If you’ve ever served in the military, you’ve probably picked up a thing or two about just about everything under the sun. You know how to clean up rust, paint, sew on a button, and scramble some eggs. Cleaning and shooting a gun might even be second nature. But what did you learn about leading the online life?
We’ll I’ve put together a partial list of things being in the Navy taught me about social networking. Your comments, lessons learned, and anecdotes are welcome.
1) You can’t go home until the paint is dry - folks want to come on the soc net scene and splash around and think they’ve done it. I got news for your baby; dipping your brush in and calling it done doesn’t work with this crowd. Half done stuff will get you eaten alive.
2) The hours are crazy - oh yeah, social networking isn’t a 9 - 5 and call it a day thing. You’ve got to be available when folks are there to work with. You’ll find too that you can’t just do it part time either and be effective.
3) There’s always someone there to give you a rough time - this is always true in the military and even more so in the world of Twitter and FriendFeed. As a matter of fact, unlike the military where just your unit gave you grief, now they whole world can come out of the woodworks to make your life hell.
4) There’s more than one person in your circle with more expertise - even in a small group, every person has their specialities. In my contacts there are folks that have been online since DARPA started the project, and those that just discovered Twitter today. Just when you think you know enough to be the expert, along comes someone with tons more experience. The web just multiplies that experience, and it gets worse with each contact you add.
5) Your loved ones will hate it - oh, they may be ’supportive’, but trust me, whether you’re out to see, on deployment, or locked in hours long conversations online, your significant other is not happy. You’ll know this is really true when the ring comes off. ‘Nough said.
6) The tech can be cool - few things are as cool as sonar, radar, radio gadgetry and nuclear power. Those things kept me learning for years in the military, understanding how they work. That same coolness factor often draws me to new social networks. I love how things connect, how posts travel everywhere, and how I can chat with video to folks in Australia.
7) There are enemies to fight - duh, of course so in the military, but you’d think if you only added folks you liked, it’d be less so online. But trust me, the crazies seek you out, your friends will go nutz at times, and total strangers will start a personal vendetta against you. Much like international politics it seems.
What about you? Can you fill in three things or more you learned about social networking from your time in the military?
UPDATE: Please check out the follow up post with five more things.
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Tags: 10 things, Friendfeed, military, social networking, Twitter
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July 11, 2008 at 2:38 pm
[...] 10 Things The Service Taught Me About Social Networking [...]
July 26, 2008 at 10:37 pm
[...] a previous article, we covered 10 things military service taught about social networking. Since my blog, along with a ...