Under Pressure – 2 Sides of the Social Media Movement

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Namuli Katumba

Social Media Pressure is a modern affliction that comes in many guises. Some people may not even realise they have the SMP. It can take hold when you least expect it but once identified can be easily dealt with. Outlined below are the two poles of SMP. Each is very much its own camp.

The ‘I don’t understand why you’d want to broadcast your whole LIFE in that way’ Camp

This is probably the most typical and readily identifiable type of SMP, which used to be associated with a particular age, demographic, and level of computer literacy. But conversely, and perhaps because of the huge up-take of social media tools when they are first released, there is a slight but noticeable backlash. So this camp now not only includes those who would never want to publish details of their life over the social media web, but also those that have previously been gung ho, all for, full caboodle, engaged in the concept of updating…

1. where they are
2. who they’re with
3. what they’re doing and..
4. how they’re doing it.

Leading to chronic social media oversaturation. I’ll elaborate more on the latter later.

I think what is important to remember here is the usefulness of social media tools and how some use them as a form of voyeurism. The vast majority of people use social media to keep up with old or far-away friends, to maintain a connection that does not take up a large part of the day. It takes just minutes if not seconds now to update your status with your latest success, exploits or mood, or even to upload photos of your last holiday, child’s football match or even wedding. What can be off-putting is the perceived level of privacy that you get from different social media tools, but there is a degree of ‘help yourself’ here, by avoiding certain tools and setting your privacy levels at a point you’re comfortable with.

The ‘I have to constantly broadcast my WHOLE life in that way’ Camp

Probably the hardest to recognise and less readily identifiable type of SMP: again non age, demographic or computer literate specific. I have been advised this year that I need to blog / tweet / update / post / check-in (are you keeping up?) exponentially more. If people know my views, they’ll identify with me more on a professional and personal level. If people find my pithy comments on life funny, they’ll want to collaborate or engage with me more. If people see that I go to a particular coffee shop, they’ll be reminded of me in a business or social sense. The pressure to put yourself out there and let people in to your life in order to progress in all parts of your life is higher than ever before which leads to the aforementioned oversaturation backlash and subsequent desire for a total social media purge.

Here, I try to put a particular function to each tool that I use so that I don’t let the lines blur too much. It works for me to keep Facebook as my social outlet, LinkedIn as my professional development and networking tool, and Twitter as my opinion-broadcasting forum. But again, the key is to work out how you would like to, and need to, use the tools for your particular social and professional needs. This reduces the pressure, for me, to become a fully-fledged member of the twitterati, worry about whether my colleagues mind seeing pictures of me with friends’ babies, or constantly try to think of inspiring upbeat engaging tidbits that will still entice potential contacts to connect with me.

You may disagree so feel free to comment, tweet or blog your opinion or response!

About Namuli Katumba

Namuli is Head of Account Management and Service at Ultraspeed. You can find her on Twitter at @namkat.