welcome to the ballroom

If, like me, you squirm at ‘social media’ talk, then this might be for you.

I shared the following metaphor (verbally) during a presentation the other day. It was one of those nervy moments where it could have gone horribly wrong. It’s an odd metaphor after all. But it went well. And it feels right. And you know how I feel about feeling.

OK, here it is:

Think of the time before communications tools as two cliff faces. You either needed a horse to try and find a way around, or you remained disconnected…

Then the telephone arrived. Think of the telephone as a long plank of wood stretching between the cliff faces. Hooray…

As more tools emerged, people had more options to communicate. More channels for interaction. Each one adds a another plank to our silly metaphor. (Not sure what the chap on the right is doing)…

More and more communications technologies emerged. Some of them started to overlap. You could start communicating one way and then leap across to another channel and carry on. Things were getting increasingly ‘social’…

These social technologies soon saturated the landscape, to the point that the individual ‘planks’ became less and less relevant. In fact, to the people moving across them, it was simply a walkway (with some big holes in that they would keep an eye out for)…

Eventually, the planks build up into what is best described as a ballroom floor. People are finally free to dance together in endless, fluid movements. They’re not thinking about planks. And they’ve forgotten about the time when a 400m drop separated them. They’re simply interacting effortlessly. They move between ‘channels’ without thinking…

If you want your company to “use social media”, remember the ballroom metaphor. Because there’s only really one question you need to ask yourself: “What kind of music should you play?”

Notes:
- Of course complex subject matters can’t be entirely described with cute stick men – but I think the metaphor has some value
- Likewise, that’s not the ONLY question you have to ask yourself, but poetic closing statements are nice aren’t they ;)