Much ado has been made about the impersonalization resulting from technology’s dominance in our lives.  And certainly, there is some truth that being on a computer/ cell phone/ iPad all day displaces more traditional means of communication and interaction.  But I argue that the social interaction you get online is a critical complement to what happens face to face. 

 

In Ken Auletta’s latest book, Zuckerberg is quoted saying, “Facebook is like a telephone conversation with all your friends on the same call. But on this call, your friends can share photographs, text, political summons to action, video, and music, or can click to make purchases… what [Social Networks] really are is a completely different paradigm for people sharing information.”

 

The critical piece of information here is the paradigm of sharing.  Within our social networks, it can be argued that our authentic selves have room to stretch.  Micro-blogging allows us pithy one-liners to communicate our deepest thoughts be they “TGIF” or a personal rant against whatever injustice has irked us that day.  Link uploads and ReTweets share the news that we find valuable, interesting or just plain hilarious and thereby defines us or further defines us to and within our circle.

 

The social environment is about showing our underbellies – the soft/gooey, the sarcastic or witty, the fiercely opinionated sides we don’t (always) show in our homogenized, politically correct, over-scheduled, constant-state-of-fear lives.  That’s why people are addicted to status updates – its personality voyeurism.

 

And while our country gets fat by eating our feelings, we are actually starving for personality – ours and others.  The social networking that occurs in digital environments like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked In, and Bebo satisfies a primal need to know and be known.   

 

When a company enters this revelation environment with nothing more to contribute than “Buy My Product,” the disconnect is jarring.  Rather than ingratiating themselves, companies risk discomfiting their audience of consumers and would-be consumers alike. 

 

Companies need a personality, not just a sales pitch.  This goes beyond a brand voice or a marketing message.  Advertising as usual will not ‘play in Peoria’ so to speak.  Whether a company gives a body to its personality as in “I’m a Mac,” borrows a famous body for endorsement, or just lets its humor loose on the world, showing some ‘flava’ in the social environment should be the lowest common denominator.

 

Sadly, it is not.

 

Too many companies confuse the social environment with a chance to push commerce.  Keep your business card; tell me about yourself.  Better yet, ask me about myself.  I’m an expert at something (even it that something is just consuming your products). 

 

Find out what I care about, what I worry about, what I laugh at, what irritates me.  Within community, there is a great opportunity to relate, bond, befriend, inspire, share, educate, and learn.  To do this, companies will need to show some personality.

 

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.