Do you know what’s important to you?
I’ll bet you do, and chances are everything that is important to you is real.
Real people, real relationships.
Social media is powerful, and it connects people. But in the end, it’s the real relationships that are created – not the number of fans, friends or followers.
What’s important is the quality of those relationships, not the number.
Why is this top of mind to me today? Because this weekend, social media superstar Trey Pennington took his own life.
Is it possible to feel suicidal with 100,000 Twitter followers?
It seems that the sad answer is yes, which caused me to think about my own relationship with social media, the human condition and what’s really important to me.
This was Trey’s last tweet:
Here’s someone with 100,000 followers, adulation and professional success. Who knows why he died; but the point is that he was just human, like the rest of us. And humans are the essence of relationships. In the end, Trey was part of the human condition – not just part of the social web.
So where does social media fit into all of this? The first step is to know what’s important to you and why you’re doing it. If it’s to create relationships that add value to your life, cool. But remember, real relationships are genuine, and that’s how and why you should be in social. Express your true self, make real friends, and don’t get caught up in the hyperbole.
I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of depression, or speculate on why Trey did what he did, but I did have a big takeaway from this.
We live in a world where we are constantly connected to everyone and anyone.
It is so easy to never turn the “off button” off in real estate – we have our email, the Internet, and all of our social networks in the palm of our hand. I know I am never more than a few feet away from my iPhone!
But, at the end of the day – this is what I know for sure; the people that are most important to me are right in front of me.
Don’t get me wrong; I love the power of social media. I love the people who I have met online who then become “in real life” friends (many of you are probably reading this!) I just think that it is really important to not get caught up on the numbers of social media – to keep a healthy perspective.
So I invite you to join me, set some boundaries for yourself, take the time to “unplug” – and I promise the time you do work on your business will be even more productive.
I’d love your thoughts on this important subject, please leave me a comment below!
