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Digital Graffiti

I have been absolutely immersed in all things digital these past few weeks. I’m working with Sandy Puc Portrait Design, a global leader in the art and business of photography. I’ve started by managing their 12 websites, three blogs and four facebook pages to come up with a strategy that will pull it all together. And hopefully rein in some of the chaos.

Which has got me thinking about the real purpose, opportunity and pitfalls of social media.

The digital space has been a passion of mine for years. Early on, I adapted eNewsletters, online auctions, podcasts, blogs and other tools as a means of furthering communications as a whole. What I love about the digital space is that it is where conversations can embody personality. Whether its individuals or companies or non-profits, the digital space can at the same time reach both mass numbers and targeted groups. While “face time” will always be the most intimate and most real space for conversation, in modern culture those “press the flesh” moments are fewer and farther between.

Undoubtably, social media and digital communications in general took center stage in many of my “face time” conversations I had in my cross-country adventure this summer. Whether it was with top PR agencies or with corporate megabrands, defining the rules of play and the very real dilemma of managing the growing digital space, everyone had an opinion. Everyone also admitted ultimately a single fact that seems somehow to get lost in all of this.

No one is an expert.

Not really. Of course there are individuals and groups who are leading trends in this space, but at the end of the day, their real success is rooted in content. I don’t care if you are able to juggle the seemingly schizophrenic online space if you don’t have anything interesting to say. And part of that something “interesting to say” is handling the people in the virtual room who are empowered to throw a negative light on you or your company. The thing about online communities is that it’s still relatively anonymous. What would never be uttered in a “face to face” setting because of some sense of social graces or common decency, doesn’t exist online. The downside, is that people can (and do) say things that are at best, uninformed, and at worst, downright mean-sprited.

Many companies fear the online space precisely because of that. Reputation management becomes all the more difficult when there are umpteen different online social media vehicles to monitor. When do you know if it’s worth the potential negative fall out to engage in the negative hype? If someone calls you out on something that is plainly wrong, do you just blow it off? Or do you engage? When does engaging the negative turn from becoming a responsible act of reputation management to something that looks more like you just can’t take criticism?

These are real questions that every person and every organization needs to consider if they plan to engage in the online universe. The problem is that the answer isn’t cut and dry.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen “Friends” on Facebook or other social outlets who have posted links to videos or news clips that frankly, I find stupid or even at times, offensive. I’ve even seen full-on arguments between friends break out on my facebook page when I found both sides incredibly shallow and intellectually dishonest. I liken it to digital graffiti. It’s a fact of life, now.

So what do we do with digital graffiti?

Sometimes we need to get out the paint and get to work correcting it. Other times, the digital graffiti is worth keeping. It makes your site looked “lived in” much like the crayon that my kids use on the walls of my home.

Ultimately, you’ll know what to do with it only if you have a good sense of why you are online to begin with. And that comes back to personality. Manage that personality online just as you do in “real life.” Define who you are, why you are online, and what kinds of discussions you want to engage in. Then take it to the “virtual streets” of FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Some useful tools exist that allow you to see these discussions in one space, like Minggl. But you still need to make the decision as to when to engage, and when to walk away.

Some graffiti is worth keeping. Heck, sometimes it can even be beautiful. But unless you know who you are, why you are online to begin with, and what kinds of “graffiti” you are willing to accept as a part of life, you will be constantly making knee-jerk emotional reactions in your online conversations. And in the process, you’ll lose your real purpose and direction as you seek to march out in all directions at once.

One rule of thumb I keep, when in doubt remember that honesty and humility go a long way. And if you aren’t sure if what you want to say online is truly constructive, try talking to a real person first, in real life. Everything else is still just a faint echo of the real power of face-to-face conversations.