Constant Contact gave a seminar today on social networking. They talked about how marketing your business today is really not about marketing, it’s about networking. The majority of the population is now trusting total strangers online to make the bulk of their consumer decisions on how to spend your money, which doctors to go see, and how to spend your leisurely time. I’m guilty of it. I trust. This is the new way of making decisions. Technology is moving so quickly, that just the idea that I didn’t have the use of a cell phone or a computer for the majority of my life is astounding.  Cell phones came out and then boom! Technology just seemed to have exploded from there.  You have to constantly ride the latest wave of technology if you don’t want to drown, or get gobbled up by the younger more savvy entrepreneurs.

So this is what I got out of the seminar today: Post more on facebook, update my blog regularly, start my twitter account, stay more active on linked in, start a  youtube account and make some videos, look into pinterest, google plus, constant contact, hoodsuite, and then check my analytics to measure my social media engagement to find out which posts are most effective. It all sounds very manipulative, doesn’t it? And I thought we were all just connecting   and sharing.

 The internet and social networking has really changed our lives. Is it more effective? Are our businesses doing so much better? With all this online connection and time in front of the computer, are we really feeling closer to one another, or is our closest companion beginning to be the computer? That is the balance we must all strive for, finding real connection with real people while trying to survive in this computer age society.

Today’s to do list: Facebook post…check! Blog post…check!