Social Networking- A horse of a different color…

This post comes courtesy of Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the base of the Grand Teton’s National Park. Having lunch over the 4th of July weekend at Bubba’s BBQ (which I totally recommend if you ever visit this area) I overheard a conversation regarding a recent purchase and the desired upcoming purchase of a new horse. While I have no interest in owning a horse the conversation intrigued me as the three cowboys conversed on the pro’s and con’s of a fairly little known breeder in the area. How does this relate to social networking? This is the very root of social networking… just a difference of how it is administered.

To them this was their twitter – this was the blog entry for the day with comments and commentary, this was the status update on Facebook, “Just bought a horse – need to figure out what to call him”. People often ask me to explain what social networking is or how do you twitter, or should our company blog, and I often use the analogy of asking a couple of friends for advice when you travel or are buying a new car. Here I had come across a conversation (Browsing or Searching for content) and was eavesdropping (Reading the post or tweets) on their dialogue and if I had needed advice on where to buy a horse I could have easily jumped in (Commented or Posted) but instead I just listened (Followed) their content.

What the difference was and how this example should be applied to your organization is that it wasn’t about the cowboy or the horse it was an open and honest conversation about an experience, about sharing some piece of knowledge that might be useful to the next person. Cowboy 1 wasn’t trying to sell anything – he was merely sharing his opinion so that the other 2 might benefit from it. This is what more companies need to figure out as they ask themselves – Do I need a social network? First, figure out if you have something to say that anyone really cares about. Secondly, understand that others might be listening even if they don’t jump into the conversation.

So the next time someone ask me to describe Social Networking I might find myself explaining it just a little bit differently.

Photos by: Eric Jones