Navigating Social Media

An interesting post by Danny Brown came through the information stream this weekend. In it, Brown describes social media in terms of directions:

1. Above (Heaven) – your dreams and hopes
2. Below (Earth) – where you are now
3. Forward – where you want to be
4. Backward – what you’ve overcome
5. Left – those who give you inspiration
6. Right – those you trust

This framework is based on thinking by “ancient philosophers,” which is a bit too ambiguous for me, but the lens these notions create to view social communication is useful, particularly for organizations. In fact, it maps pretty well to the Fluency framework we’ve developed at SociaLens.

Above & Below = Imagination & Interaction

What goals do you hope to support through your online interactions? Answering that question can help identify your criteria for social media tools. If you choose the tools first, the goals you can support may be limited. Similarly, your choice of tools should reflect your skills and comfort in using them. Someone who texts from a mobile phone might be better suited for Twitter than Quora, and a verbal communicator might adapt to YouTube video journals easier than blogging. Organizations must understand both the stars guiding it forward and the tools to support the journey.

Forward & Backward = Imagination & Innovation

Like the high-level goals of Above, looking Forward is like the short-term objectives you have. What changes does the organization want their interactions to support? On of the key elements of innovation is reflection, the ability to re-examine what you do to explore how you might change things. The backward direction in Brown’s framework deals with this reflective aspect, understanding that mistakes lead to adjustments and better choices.

Left & Right = Inspiration, Information & Involvement

The people at your side provide you with inspiration to think up new ideas. They also offer a trusted network to provide both news to shape and motivation to act on your ideas. Organizations consist of many individuals who are each trying to navigate social media in different stages of comfort and experience. To have that tacit knowledge flow to all corners, an organization must be capable of sharing those experiences internally.