20 Easy Ways to Take Social Media A Little Less Seriously

by Starbucker on November 22, 2009

sm seriousness It was bound to happen.

A novelty becomes a fad, a fad becomes a phenomenon, a phenomenon becomes an industry.

At that point, it just gets more and more serious. Words and phrases like “business applications“, “return on investment“, “leveraging”, “strategy“, “optimization“, and “experts“, just to name a few, get tossed around with reckless abandon.

Eventually, the seriousness drains most of the life out of the beast, and then the “whatever happened to……?” questions start coming. Nostalgia abounds about the “good ol’ days“.

Finally,  there’s capitulation – the collective resignation that what once was fresh, new, and different is now stale, rote, and commonplace.

While our friend Social Media has not quite approached the capitulation stage yet, I fear it is getting closer and closer to it.

There is an antidote, however.

It’s the collective ability of the users to NOT take it so seriously, and keep the fun and social side of it alive and kicking.

To aid in this endeavour, I have taken the liberty of concocting 20 easy ways to  help me in my “SMOF” campaign (aka Social Media Ought to be Fun):

1.  Write a Blog post about “The Secret Life of Dust“.   Don’t forget all the different types, including Space Dust.  Quote liberally from the trusted source Wikipedia.

2.  Follow @BadBanana (aka Tim Siedell), and RT bon mots like- I have the complete works of Shakespeare on my iPhone so I can ignore it wherever I go.”

3.  Each time an online troll goes at it (or at you), respond thusly- “Have you had your hug today? :-) ”.

4.  Get about 70 characters into a very deep, meaningful Tweet about something  abruptly stop, and just add and, Yada Yada Yada“.

5.  Talk in Yoda-speak when being declarative, to add a little Star Wars savoir-faire – like  “The best thing since sliced bread, Social Media is.  Hmmmmmm.” (here’s a handy little helper)

6.  Create a new SM alter-ego with an Ed McMahon-like avatar and answer everything with “Hye-Oh!  You are correct, sir!”.

7.  Reverently Tweet quotes from 80’s hair bands. For example:  “Ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ but a good time, and it don’t get better than this”- Deville, Dall, Michaels, Rockett.

8.  Post a list of your “10 Favorite, Rock Solid, Surefire Fabric Softeners”- Psst…don’t forget there are several different types of Bounce sheets!

9.  Retweet @britneyspears incessantly, and for added emphasis, put ‘MUST READ’ in front of it.

10.  Tweet in Klingon – try this:  batlhHa’ vanglu’taHvIS quv chavbe’lu’.  Trust me on that one.

11.  Engage in a spirited debate about the socioeconomic merits of “and” vs “&“.

12.  Declare it “Doris Day Day” and Blip her greatest hits  (extra credit for “Que Sera Sera”).

13.  Compile a Twitter list of “People who spell well”. If you are reading everything closely, it won’t be a long one.

14.  Pick a geologist you know and write about a (real)  “Rock Star”. Don’t know any? Once again, Wikipedia is a trusted source, and there are LOTS of them.

15.  Form a group on LinkedIn called “Hygene Think Tank”. Start the discussion on the merits of flat versus round dental floss.

16.  Start a Facebook fan club for “HR Pufnstuf”.  Groovy, baby.

17.  Challenge the decision-making of your new followers with this Auto-DM – “Welcome – it’s your lucky day. Be ready for my arsenal of awesomeness!”.

18.  Give some props to the late George Carlin- say someone, like @starbucker, Tweets something patently obvious (which he is so apt to do), like “Social Media is a very social medium” respond by saying “That’s Near-fetched, Terry!”.

19.  Write a Tweet that fills the 140 characters almost exclusively with Acronyms – something that actually makes sense would be a plus.

20.  Finally, shake up your next Social Media conference by first sitting quietly for hours, and then suddenly, without warning, standing up and doing this:

animalhouse347

FOOD FIGHT!!!!!

The members of SMOF thank you in advance for your support and cooperation. :-)


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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Deborah Taylor-French November 22, 2009 at 5:30 pm

Funny!

Near-fetched, food fight funny. I just BLIP.fm crazed myself and then LOL fell down on Facebook.

Grateful for a mug of green tea, half-full.
Deborah

Jenn Whinnem November 22, 2009 at 8:27 pm

Thank you so much for this! Next time I’m feeling like everybody’s talking and nobody’s listening…I’m going to rap about O.P.P.

Toby November 22, 2009 at 8:30 pm

thanks for the giggles! sometimes I think social media people take it all too seriously .. off to find Doris Day on YouTube!

Ari Herzog November 23, 2009 at 10:12 am

What is social media?

Ask yourself that question every time someone mentions it, realize the two of you likely have different definitions, and you’ll feel much better.

Robert November 23, 2009 at 10:41 am

Hahahahaha… Brilliant and possibly the most sensible post on social media to date. Mostly… don’t take it so seriously!

Erin(irishis98 from Twitter) November 23, 2009 at 11:16 am

Loved this! thanks for the laugh out loud, I’m using some of these immediately! Power to the Movement!

Gail Lynne Goodwin November 23, 2009 at 11:18 am

LOVED IT! Love you!

You always make me smile. (Thanks for that Terry.)

Gotta run- I have to go tweet this. :)

Hugs,

Gail

Lee November 23, 2009 at 11:18 am

Brilliant!!!

Donna Kastner November 23, 2009 at 11:22 am

What a H.O.O.T. – Ed, Brittany, George, HR, Yoda and/& the Klingons would be proud. Lighten Up Folks think tank meeting coming soon to a water cooler near you!

Missy Ward November 23, 2009 at 11:25 am

Very funny post, this is. Hmmmmmm.

Molly Buckley November 23, 2009 at 2:22 pm

This is fantastic! I really hate it when people take themselves wayyyyy too seriously. I think we should all have a little fun sometimes :) GREAT post!

Lucretia November 23, 2009 at 7:36 pm

I’m so down for a food-fight next time!! :)

DrV November 24, 2009 at 11:10 am

Love it. And there’s evidence here that you’re really old … like me ; )

Shan @ Last Shreds Of Sanity November 30, 2009 at 3:19 pm

I do believe I am going to implement this list. The amount of hatred and vitriol spewed on twitter (and the blogosphere) is astounding. Someone needs to lighten the mood.

Techgirl December 22, 2009 at 6:45 pm

I think another fun one would be to take what Ari recommends above and reverse it. The next time you are in a conversation with someone about Social Media, ask THEM what it is and pretend you’ve never heard of it.

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