You've Been Served

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on March 17th, 2009

It was reported recently that a New Zealand judge has allowed papers to be served via Facebook – check out the story here.  This isn’t the first time that the legal world has used social media, and it won’t be the last. It does make a pretty interesting point – social media is a part of our day-to-day lives now.

I was at the Ragan conference on social media in Las Vegas last week and there was an underlying theme that came from all of the speakers – social media, online media, Web 2.0, Web 3.0 – you can call it what you want…but it’s here and it’s about communication.  Individuals, groups and communities want to be engaged in a conversation, they want to be communicated with—not at—and they are demanding that we do it in a way that is relevant to them.

One of the overriding themes at the Ragan conference was that all social media is now just a part of how we live – and we need to quit thinking of it as:

• Something kids do.
• A trend that will go away soon.
• Not relevant to my organization, life, audience, stakeholder group or community.
• A stand alone component rather than a part of the overall strategy. 

It’s time to not only accept this interactive and engaging way of communicating, it’s time to embrace it. And to learn about it – it’s not as overwhelming as you think. Pick one thing a week and learn a bit about it. Take 15 minutes a day and engage. You may find that you are more interested than you realized and you will make more time to learn.