A couple of days ago I stumbled across this quote: “Fools live life; intellectuals only think thoughts arising from borrowed knowledge. That is why fools enjoy life while so called wise people are busy posting tweets about life. Unfortunately, I am a wise man.” It’s from Saurabh Sharma, author of “The Directionless son of brain”
How many community managers can be labelled as “wise” in the meaning that Saurabh Sharma presents in the quote above?
When I think about about “wise” people I can’t stop picturing the great performance of Al Pacino and Johnny Depp in the movie Donnie Brasco, especially in the scene where they explain what “wise guys” are and what they have to be like.
In this movie, wise guys are mobsters. Smart guys that make crime a way of life and don’t get caught. But I guess this doesn’t apply (yet) to community managers.
Back to social media, I disagree with Sharma’s definition. Social media wise guys are those who can keep a balance between the online and the offline words. They are those who manage to use social media to benefit their offline world, their real life. They use social media as a networking tool, not as a dosage to satisfy an addiction. They are those who use tweets the same ways you could use a drink after work with a business associate or a coffee after lunch with one of your senior colleagues.
Becoming a social media influencer is a great challenge. It requires a huge personal investment, continuous engagement and especially a considerable amount of after-work commitment. At a certain point, being an influencer needs to pay off, and it has to pay off offline. Wise social media professionals are able to make this step and differentiate themselves from mere social media addicts.
Sharing is caring. Getting off the monitor is gaining.