Here’s an interesting concept that I want to challenge all of the readers of this blog with trying.  I found this idea in the book Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business by Erik Qualman.  In the 3rd Chapter, “Social Media = Braggadocian Behavior,” Qualman quotes a gentleman of 83:

I actually made a habit of physically printing out my social media updates from the previous month and going through them one-by-one and highlighting updates that weren’t necessarily contributing to a full life.  Over time, I reduced the amount of waste and actually became so cognizant of it during the actual act of updating my status that I’d recognize in that specific moment in time what I would deem an unfruitful activity and cease engaging in it immediately.  My life is much more fulfilling because of this!

What an interesting comment.  Last year I found an application available through Facebook (My Year in Status) that would actually grab all of my status updates over the last year and compile them into an image.  Similar applications will allow you to see what words you publish most often in your status updates (Status Cloud), or see the entire history of your status updates since joining Facebook (Status Archive).  I encourage you to try using one of these applications and see what you are sharing with the world.

Are you happy?

Are you healthy?

Are you boasting, or brooding?

How do your status updates make you feel about yourself?

How do you think they affect those who view them?

And if you don’t use Facebook or any other social media tool, consider the other ways that we tell our stories, from the water cooler to the dinner table.  You have the opportunity, capacity, and power to write your own book.  What do you want the plot to be?  If the people in your lives are co-authors, and therefore you in theirs, what role do you want to play?

Ryan Lucas
Supervisor of Marketing