The Power and Danger of Sharing through Social Networking

Posted on 16 June 2010 | by JR Rozko

Social networking is built on the premise that we want to "share" things.  We share things with others in the hopes that they will find some value in what we offer and we can receive what others have to share in the event that we discover that same sense of value.

Sharing through social networking (not entirely unlike sharing a straw!) carries with it implicit power and implicit danger.

I would name the main sources of power as meaningful connection and shared experience.

Whether you are sharing statuses, pictures, videos, thoughts & opinions, or resources, the aim is to make a meaningful connection with those who receive what you are sharing.  You want them to comment, respond, or otherwise communicate that they find value in what you share (and therefore in you) and there is a lot of power in that.  The more we sense that others value what we are sharing, the more we feel meaningfully connected.  There is noting more gratifying, in terms of sharing through social networking, than to pour great amounts of effort into a blog post and have others comment back and forth or to share a set of pictures and watch as a network of people try to make more and more people aware of their availability.  And don't try to deny it, the more people retweet whatever it was you tweeted, the more you feel valued.  This is all part of the power of making meaningful connections by sharing through social networking.

Another source of power of sharing through social networking is shared experience.  You can't really talk to someone when you go to a movie, but you still want to go together - to share the experience.  You might choose to go to an amusement park by yourself, but the thrill just isn't quite as significant when you don't get to share the experience of racing around corners at breakneck speeds with someone else.  Ill never forget when I was visiting some friends in rural Idaho.  I woke up early in the morning to go for a run and the view of the rising sun across the horizon was one of the most beautiful sites I had ever seen.  I was so incredibly sad that I couldn't share that experience with someone, it lost some of its power.  So too with social networking, when we share whatever it is we share, we are inviting others, in some form or fashion, to share an experience with us.  We want then to laugh with us, marvel with us, get enraged with us, or participate with us in something.  And when they do, we grasp the power of sharing through social networking.

In contrast to the intrinsic power of sharing through social networking, there are equally significant dangers and they are the opposites of the sources of power - making meaningless connections and experiencing things in isolation.  When these are our experiences we feel defeated, not empowered.

I won't describe these at length because, hey, you're big boys and girls who can figure it out.  Plus, it's just depressing, right?.  

Here's the point of all this...

The great secret of those who feel empowered rather than defeated by making a habit of sharing through social media is focus and reciprocity.

More on that next time.  For now, anyone want to share their habits or experiences w/ sharing via social networking?