The internet. Vast, wide, and far reaching. Connecting us like it never has before, bringing home the concept of a global community.
The people. Artists, writers, corporations, governments, and everyday people. Connecting each of us like never before. Giving us our equal voice. Giving us equal opportunity for real time web, real time experience and real time people.
Social media. It’s a scary term. It’s an opening up of conversation. An opening up of each identity, whether on behalf of the individual, the corporation/company or the government. It’s an equal influence at the table. It’s finding value in the moment.
There are so many one time opportunities that we can never replicate, so many ways we can each add value and meaning to a moment, to a cause, to each other.
We try so hard to come up with a measure. A measure for the reach. A measure for the reason. A justification for our actions. A number that will make us look good. A statistic that will prove our worth.
And in the end, how do you value what you added to the moment? How do you put a number to the people you’ve touched? A part of me sees the desire for measuring your impact… and yet, a part of me just doesn’t care.
What is the value of a moment? How (or should) you measure the human take away? The meaning is something that is felt. There is no scale for feeling. At least, there shouldn’t be.
With all the talk on how to evaluate the ROI of social media, how to show the impact of your actions, I can’t help but feel we’re losing sight of why humanness came to the web in the first place. A desire to feel connected, the will to be more than just a number in a presentation or on a balance sheet.
I see the desire to measure such an impact from a business point of view… and yet the human in me asks: is it really that necessary?
Outing My Inner Geek by Wendy Peters 