24 Sep A Blog is Born: Welcome to TheSocialWeb
Posted at 06:31h
in
Social Media
by Paul Sutton
This is a brand new incarnation of my blog with a new name, a new look and feel, and a new focus. Its previous embodiment, Tribal Boogie, was about the evolution of communications; how the way we communicate has changed over the last few years and how, in many cases, businesses are struggling to keep pace with that change. But nothing lasts forever, and my blog has now undergone an evolution of its own that better reflects where I am now.
Welcome to TheSocialWeb.
A couple of weeks back I wrote a guest post for SocialMe in which I posed a simple but almighty question that provoked a pretty heavy debate: what’s the point of social media? It followed an increasing sense of ‘who cares?’ that I was getting from the social web, a frustration at reading the same old stuff about social marketing time and time again (or not reading it, as the case may be) and a great phone chat with Chris Hall from which I truly benefited.
I’ve since had a complete break from social media. Ten whole days of ‘the real world’ with no tweeting, no Facebook, no LinkingIn, no blogging and no Flickring. Not once did I venture into social media. I went out for meals with my wife. I petted rabbits and donkeys with my 14 month old daughter. I spent time with my parents. I replaced the light fittings in my living room that had been steadily dying, one by one, for the last few months. Simple pleasures, but real pleasures. And not a tweet in sight.
The combination of all of these events has resulted in this new blog. While not trying to be all things to all men, I will focus on three main areas with TheSocialWeb. First, it will question; I’ll be challenging and asking the question ‘why’ quite a lot. I’m hoping that this will be thought-provoking and that it will generate constructive debate that benefits us all. Second, it will offer opinion from thought leaders; people who know their stuff and whose knowledge and insight we should listen to. And third, it will offer simple advice and tips on using the social web for marketing purposes. This last area may not be of interest to some of my peers, but I feel it’s important to do what social media was made for and share knowledge.
My overall aim for writing TheSocialWeb (the big ‘why’ that I was struggling to answer) is to investigate the very best way of gaining a tangible return from social media, whether that be from building great relationships or making money! Perhaps most importantly, I’m not putting myself under any self-imposed pressure when it comes to posting. I aim to post 2-3 times per week, once on each of those topic areas. But if I don’t have great content in any given week, inspiration doesn’t come or I’m simply too busy with client work, then I’ll not post. So be it. I’d rather write an average of one great post per week than three average ones.
So there you have it. I really hope you enjoy reading what I have to write and that you’re inspired enough to leave comments and take part in the debate. TheSocialWeb is intended to be just that: social. If you have any thoughts on what you’d like to see in future, just leave a comment below…
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