Monday, December 12, 2011

5 Predictions; 5 Resolutions

What would December be without the obligatory predictions post? Or, for that matter, the new year's resolution post? I'm kicking it FIO style and combining the two into one post.

Predictions:
  1. Hiring for community and social media managers will continue to rise. And confusion about the differences between the roles will persist.
  2. Burnout and disillusionment among social media/community management professionals will rise. All those new hires? Will have to work their asses off to justify their existence and will realize that the job is more than rainbows and unicorns and will decide that the job sounded a lot funner than it is. (And yes, I know perfectly well that "funner" is not a word. I choose to use it anyway.)
  3. Google+ will not be a game-changer. Facebook is where the traffic is and their pages offer more functionality. Sure, some brands/organizations will do great on Google+, but ultimately it won't be worth the time or effort for most orgs to set up shop on one more social network.
  4. Facebook will abandon Timeline. Ok, this may be more wishful thinking than prediction but I HATE the Timeline design.
  5. Foursquare will flourish. I was *this close* to being a Foursquare quitter after I reached 1,000 checkins and, instead of a free t-shirt, got a coupon for 40% off a t-shirt. Seriously?! I was DONE. But strangely, checking in 1,000 times was apparently the magic number of times it took for me to admit my addiction to Foursquare. So despite lack of free stuff or even any decent specials, Foursquare has become a social network for me, as well as probably just a nervous habit, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Also, now that Gowalla has been acquired by Facebook and will be shutting down in January, all those Gowalla users will have to go somewhere, and who wants to give Facebook access to their checkin data?
Resolutions:

  1. I will commit to the Social Sanity Manifesto. I love this manifesto, and have already taken step 1--deleting my Klout profile. I've already experienced the anxiety and overload Rachel Happe talks about in this awesome post and I think the 10 commitments laid out in this manifesto will go a long way towards helping to roll back the anxiety and overload caused by spending too much time online on too many sites connecting with too many people.
  2. I will read more--and not for business. Business books are great, but especially in the social space, everyone and their brother either has written, is writing, or plans to write a book in the near future. That's great and all, but let's be honest--not everyone was meant to be a writer and many of these books are crap. Some, of course, are not, but they are few and far between. So I will spend more time reading books I want to read and less time reading books I feel I'm supposed to read because some social media A-lister is marveling about them.
  3. I will not be sucked into the numbers game. This basically is a replay of #1, but think it bears repeating, if for no other reason than to drum it into my own head. I hate it that I thought twice about deleting my Klout profile because I had bought into the idea of being graded on at least some level. Seriously--who gives a shit about "online influence" except people trying to sell you shit, or who want you to sell their shit--for free?
  4. I will try yoga. I tried it once--about 20 years ago--and the teacher told me, basically, that I was too hyper and/or spastic for yoga. So I never tried it again. But I'm kind of into the idea that people shouldn't limit themselves based on narratives they just play and re-play inside their heads (e.g. "I'm bad at math") so I'm willing (sort-of) to try yoga again. Even as I type this every fiber of my being is saying "seriously?" and laughing, but I'm going to resolve to try it anyway. 
  5. I will try not to be this person. Because, sadly, I can own at least half of those 54 things. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but let's be honest--I'm a 43 year old woman who lives in the suburbs. My chances of socializing IRL are not enhanced by being this person. (Or, frankly, by saying stuff like "IRL.") Although I admit that my favorite new friend of this year was someone I inadvertently insulted in a blog post a few years ago, actually met in real life last spring and now am good friends with offline. Even if much of what we talk about is stuff that happens online ; )

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