Chivalry Dying in Social Media

I wonder how you affect peoples lives on a day to day bases on Twitter.

“If you want to be respected, then respect.”

Since 60% of my traffic comes from social media, I am sure most of you can relate. Most people now days have a Twitter account but it depends on how what they do with it.

I am sensing the quality of social media depleting as far as content and respect for each other. I can even remember a year ago, I didn’t see people be rude to each other, swearing at one another, and then unfollowing the person they didn’t agree with like a child. I remember when Twitter was more professional and less personal. Although I can attest that I tweet a lot of personal things!

“Chivalry is depleting through this intangible universe.”

What happened to the respect of DM’ing someone if you had a problem with them. Instead of humiliating them infront of thousands of people?

Has social media become so comfortable that we have forgotten what it’s like to be a gentlemen to a woman even online? Such acts should not be lost to the internet. Yet for some reason people feel they have the right too, whether it be the follower count or their blog traffic. Chivalry should not be lost online, but I sense it depleting through seems of this intangible universe.

If you wouldn’t say something to someone in person, then don’t say it to them online. If you wanted to be respected, then respect. Instead of bashing someones design work and talking about how awful it is, why not encourage them instead and give them tips on how to improve. As much as success is dependent on your own work ethic and yourself, it is also weighing on the people around you and who you surround yourself with. There are precious people in my life that have helped me get to where I am today. Even when people would try to pull me down I surrounded myself with positive and encouraging people. Be yourself online, say what you feel is right, but please don’t forget that real hearts are on the other side of your words, perceiving everything you have to say and are be affected by it every single day.

If you were to look back at your social media stream in 20 years, what would you think?

Be confident, be encouraged, be respectful to be respected.

Social Prep School

I had an interesting conversation come up today on Twitter due to one of my tweets. It was made more out of frustration than actually wanting a response from it. I had sent a tweet out saying why I didn’t understand why people follow people just to get followed. People have clearly missed the big picture of Twitter. Twitter should be used for yourself (You need to be a little selfish) and to grow your network and help others when possible.

Making Yourself Known
If you’ve followed someone new that you look up to, or were inspired by, make your presence known. Send them a quick tweet introducing yourself. Although they may never respond, most usually do. Even if it’s a short response, you made yourself transparent and known. Following someone who doesn’t know about you, doesn’t profit you anything. You might as well not follow them unless they have some very pivotal things to say, or are some CEO of a famous startup. But even then, I lose interest in someone who doesn’t engage with their community.

Be Inviting
I send out tweets often to my latest followers, thanking them for following me and asking for them to introduce themselves. I have found some incredible and quality people this way. Your followers want to know that you care about them and that you will talk to them. They want to be seen, just like you want to be seen.

Stand On The Edge
I tweet everyday and test the waters often. I use two Twitter clients which is the Crowdbooster dashboard and Birdbrain application for iPhone. I use Crowdbooster to see my impressions of my tweets, my follower growth, and it also gives me tips on how to improve my connections. I use Birdbrian to see who un follows me. Not because I am stickler for people un following me, but by using Crowdbooster and Birdbrain combined I can do my own analysis on my tweets.

Find Balance
I can go from tweeting extremely professional things, advice and inspirational quotes. To pictures of my everyday life and more personal things. I’ve learned to keep a balance of professionalism and transparency. People react to what they can relate too and will remember you for that. Building a connection with your audience on twitter is more vital than your follower count or how popular you may or may not be.

Filling Up The Social Bottle

The more in-depth I become with the internet I realize how vital it is to keep tweeting, blogging and making connections. If you’re looking for a job, trying to get better in your field, or just wanting to become more popular in your niche’; then I have a few secrets for you!

Being a Slave to the Tweet-Ahcholic Bottle
If you’re tweeting about yourself, your niche, or your own work thats one thing. But consistently tweeting links about other people during the day will bring your follower count down dramatically. People are not following you for links, they are following you, for YOU! Think about it this way, over time you tweet a link, you’re promoting that site and that person, not you. Only do this in moderation, say, 2-3 times a week if you are an avid tweeter. Also, it’s better to tweet links your friends have given you, because that way you are supporting them and in turn, they will support you.

I am not saying that I was never guilty of this. I totally was. When I first started using Twitter all I did was post links to articles and re-tweet like crazy, just so someone would re-tweet me back or until I got a mention. It really profited me nothing but spam followers and an occasional design follower.

Sure, it’s being a little selfish on Twitter, but if you want your following to increase, you have to make sacrifices. I find Facebook to be a better place to post links to articles and websites.

Recruiters Are Smarter Than You Think
Your follower count on Twitter, your connections on Linkedin, your Facebook friends, guess what, it matters. Recruiters are constantly looking for talent, especially in the valley and if you have an online presence you’re more than likely to get in contact with some sort of Startup.

Designers,
Keep your Dribbble shots clean and somewhat professional. Recruiters are looking on there more than ever to find talented designers. Dribbble speaks a thousand words to future employers and it’s very likely that it may be the key to your next gig.

Create a brand within yourself, promote, but dont overly promote. Best of all be yourself. Natural charisma is an important key to filling up the social bottle. ;)