When Did You Fall in Love With Social Media? Who Made You See Social Media as more than a Hobby?
Maybe your answer is not yet or I don’t consider it love or I consider it a tool or maybe social media is just a necessary evil to you. For me it’s much more than that and maybe that’s because social media has had such a profound affect on not only my career choices but also on my life and the friends I’ve made and the mentors and leaders I have today and the things I plan to do in the future.
I’m not one to say social media is for everyone or everyone must use social media the same way, actually I believe it’s quite the opposite. I believe social media is a vehicle that we utilize to collaborate, have conversations and build relationships that are strengthened by the ideas of transparency and authenticity that can create powerful communities.
So when I was asked this question “When did I fall in love with social media?” I thought about the early days of social media to me that was using Napster in my college dorm and utilizing AOL instant messenger in high school or even participating in Yahoo! Groups to find out where the parties were high school. Those early days of social media with MySpace for me were a lot about how I could connect and learn about other people when I was away at college. I never knew a long-distance relationship before social media but as someone who doesn’t like to talk on the phone already I don’t think I would’ve been able to participate in one if it wasn’t for social media. But since those early days in 1999 when I was using tools like Napster an AOL instant messenger and then MySpace and even when I first got on Facebook I loved the people aspect more than anything else. But it wasn’t until the last couple years did I ever think that my career and path to success would be so heavily involved in social media.
I started this video series a couple of weeks ago called iSocialTalks, inspired by the fact that people seem to love to hear my insights on Google hangouts and events that I was speaking at and that often times I felt by just replying in a Twitter chat or answering in the comments of a blog I couldn’t really reach out and talk with the community. So I started this video series learning from those that are doing it well like Jay Baer who does #Jaytoday and Gary Vaynerchuk does #AskGaryVee, and by no mean do I feel I’m on the same level as them but this question that was asked to me via twitter not only hit home but it inspired me to say Thank You. This is my little way of saying thank you to those who’ve had amazing impact, not only on my career but on my life and are the reasons that I love what I do and fell in love with social media!
Please watch the video below and subscribe to my channel as I would love to hear what and when you fell in love with social media and who was responsible for showing you the way!
Also tune in on Mondays at 4pm ET for #SShour and Thursdays at Noon ET for #CloudTalk!
Post by Brian Fanzo @iSocialFanz – Chief Digital Strategist at Broadsuite
Brian Fanzo is a partner and Chief Digital Strategist at Broadsuite Media Group (BMG). His focus is on helping companies utilize new technology like mobile, analytics, and cloud computing to be more productive. He is also an expert at working with audiences and brands who want to learn more about using social media and content marketing (including rich media content), to more effectively reach, inform, educate, and connect with their audiences and prospect bases. Brian is also an expert on the topic of Millennials. He speaks on this topic and works with organizations helping them understand the Millennial mindset, what motivates them, how to prepare your organization for the future workforce, and a myriad of other topics related to a new generation of leaders.
Brian is passionate about teaching change and he focuses on doing this in his work with brands as both an influencer and advisor, and he’s also a sought-after speaker and multi-media creator. In addition to contributing regularly to MillennialCEO, Brian co-hosts two weekly Twitter chats, #SbizHour and #CloudTalk, as well as co-hosting a a weekly podcast called SMACtalk. You can find Brian on Twitter@isocialfanz, or on LinkedIn or Google+.
