Using Social Media To Be Social

Social media is excellent for keeping in touch with people that we can’t see all the time. It shouldn’t replace interacting with friends in real life.

However, we can use it to enhance our real-life social interactions.

One fun way is do a list or series.

Make a list of your favorite movies, songs, travel destinations, historical moments. The possibilities are endless. And then publish them one at a time daily, perhaps in a countdown form on your Facebook page.

Inevitably when you are ranking things you bump into different points of views. When done respectfully, this can be a terrific catalyst for lively conversation.

By publishing a list like this, you can generate immediate conversation amongst your friends when you see them, because they want to comment on your latest selections, inform you of their own, and speculate on where your list is heading.

The countdown nature also creates a sense of anticipation.

Another good list I did recently was to let people suggest the best thing they could think of beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet, and people could vote on each suggestion by liking the comment. I worked my way through the whole alphabet, and by the end had a literal A-Z list of the best things in the world.

This generated lots of conversation. Take C for example, how do you decide which is better – Cars, Chips, Cousins, Coffee, Chocolate?

In addition, I had very positive conversations with other friends saying it was a daily reminder of the good things in our lives that we can be grateful for.

“Publish a daily advent calendar of your Christmas memories, carols you like, or old Christmas photos.”

Perhaps as the year draws to a close, you could make a list of your highlights of 2017. And this will give you a summary of the year to look back at in the years to come.

Or publish a daily advent calendar of your Christmas memories, carols you like, or old Christmas photos.

Other things like vacation pictures are great to put on Facebook or Instagram so that the next time someone sees you, they will have something to ask about.

And even those you haven’t seen in a while will have an idea of what’s been happening with you and can use it as a springboard for conversation. It’s better than trying to find a starting point for something to talk about when you haven’t seen each other in ten years.

How will you use social media to enhance your real-life conversations?

Let’s Talk.