Become CSR Smarter in 2011: Social Media Edition

In the field of advertising and marketing, the power of social media is undisputed. With the click of a button, it's possible to reach thousands and thousands of people. Furthermore, social media benefits us by allowing us to interact with our target audiences. As we try to reach people, our audiences can react and respond in a public  forum. As an emerging and evolving field, social media presents companies with tremendous CSR opportunities. New kinds of job opportunities create potential for professionals to step back, think, and act responsibly. Even though CSR is a nebulous concept, social media allows us to collaborate, innovate, and interact. The powers of social media are for good and bad alike. Those of us who have studied rhetoric and communication techniques understand the power of the written and spoken word -- we all know that there are strategies for making arguments convincing. That's why the FTC exists -- to protect consumers from deceptive and unethical advertising practices.

We always talk about how social media is a powerful marketing and networking tool. We know that. It's obvious. But what about our business-intellects? My argument is that social media actually makes us smarter-- no matter who we are, our experience level, or what we do in our profession. Social media allows us to engage in dialogue and access information quickly and efficiently. If we set up our services and frameworks efficiently and strategically, we can actually do more with less. Think about it: on Twitter, you can get all the news that you want from a variety of sources in your feed. You don't need to do a google search, and you don't need to subscribe to multiple news sources either. You literally just sit there while information comes to you.

People have a number of preferences when it comes to obtaining information. Some people prefer one source, and some people prefer a handful. For instance, I am a person who prefers as many sources as possible. Unfortunately, I've recently realized that there just aren't enough hours in the day to read and read and read. I've started leveraging my smartphone, RSS feed, and Twitter feed to obtain information quickly and efficiently. Some topics stick, and others don't. Some topics I want to investigate in greater depth while others-- I prefer to absorb at an extremely superficial level. Social media doesn't bombard me with information. Instead, it enables me to pick and choose ideas to explore.

No matter your profession, take a step back to think about how you're using your various social media sources.  CEOs aren't the only people who benefit from networking on Twitter -- you can too. In 2011, use social media to make yourself CSR-smarter.

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