It’s People… The Internet is Made of People…

Do any of you remember Soylent Green? Not the band… the movie. It's a futuristic thriller staring the late great Charlton Heston. I normally abstain for talking about an end of a movie, but this one is so old and bad, so I thought I would save you two hours of your life. Since the world is so over populated, there is not enough food to go around so the government distributes these nutritionally packed little squares of goodness called Soylent Green (tastes just like chicken… Yum!). The movie climaxes as Charlton tries to warn the world as he is carried away from the food processing plent… “It's People… Soylent Green is made of People”.

So by now your are asking yourself… “Self?  What's the point?”  Well I am here to remind you…  “It's People…  The Internet is Made of People!”

I was giving a speech at the Aurora Regional Chamber of Commerce to a group of non-profit peeps for the Fox Valley. One of the questions was about safety on Facebook.  “Some guy mentioned on Facebook that he was going on vacation…  and when he got home his home had been broken into”.  my answer to that was “Sha…”.

Sometimes common sense eludes people…  sometimes people are just more clever than us.  Take the case of the people who read Facebook posts about kids going on spring break, and then they call their grandma to ask for help in the form of money…  It called the Grandma Scam!

I am often asked, “Why all this spam and hacking, and Facebook take over attempts?”…   “It's Money…  The Internet Scam is Made of Money!”

There is no I in Team…  But there are two in WII…

Seth Godin is to internet marketing as Tiger Woods is to golf (without all the extra-curricular activity as far as I know).  (A good video here)  In one of his blogs  he simply states  “It's not about you…  It's about them!”. What he is trying to tell us is that internet communications is about the reader not the writer.  We are all guilty of being “Me” focused once in a while, but tools like Facebook and LinkedIn are relational tools… but they are often confused as advertising tools.

Here's three simple tips to help you make those tools become relationship builders…

1) Give – Be on the lookout for news, interesting articles, blog posts and opportunities for others.  When you find them…  share them.  You will be amazed how giving begets giving and you will become the proud recipient of reciprocity!

2) Get Involved – If someone makes an interesting post…  comment, enhance or engage.  On LinkedIn, join groups and post and answer questions.  You can learn a lot from this huge think tank called the internet!

3) Be Consistent – Just like diets and exercise… slow and steady wins the race.  Too often people enter with a ball of fire and leave with a puff of smoke.  Set aside a consistent amount of time (maybe 1/2 a day – Just kidding – more like 1/2 hour) and avoid the desire to be “Me” focused and be more “We” focused.

By being a consistent giver, who gets involved, people are more apt to share, engage, and be a resource back at ya! “It's People…  The Internet is Made of People!”

Bonus Video of the Week!

This is just an OUTSTANDING movie that brings back memories of moving film projectors from room to room in high school. Enjoy this fine educational film on Facebook Etiquette…  Enjoy!