Kim's Idea of Viral Marketing

At a recent staff meeting, I found out how really “un-plugged” I am! I don’t Facebook or Twitter or My Space, I’m not LinkedIn, and to be honest, I’m not sure that I want to be! Imagine my dismay when the conversation turned to viral marketing. Viral marketing?! Surely I wasn’t expected to participate in that, was I?

As it turns out, not only am I expected to participate, but I’m actually supposed to enjoy it! The first step in my social initiation: the Stephen Arnold Music blog. The what? I don’t blog! Who cares what I ate for breakfast or what time I went to lunch? This was all too much. I decided to conduct a little research to see just how many of my friends, family, and acquaintances participated in this social networking craziness.

To my surprise, I did not find a single person that was NOT on Facebook or at least LinkedIn. LinkedIn to what?! Although no one I know admitted to Twittering (tweeting?), there were a few My Spacers.  My mother-in-law, a former computer abstainer, is on Facebook daily, doing who knows what. Even my brother is now LinkedIn and advised me that I would love it.  My sister-in-law, the only hold-out that I was CERTAIN would be with me, sheepishly admitted that a short time ago she joined Facebook in order to stay in touch with my niece, who’s away at college. What did this all mean for me?

Until now, I always believed that social networking was inherently anti-social. If I want to stay in touch or reach out to a friend, I pick up the phone. I’ll email and even text if I have to, but I prefer good old-fashioned conversation, that unwritten exchange of ideas and words that makes life oh so interesting. Besides, if I’m not talking to someone already, it’s usually because I don’t want to be. Are all of those “friends” on your Facebook really friends? Or are they just other people looking for something to do.

I already have plenty to do, and I can’t imagine spending even one minute more on the computer than I already do each day. I have always followed my heart, and not the trends, so I will continue to hold out as long as I can. Word on the street is that after I finish this blog entry, I will be called upon to tow the company line and become LinkedIn. I’ll let you know how that works out for me.

In the meantime, I have found the one person in this digital world who agrees with me. In the October 12, 2009 issue of US Weekly (yes, I do read trashy entertainment magazines, trendy as they are), when asked about social networking Web sites, George Clooney responded: “I would rather have a prostate exam on live television by a guy with very cold hands than have a Facebook page.” Enough said.

Kim's Only Friend in the Digital World