Working without a Net in Social Media

Working without a Net.

It is wonderful to have friends who are honest enough to be blunt. I was told yesterday to “Put on my Big Girl Panties” and stop whining about having to deal with social media. I will try, but it is challenging. Why do we have to post on six or seven different sites? Okay, perhaps not Twitter now that Elmer Fudd is happily trashing it.

A friend at our Chamber of Commerce Leads group yesterday told us about an order for equipment he had received on Messenger. Being “Old School,” he doesn’t usually check Messenger. Nor do I. By chance, he found the order and accepted the payment and prepared the material to be picked up on Saturday. When the client didn’t show up, it never occurred to him to check Messenger for any follow up. It seems the client (obviously of the Gen Z variety) had sent another notice on Messenger to have him open on Sunday for her to pick up the goods. He didn’t see it and she didn’t get her goods. Never occurred to her to just place a phone call!

As I restart our tours from our new offices (at 1225 11Street in Huntsville, by the way), not everything has to be done on the internet. I can at least put lettering on our giant sign. The big plastic letters, which I have sorted neatly into a hanging shoe caddy, (again, thanks to  my friend Teresa Cazort for the suggestion) are easy to slide into place. The challenge was overcoming the fear of having to stand on the tippy top of a too short ladder. Now, with a longer ladder, I can put them up, slide them over and be visible to thousands of cars coming past the sign. But . . . there is always a but . . . my friend Freddie said I need to change the sign frequently to include entertaining and humorous quotes and comments so people keep reading the sign. So back up the ladder I will go every three days. Am I avoiding social media?

Now I have to figure out the difference between Instagram and Facebook. Why one over the other? Another friends at Leads suggested I could post on one and it would automatically transfer to the other. So why have both?  And there is some kind of app (who among us “Old School” folks ever heard of apps before?) which will automatically be posted to all the sites. Why?

Do people really spend time going from one app to another checking to see what people are saying? Is that what this scrolling on the phones is all about? And TikTok? Again, what a rabbit hole to fall into.  I use my phone for making phone calls. What a surprise! Yes, it is the latest, most updated generation of far too expensive phone, and I have actually learned to use it to Google answers to questions or to find an address. But I am terrified of using up its memory and battery by spending time checking anything like Facebook. And what is this Swipe Left and Swipe Right?  

I think all of us Old School folks need a twelve year-old at our heels at all times. Or at least a training seminar? No, we’d forget half of what the twelve-year-old told us within an hour of completing the course. So, keep the twelve-year-old handy. I’m putting on my “Big Girl Panties” and launching into the fray. Expect to see me on Facebook, climbing up the ladder putting up big plastic letters.

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