Social Networking For People Who Hate Small Talk

by Susan Harrow, Media Coach & Marketing Strategist

I’ve never liked small talk. I like to go center to center and find our common mirth, the songs we sing together, the paths we’ve taken or not, the things we almost didn’t live through. I seek conversations that wake up the sleeping bear of creativity. I want to tip over the brink of honesty into truths that taste so good they hurt. But I do this in person, with my friends — in a Yoga or Aikido class, over dinner, on a walk, on the phone — not through social networking.

I don’t want to know when you’re going to sleep or take a leak. I don’t want to hear about your baby’s poop habits, or the tiff with the neighbor. Give me nourishment, not trivia.

On social networks I want 5 things.

1. To learn something.
2. To laugh.
3. To be surprised or delighted.
4. To be uplifted.
5. To be provoked.

On social networks I don’t want to know these 5 things.

1. When you wake up or go to sleep.
2. What you ate.
3. Where you are shopping.
4. What you are doing in this moment.
5. The newest thought that just popped into your head apropos of nothing.

We have all read and heard, ad nauseum, to be in the moment and just do what you are doing. Nike’s famous phrase comes to mind. “Just do it.” This doesn’t include Tweeting on Twitter, posting on Facebook, or now, Pinning on Pinterest. If you’re doing something, just do it. Thinking about how you’re going to share it with all the people you don’t know on all your social networks sullies the experience. It takes you away from the full pleasure of just being. Just be for godsakes. You don’t need to pin it, post it, blog it or tweet it.