Renee Warren

Using Your “Horse Sense” in Social Media

Posted by renee on July 14th, 2010

“Common sense is not so common.” –Voltaire

For some people, using social media comes naturally. They seem to enter each new social network knowing exactly what to do and say, and they love the experience.

For many more people, though, social media savvy doesn’t come naturally. Just creating a new Facebook or Twitter account takes time, and it might even be frustrating. Users fill in the proper details and familiarize themselves with the settings. And before actually using the network, posting messages or creating connections, they need to understand how the community works.

No one wants to offend others inadvertently by posting the wrong kind of content or ignoring unwritten rules.

Sound tricky? It can be. While someone who has grown up using social media may say it requires nothing more than common sense, the reality is often far different. That may be why over 60 percent of new Twitter users abandon their accounts within the first month of use.

Mistakes People Make on Social Media

Account abandonment usually occurs for a few select reasons. Some people create social media accounts expecting automatic conversation. When that doesn’t happen, they’re disappointed. Rather than spending time starting conversations or joining other people’s conversations, they simply stop logging on and walk away.

Others view social media as an advertising platform, splattering their accounts with promotional or self-serving messages. This may seem like common sense to people experienced in traditional marketing, but for those not versed in those marketing messages, the promotion becomes a social media faux-pas.

Rather than generating new business, these people generate hostility – or worse, they’re blacklisted as spammers and forbidden access.

The Right Way to Social Media Mastery

Expecting everyone using social media to use common sense can lead to disappointment. It’s better to approach social media as a foreign country with foreign customs, no matter who you might be. What’s acceptable in one country may be taboo in another, so do the research. Read about the networks you’re joining and their codes of conduct. If you know a social media “native” or experienced user, ask that person for some orientation.

If you don’t have that mentor available, take some time to listen and observe what happens within the network. How do people communicate with each other? How does the community react to different attitudes and behaviors? What seems to be working for others, and what seems to impede progress?

By paying attention to the people around you, the right behaviors start to seem like common sense … and only you know what it took to make it look so easy.

What aspects of social media do you think are common sense? What took time to learn? Leave your response in the comments section below.

Tags: common sense, social media
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