Making Excuses for Not Effectively Using Social Media

I'm reading Marshall Goldsmith's book "What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful." And I've just gotten to the list of 20 "flaws performed by one person against others."



Number 12 is "Making excuses." And I was reminded of this during a Direct Message exchange on Twitter between someone who had just followed me. We'll call him Leonard.

His Twitter bio includes social media. I checked out his Internet marketing company website, where I was surprised to see the prominent prompt "Friend on Facebook." I clicked on the link and it went to a Facebook Page, which people "like," and not to a Facebook profile, which people "friend."

Thinking to save Leonard from embarrassment, I sent a Direct Message (note I did NOT publicly tweet) recommending he change this prompt.

This is his Direct Message response: "That's intentional. Technically you're right, but peeps 'friend' each other on FB all the time, more than "like"?"

When I gently suggested that this might undercut people's belief that he knows about Facebook, he DMed back:

"Created that before Pages were big deal. What's a 'like' without friendliness? Too common!" And he included a link to a blog post about engaging on social media.

All I could think of was Goldsmith's book and "making excuses."

When I was first starting on social media, I was thrilled when someone told me about an error I had made, and I would immediately correct it. Obviously Leonard thinks he's right, but I think his response was simply a case of making excuses.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC.

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