Social Media: it’s not the Devil

Yesterday, I spoke to a group of business people about integrating social media tactics into business communications. One of the attendees expressed frustration because there are still members of her organization’s leadership that believe that “social media is the devil” and even, “this internet thing is a fad.”

It made me think of Dana Carvey as The Church Lady.

It also made me remember that when the telephone was invented people feared it. That electricity had to be an invention of the devil since it was associated with fire. Technophobia followed technology and our fear of loss of privacy has been closely associated with the concerns people have raised about social networking sites like Facebook.

If that’s really how some people feel, then by all means they should not use the technology; they should steer clear of the Internet and conduct all business in person.

Sometimes people don’t like what I have to say in social media presentations; on the issue of privacy and hacking: no, we’re not immune and no, there’s no 100% guarantee of security online. It’s the truth, though, and while the Internet is not evil and social media sites are nothing more than communications methods, it’s true that there are “bad people” in the world. Be smart, be safe, guard your private information by not sharing it online and using strong passwords and changing them often. It’s not all under our control, but for what is, manage it well.