I confess – I’ve been too “digital” – up until now.  The following questions has been running through my mind over and over:  How will I do social media differently in 2012? That is such a loaded question.  What I’m realizing matters most, is the value I place on relationships. Quality – not quantity.  I think many of us, as we jumped on the social bandwagon in the last several years, have looked at numbers.

• How many Twitter followers can I amass?
• What’s the size of my network on LinkedIn?
• How many people want to be my friend on Facebook?
• What is my Klout score?

Those same statements can be said about any of the social network sites.  I’ve been really thinking about what I need to do differently this year to really grow relationships that matter to me, and seek out new ones.  I love “people.”  I love the word “social.”  Those two words play so well together, if done sincerely.  So this year I must confess… I need to be more of me, more personal, and less worried about the numbers.

Here are few random thoughts that got me to this point:

Twitter: As I thought about my followers and who I follow, I had to admit to myself that I have not spent nearly enough time paying attention to who was following me, and even asking myself why they would.  And along the same lines, who am I following that I gain value from their content and/or have developed a personal relationships with – or want to develop a relationship with.  So at the risk of losing thousands of followers, I am setting out on a journey to really look at each and every person I follow, get them on a list and figure out who they really are.  (I unfollowed over 700 yesterday, and will continue to clean house.)

If I have unfollowed you, and you feel we should remain connected, please tweet me.  I’d love to hear from you, and perhaps reconnect.

FourSquare: This is an interesting one.  I love Foursquare, and truth be told, I will probably continue using it – but I have cut way back.  My husband and I were competing for points and mayorships, as we do in Yahtzee and Scrabble – we compete – aggressively… It gets ugly.  But my husband is very wise and made a keen observation.  If we are going out to dinner, or church, or to the store – Foursquare has a definite impact on our experience.  If we are nose down to the mobile device trying to be the first to check-in or fighting for the mayorship – we are losing out on relational experiences.  If I am fighting with my Android, I’m certainly not holding my husband’s hand, and we are not taking in the sights and sounds around us.  So we have stopped that competition.

I will continue to use Foursquare, but more for outings like RocPeepsLunch, and a true desire to share my location for a reason – not just to let the world know where I went for lunch.  Though you may see my NASCAR check-ins.  Those are just fun – and we are headed to Daytona soon.

Facebook: I haven’t gone the route of cleaning house on Facebook yet.  I have not started removing “friends” – but I’m seriously considering it. The number of friends I have on Facebook does not equate to value.  I’m not going to mass-delete people, but what I am finding is that because I have a large number of friends, I am missing out on things that people are posting.  I often hear people talking about something that I knew nothing about, and when I speak up they say – “I posted it on Facebook, didn’t you see it?”  The reality is, my newsfeed is filled up with so much stuff, I often miss things.  I’ve used some of the new features for filtering and labeling friends, and I don’t like them.  (Personal opinion)

I do get a lot of value out of the business content I see posted on Facebook, and I really enjoy connecting with people personally, so this year I need to find some balance there.  I haven’t yet decided what that will look like – but it’s on my radar.   I think my Facebook Timeline layout is a good representation of me and what matters… I put a lot of thought into it as I pieced together my headline image in Photoshop.  I intend to stay true to that this year and strike a balance with my social business network.

Hand-crafted and hand-written notes.

The Power of Personal: What really got me here? A friend of mine who sends out only hand-made cards. She sends out Christmas, Birthday, and “just because she want’s to send you a note” cards.  I even got a hand-made Halloween card!  Who sends out Halloween cards?  (I loved it!)  These cards keep coming in the mail, and with each one I receive, I am more grateful for the personal touch.  These hand-made cards with… wait for it… hand-written notes… have reminded me of the importance of personal touch in relationships.  Checking the mail these days can be no fun.  Bills and junk mail (and at election time OYE) – but when there is the thought I might receive something personal, it adds some new anticipation. When I actually DO receive something personal, it touches my heart.  And while she is a friend, and not a business associate – she has taught me a very valuable business lesson.

So I confess that I have lost focus on what has mattered most to me in my professional life as a Social Media Manager.  I’ve been successful with social media marketing, but I think that this year I will evolve into something new and better.  This year I will narrow my focus and work to build more value in my relationships.  I will work to re-kindle old relationships that have fallen dormant, and will spend time seeking out new ones.

I will also be more true to my Twitter bio – which means more artichoke tweets  :)

PS.  I’ve decided I don’t care about my Klout score!  If you find value in the things I say, you’ll follow me.  If we’ve established a relationship, you’ll follow me.  Not because of some random number, based on an algorithm that frankly, just does not matter.  There I said it!

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