommend that no matter how modern the technology, the old principles of who are we talking to and what do we want to say are even more important. It anchors everything you do, so that when the next thing comes along one is able to evaluate the need to be on it or not.

Very simple, obvious post I know, but considering that these conversations still take place, it seems one can never repeat often enough.