I Can’t Think of a Good Blog Title

I struggle, daily, with the balancing act of utilizing social media. I get it. I really do. I understand it’s importance. I love the fact that it allows me to interact with my customers. It allows me to gain important feedback and it allows the brand to reach more people.

But personally, I worry that it’s replacing what really matters in life…to me, that is real relationships with family and friends and thoroughly enjoying life’s moments without a ‘digital distraction’.

Bill Keller has a wonderful article from the New York Times, “The Twitter Trap”. He does not dismiss the importance of Facebook and Twitter, but brings to attention how it may be impacting us.

“Basically, we are outsourcing our brains to the cloud. The upside is that this frees a lot of gray matter for important pursuits like FarmVille and “Real Housewives.” But my inner worrywart wonders whether the new technologies overtaking us may be eroding characteristics that are essentially human: our ability to reflect, our pursuit of meaning, genuine empathy, a sense of community connected by something deeper than snark or political affinity.”

Last night we relaxed on the boat and watched the Wednesday night sailboat race from the comfort of our mooring ball (it was pretty darn gusty out, so we decided to stay put). It was a great way to spend an evening. And yes, I did manage to pull out the iPhone and snap a couple photos…but it stopped there. For some reason I can’t seem to get in the habit of taking it to the next step and doing a ‘live’ status update. I wanted to get back in the moment of enjoying time on the water and good conversation…which meant not having my head in the ‘smart phone’ position. If I would have updated Facebook with a great photo and “thoroughly enjoying the moment”…that would have been false, unless ‘the moment’ that I thoroughly enjoy is staring at that damn cracked screen.

So therein lies my constant dilemma with social media and the Snoloha escapism mentality…it’s a bit like mixing oil and water, yet it’s important that I use it for my customers.

I’ll continue my love / hate relationship with it, and at times I’ll look like a complete hypocrite by asking customers to “Like” and “Follow” Snoloha, and then I’ll promote ‘turning it all off’ while Living on Snoloha Time, and then I’ll ask for photos of your ‘Snoloha moments’…but yet I just said you should turn it all off because that is true escapism, but in order to win free gear I need to see pictures. Do you see the vicious circle I’ve created?

Oh well, at least I’m being honest about it.

As with anything, it’s a balancing act.

With all that being said…have you “Liked” or “Followed” Snoloha yet? (bet with self: you probably have lost fans and followers after this post, idiot)