Social media is like plastic baggies

This came to me somehow while I was over at Beth Harte‘s reading one of her recent posts, where she was discussing social media’s dirty little secret, which is neither dirty nor a secret:

“. . . social media is NOTHING new. If you want to look at social media plain and simple, it’s a bunch of tools that help us to network, share information and build relationships in a different way. The concept of social media from a human relationship aspect is nothing new either.”

I’ve been trying to tell people this for a while, but still, many people just don’t get it. But you know what people do get? Analogies. And do you know what I love? Analogies. Especially when they’re a little offbeat.

Plastic baggies are nothing new.

Call them Glad bags, Ziplock bags, or what have you, y’all know what I’m talking about. And you all have some in a box, in a drawer somewhere in your kitchen, probably hanging out with your aluminum foil and your wax paper.

Like social media, plastic baggies have evolved over time. They come in different sizes, they are different strengths, and they have different features — some are “blue and yellow make green, that’s how you know it’s sealed,” others have a little zipper thing on top to seal them, some have labels where you can write the date. Some, like basic sandwich bags, don’t have seals at all. They all have their different purposes, yet in the end, they all serve the same purpose — to deliver your content in a package while being transparent.

The contents of your plastic baggie are up to you, but the vehicle is essentially the same.

You are responsible for finding the right plastic baggie for your contents, and even if you have the right baggie, the quality of what you put inside it is your responsibility.

You could put a sandwich in a 10″ freezer bag with a label and a zipper on top, send it with your kid to school, and it would still do the job, but not only would that be impractical but your kid would probably get teased. Better to stick with a regular sized sandwich bag, no fancy bells or whistles.

It all comes down to practicality.

But if you had a bunch of loose change you wanted to take to the CoinStar machine at your grocery store, you might not want to use the same little wimpy sandwich bag you use for your kid’s lunch. That 10″ sturdy freezer bag with the zippy is probably your best bet — it’ll carry your change to Kroger without spilling all over your car, and keep it in there until you get to the machine.

Your contents usually dictate what kind of a plastic baggie you’re going to use, not the other way around. Neither should social media tools dictate your content.

Just because YouTube is there, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should be making videos. However, if you have a video or think one might be a good idea (depending on your audience and objectives), you can use YouTube . . . but who’s to say you shouldn’t use Vimeo or Viddler or another video site? Do you know the features of the others? Choosing the right baggie for your content isn’t always easy but it’s an important decision.

So what’s in your baggie, baby? And what kind is it?

Photo by nep.