Social Media and You

Community is a word we sprinkle liberally around the internet, though I wonder how many of us truly understand what is meant by the term in every case. Social media is all about one-to-one relationship building. Get enough of those kinds of relationships going, and you’ve birthed a community: at least a community of people who interact with you. You could say, therefore, that social media is all about community. Meaning, it’s all about tribes; groups of people with something in common.

What’s so great about community? Of course, we respect the power in numbers. Large communities = forces to be reckoned with. Small communities, conversely, provide comfort and protection. When you purposely join a community, you’re doing it to gain either power or protection.

There’s a difference between communities and markets. Though they’re both groups of people who  share commonalities, we think of a market in purely economic terms.  But a community can be about any aspect of life. Social media marketing is changing the world by blending communities and markets.

That’s what makes it so revolutionary. That combo of socializing and business is a serious mind bender. The concept that markets = communities is radical in the extreme.