I have been on Social Media for long time and have seen so many meaningless posts from my side going in the digital garbage and also seen many of my social relations contributed to it from their side as well. I get many invitations to accept them in my professional circle, friends circle, general discussions and so on so forth, I also follow many around me just to realize in no time that what I am getting back is every minute update from their life, I also put my comments on others sometime with sincere effort and many times just to let them know I am also on the social media. Few are sincere and meaningful relations and few not so meaningful ones. Communication is not effective and cannot measure really… Sentiment analysis is on words and expressions but not really quantifiable…
The Social Media has been acting binary and not analog… You either like something or unlike something… you either follow or don’t follow… you comment or do not comment… What if you want to put some rationale around your actions? What if the recipient wants to know about your sincerity and concern? How can we rate someone’s actions on your social media posts? When you get some request for being a friend, how do you convey that you are accepting this invitation conditionally?
Here are my 10 thoughts how we can effectively communicate and add meaning to our Social Media based relationships. Obviously few of these features are not there on most of the Social Media sites. These are just thoughts but sincerely hoping to see it in reality…
| Information overloaded Just put icon / image similar to shown here as your picture on Social Media. People will get to know that you want to convey following messages.• I am currently information overloaded • Don’t comment on my post • Don’t send me new information • Don’t share anything with me • I can’t accept new invitations • I can’t take new friends request |
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| I like or do not like your post or picture When you like something click and see the drop-down? You have option to select how much you liked the content or picture? |
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| Conditionally accepted your invitation You are accepting the invitation conditionally as you may or may not know the person. May be someone from your office or some distant relative you know better. How can you be so sure to accept the person in your list? Accept person conditionally and keep track. You can remove the person from your list after 6 months.It is straight forward , people may not like it but it is what it is… Social Media has pros and cons |
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| Share with rationale Why are we sharing specific information with others? Is it because someone else has shared with us? What if others do not want to have a look at it?We can share with some rationale to make people look at the content and pass on to others if there is real meaning and social value. |
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| Comment Why are you commenting on someone’s status? Is it just to show that you are also on Social Media or you really care about the status? Comment with specific intention. |
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| Reply When we reply, we do not really put all our thoughts in limited space or time. What if we can communicate easily – I agree completely (with some brief text) or I disagree (with some text). That way the message will be more effective. |
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| Following Someone? Following someone should be really effective as you would be interested in specific content, point of view of excellent thought. Not where the person is at the moment and what he/she is eating. What if we can follow someone with specific interest and convey it appropriately so not get overloaded with content? |
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| Hanging Out You want to hang out with some specific purpose and want to meet people with say similar hobbies, interests, professions, etc. Or you want to meet people for business specific discussions or last say you are not sure why you are there and just checking it out |
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| About Me Let people know that you are same in real world and also in virtual world. You like sports not just on Social Media but you are active in sports in real life as well. You race cars on Social Media but at least watch F1 on TV |
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| Taking break, see you after some time! I am signing off for some time (day/week/month) to spend my time with my real friends and relatives. If you care to contact me on Social Media, please do so but I will be busy with my real world!!Put it on your Social Media site and enjoy!! |
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In October 2013, I noticed that LinkedIn has incorporated a feature what I was looking for and had mentioned above. Thank you LinkedIn 🙂
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Note: All these blog posts and views mentioned in my personal blog are my own and NOT of my current and previous employers. I am NOT representing any of my organizations through this blog. This blog is just for sharing my findings based on publicly available information related to interesting things happening in Technology area.
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Nice post Swarraj. I like the thought process of having more elaborate feedback mechanism. I see so many new sites that offer +1, thumbs up or thumbs down kind of feedback. However I like stackoverflow.com’s feedback structure.
Thanks Kailas! There is a strong need around giving meaningful feedback and interaction. Yes, stackoverflow.com’s vote system can gather effectiveness of replies.. I like it, too.
It will be good to have options. But that increases number of clicks / touches because mobiles have already reduced the layout space.. May be someday they will be able to sense the pressure of touch. So you just press the Like button hard if you like a post very much. 🙂
Kedar – Designing this thought process to support multiple channels would have certain challenges but Technology is meant to solve such challenges, right?
Agree Swarraj.
Nice points. I’m especially impressed with the idea of conditional acceptance and like/reply with rating. Hoping to see them implemented in social networks!
Thank you! Yes, I hope Social Media sites implement this much needed feature.