Relationship Building - Going Beyond Social Media

"We tweet, we text, we e-mail.  Everybody's chatting, but is anybody listening? 
Why America needs to revive the vanishing art of conversation. 
We need to talk."
David Dudley

by Skip Cohen

Last Sunday, I shared a post that was thanks to something Helen Yancy had posted on Facebook. It was about people who want to change history, but there's another aspect to her post I wanted to share. It's about people who are so absorbed in social media, they've forgotten how to truly be social. They think hitting the "like" button on a Facebook post is enough.

I'm a major Helen Yancy fan, and hitting the "like" button and writing a short comment about what she posted just wasn't enough.  Fine-tuning how you use social media is obviously on my mind lately, since two weeks ago I shared a post about using your phone more to keep in touch with friends.

Here's my point:

Social media has definitely helped to make the world a smaller place. Every day we're able to keep in touch with what's going on in the lives of so many different friends and associates. We share the joys, the sadness, the accomplishments, and the changes in the lives of so many other people. But social media by itself doesn't build relationships. Thanks to regular phone calls and real conversations, Helen and I have stayed in touch and maintained a friendship I cherish. 

Those people you care most about need more than you hitting the like button and commenting on a post. I'm not suggesting you need to call people every day, but here and there, if you care about somebody, let them know with a phone call.

Don't get me wrong - hitting the "like" button is great for feedback and showing support, but there's nothing memorable. There's nothing that holds a place in somebody's mind or for that matter heart. It's cold and emotionless. 

We live in an instant fulfillment world of text messages and email, but a live conversation on the phone is a building block in a relationship. Whether it's purely business or just a great friendship having a conversation always beats a one-second click of a like button.