Intent to connect with others is a primordial need well captured by Maslow in his hierarchy of needs.

his was refined by Steven covey in his summary of purpose of life to be - to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy.

We connect with others over a cup of coffee, in a pub or club, in their house or at larger gatherings which offers opportunities of well planned chance meeting and of course chance meetings.

Social media has emulated that pressing need of forming connection to love and be loved with twitter, Facebook, hangout, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram and gazillion other online platforms. Online social media has became a good substitute for this need. Covid19 experience extended it further forming new connections and establishing new ways the connection can be formed.

Challenge emerges when everyone is trying to connect and say something; the listener is sometimes unable to differentiate or decipher. In more technical speak the signal to noise ratio has become smaller and smaller.

This reminds me of street side buskers I watched as a kid. There were other kids too watching the show.

Though the kids loved the show and clapped the loudest not all kids had the money to pay the busker. Some grownups had money to pay him but they were far and few.

Busker had to pick the right time and place to find the paying crowd and with a bit of luck, school holidays, rain, how far from home or school the crowd and money he could make varied. The busker was less aware of science and mathematics behind it and more focussed on the anecdotal evidence of what earned him accolades and money.

Now when I go to the heart of the city I see people standing outside the entrance of shops or restaurants, distributing pamphlets or telling passer by’s to check their shops. On some streets where there are large visitors from interstate or international this distribution of pamphlets have gone to extreme and at time you felt you are being dragged in. They are trying to get to the customer by making noise and customer is trying to cut through the noise and do what they set out to do.

With social media platforms the mechanism of engagement is same but done differently, We chose to go to social media platforms because we all love noise of sorts and also like to create some useful stuff for others. We share because we care but sometimes we share because we expect others to care.

I also see billion dollar companies behaving in a similar manner. Their product and services are also in a crowded market they seek share of attention, eyeballs with the view to create brand awareness, engagement or possibly a sale. They are all vying to cut through the noise and be seen, the very noise they are creating. So don’t make noise just for the sake of making it.

I took the liberty to look at some randomly picked people on instagram ( just another popular platform) and looked at profiles of Deepak Chopra, Gary V, Paris Hilton, Dan Lok, Google, Apple, Me, My dog, My friend’s Dog, Few different religious websites. I was unable to find any sort of correlation between the wealth/, popularity and the number of followers for these people. That is keeping in mind that my dog had more followers than me for quite some time. Remember, the number of followers are ….. just number of followers.

I noticed that some profiles with large number of followers were charging decent sums of money to promote other people’s content. Perhaps giving them a stage to perform on in front of ready audience.

Some social media users spend decent sums of money to amass followers. It is like going to a place with lot of foot traffic and then giving away money (or any thing of value) you can collect a gathering and with any luck some inquisitive passer by, but would they be relevant to your purpose will remain questionable.

They can have most likes, maximum crowd, well engaged but the best outcome is achieved when they are all aligned to the same purpose. Transaction is merely an outcome of that pleasant exchange.

Who do people listen to in the noise:

There was a time PhD with experience were considered experts which now is someone with million followers. As it is a crowded space with low attention span of viewers. Knowing who you are and what you stand for is the key. Much of the noise out there is - noise.

Sometimes social media authors do not know why they are creating it. They just know it is good to do as everyone else is doing it. Net result is if what they have created is of poor quality they they would have shared it in 50 or more social media platforms. These Individuals or companies will continue to make noise and when it does not work will make more noise with the hope to get to an outcome.

For some going on social media can be path to self discovery to exchange what they know and use the feedback to shift their thinking from who they are to who they can become. Which in a live environment a passionate performer completely takes over the stage, the performance and the performer become one and in complete harmony with the audience. We aim to do the same in social media but keeping in mind the short window of timespan available to us. Within that short time window we give our best performance to create awareness and and connection.

A strong and unshakable position in the minds of the viewer creating awe, inspiration or passion. Kevin Roberts, CEO of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has captured nicely in his book Lovemarks.

Now go make some constructive noise and spread the love. If your loved ones like your post it may mean that they like or love you but not necessary prospects for business. All “likes” look the same way but they are not created the same way.

(c) Sameer Babbar

To Social Media or Not!