A great lesson learned from a couple of 13-year-old kids: “Don’t waste my time.” In talking with my daughter the other evening, I learned a fascinating bit of insight as to why she’d rather text than talk on the phone. (Yes, you read it correctly.) She said she would rather get to the point than listen to the other person “ho-hum around” trying to figure out what to say and creating long, uncomfortable pauses in the conversation. She said it’s easier to just type what she is thinking (self-edited) and hit “send”. Think about it…how busy are students today? They have more balls in the air than a juggler in Cirque de Soleil. So why has social media gotten a bad rap (until recently) in the business world? It’s been seen as a waste of time, not as a business tool for improving efficiency.
Imagine if you could make service 5 times more productive and you could sell 3 times as many widgets, all while improving your customers’ experiences. How would this change your world? It’s possible. But what needs to happen first is that more people embrace this technology. It’s not going away. Perhaps we should even change the business category of the platforms of Twitter, Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn and blogging from “Social Media” to “On-Point Media” just to change the perception of what they are useful for. Why? As I learned from my 13-year-old, we have no time to waste…even on pauses, breathing, or thinking. “On-point media” conveys that message. When people we interact with think through their situations, questions, thoughts and problems on their own before contacting someone to help them, both parties’ time is actually used more effectively.
Are there any times this wouldn’t work?