A humorous video at the bottom of this post points out all the reasons one would want to commit social media suicide. The video cites reasons like losing real-life connections with friends and family members, as well as a general real-life social absence that could make a user feel alienated from the rest of the world.
All valid, I suppose, for anyone who is completely obsessed with social media to the point where real relationships begin to suffer. If you're one of those people, by all means, commit social media suicide.
If you're simply doubtful of social media's value and you're considering getting rid of your social media profiles, keep your finger off the killswitch. Step away now!
The social media suicide machine works by deleting your contacts on the various social media sites and changing your passwords so that you can never resurrect yourself in the likely case you have a change of heart. Much like real life, once you're dead, you're dead.
If you're still considering using the Dr. Kevorkian of Web programs, let me give you a few reasons to keep your social media accounts around:
Social media is a vastly growing technology
We've seen social media sites grow in popularity and number with incredible speed during the past few years. Truth be told, social media sites have been around since the mid-1990s. Remember Classmates.com? Perhaps you still use it. The site was one of the first that paved the way for sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the like. If you ever used Classmates, you probably look back thinking that the site was way ahead of its time. It allowed users to reach old high school and college classmates that had fallen out of touch, or simply off the face of the earth. Back in the days of dial-up and AOL popularity, Classmates just seemed like it couldn't really get a proper footing. While the site is still very much around and used, the differences between Classmates and Web 2.0 social media sites are a clear indication of the types of advancements social media sites have made since the mid-90s. Imagine five years from now when we're talking about Facebook and Twitter the same way we think about Classmates. Social media technology will continue to advance and, most importantly, get better in serving the individual needs of the user. Jumping off the social media bandwagon right now would be like swearing off Taco Bell before the advent of the Chalupa. The delicious, delicious Chalupa. Don't be so callous.
The conversation needs you. Yes, YOU!
Privacy concerns in social media are very real for some people, and I completely understand them. For me, social media is a way to get myself and my brand out there, so I don't really have a lot of privacy concerns with the exception of horrible, deplorable spam. In fact, Forbes.com's Mike Schaffner recently wrote about the death of social media. The killer, he surmised: spam. I agree with Schaffner's take that spam is a huge annoyance on social media sites — especially MySpace, which really hasn't been able to get a handle on the problem — and it's enough to keep casual users from logging on and participating. For the most part, however, social media has become something that most people use on a regular basis, and I don't see how most of them would leave the sites for a little spam. Schaffner also argues that the commercialization of social media sites is also becoming more and more unappealing to most users. I see his point, but I don't agree. If anything, I believe the presence of more and more companies and businesses on social media sites makes for not only a better social media atmosphere, but better companies and businesses.
Look, the whole idea behind social media is to create a conversation. You're a Facebook user, right? Why do you update your status? Is it because you think your friends really care that you took grandma to knitting class this morning? No. It's because you're trying to start a conversation. People who think about their status updates tend to spark the most conversation. I had a friend recently post a status about Florida head coach Urban Meyer's recent health issues stemming from stress. My friend's post was somewhat controversial in nature — I believe it included the words "pompous ass" — and it created a buzz among his friends. So much so, that it reeled in 36 comments in a relatively short period of time. He seemed a little shocked that so many people responded — and mostly with bad things to say about the status — but I would argue that he did exactly what social media is intended to do: He started a conversation. Good or bad, it's still a conversation, and I'd be willing to be more of his friends are now apt to paying attention to what he writes in his status updates.
The same is true for businesses on social media sites. Now, I wouldn't recommend businesses try to start conversations about whether or not Urban Meyer is a pompous ass, but businesses that start social media conversations help themselves, which, in turn, helps the user or the consumer. Think about this: Let's say you follow your favorite video game company on Facebook. This company released a brand new game that's supposed to be the biggest thing since Pong. You, as a loyal customer, go out and buy this game and notice that it's not everything it's cracked up to be. What can you do about it? Besides complain to your friends, you can go back on to Facebook and post on the company's page about all the faults you found in the game. If social media works the way it should (and it will), others will join in the conversation about the flaws. If the company is paying attention to its social media strategy the way it should be (and it is), your input, as well as that of the folks who joined in the conversation, will go right to the people who make the decisions within the company. The great thing about social media sites for consumers like you and me is that, while companies can spark a conversation, they can't control it. Good companies wouldn't want to, anyway. Good and bad, the company would find out about what its consumers want. Isn't that what we, as consumers, want: a company that is going to pay attention to our needs and demands? Please, tell me a better way to get something like that across than social media.
Connections don't get frayed through social media
Take a look at your Facebook friends list or the list of people you follow on Twitter. How many of those people do you actually know? For Facebook, I'd wager that you've at least met nearly all of them. Twitter, it's probably much less, but you likely follow people who talk about things you're interested in. I can only talk about my own experiences, but I've found that the connections I've made through Facebook and Twitter have only served to strengthen the connections I have with those same people in real life. Through Facebook, I've found a bunch of friends I had fallen years out of touch with. I've even found a few family members I had lost track of or hadn't even met yet. Through Twitter, I've strengthened personal connections by learning about shared interests I have with other people I may never have otherwise found out about. Who knows where that could lead me in the future?
Social media is like anything. Building little ships inside bottles is a great hobby, but it can overtake your life and ruin your personal connections if you do too much of it. So can stamp collecting, an unhealthy obsession with Slip 'n Slides and sports (unless you have a cool wife that loves football, like me). But if used the right way, these things can add to a normal, healthy life (OK, maybe not the Slip 'n Slide obsession, but you get my point). What social media offers that these other things don't, however, is the ability to find more people who are into the same stuff you are. You may be a crazy Slip 'n Slide enthusiast, and without social media, you may think you're the only one. But through social media, look: there's 288 people just like you. Imagine the conversations you could have with them. And imagine what you'd be missing out on if you commit social media suicide.
As promised, here's the funny video from Vimeo about the suicide machine:
web 2.0 suicide machine promotion from moddr_ on Vimeo.
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