5 Surprising Ways Social Media Can Make You a Better Person

I’ve been blogging for a few years now.  Initially I started blogging while I was working at Performance Based Ad Network Azoogle (Epic Ads).  Back then my posts revolved solely around which offers I felt were performing best on the network. I was finding my voice and only updating once in a blue moon.  Now that I’m immersed in Social Media, I find that I cover topics effecting the social media ecosystem most often.  However, I do  offer personal information on my blog posts:  See “Open Letter to My Wife”or  “Open Letter to Papa”. These posts were cathartic, and have added a layer to my blog I never expected to be there.  Blogging has helped me in business, and my personal life as well. It’s become a personal journal. I’ve chronicled my journey through unemployment,  exhilarating moments with family, interesting friends, business decisions  and tid-bits of entertainment.  type

My current employer Buddy Media had initially turned me down.  The moment they did so, I had already turned down two formal offers for much more money.  To walk away from those offers was potentially the biggest decision of my life. I’m so passionate about Social Media that I knew I had to work in the industry. I didn’t want to be at a company that was a tertiary supplement. I made a short list of companies and attacked.  HARD.  I remember turning to my wife after I turned down the first offer. I was  choked up  when it dawned on me how walking away from the money, prestige position and attacking my passion was my first real life lesson for my daughter. She’s too young now, but at that moment I knew I had to persevere and walk away from the money. I needed to (for the FIRST time in my career) follow my passion.

I truly think that blogging about my experience, engaging with the community on Twitter, meeting the people I admire in the Social Media world helped me focus and made me a better person

1. Express yourself:

I’m not a great writer, but maintaining a blog has helped me hone my writing skills.  More importantly I have honed the skill of self expression.  This has only helped to cultivate rich relationships in my life.  Engaging with the Twitter community has lead to meet some amazing/inspiring people like Gary Vaynercuk, Mike and Kass Lazerow.

2. Be transparent

I’ve been 100% honest with everything I post on this blog, good bad or indifferent.  I’ve embraced the Social Media tenant of transparency, and have found liberation in transparency.  This transparency has led to some of my most gut wrenching blog posts while I was unemployed. I’ve found that being transparent has been fully liberating in my personal life as well.  I’ve been able to shed any bombast, or inclination to mislead about my place in this world. It is what it is; and it’s all out there in the Social Media ecosystem whether is be TwitterFacebook, or this blog.

3. Share ideas and tell stories

I never realized what a vivid story teller my Grandfather was. He would spin yarns about growing up in Brooklyn that would keep my brother and I sitting captivated at his feet for hours on end.  We learned life lessons via these stories.  My grandfather was a phenomenal man of staggering intellect.  He knew that a lecture would fall on deaf ears, but a story with a life lesson intertwined would resonate.  I’ve only learned this via blogging. You can’t just shout your opinion; you need to give context, perspective and share.  papa

4. Acknowledge those you love and admire

Blogging has offered me a platform to “shout from the rooftop” how much I love and admire certain people in my life. I even blogged of my admiration for my current employer Buddy Media.

5. Introspection

Engaging in social media (if nothing else), helps us really think about who we are, what we represent,  what we’re passionate about, and what makes us get up in the morning. For me it’s my family, friends and social media itself. I’ve been able to leverage tools like Twitter and this blog to find that passion. I knew I was interested in social media, but once fully engaged in social media I was able to examine what I wanted from live, and truly throw my had in the ring.

I hope you found this short list helpful: comment and let me know

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