Put the practice into social media best practice...
After being pinged by Dino to respond to a meme on here on "Social Media Best Practice" I came across this podcast on various views of the notion of practice from Buddhist perspectives
Dino's point was that the lesson from social media is that focus should shift more to how we think about brand values than focusing solely on marketing tactics. I'm going to talk even less than he did about social media and more on thoughts on the word 'practice.'
I'm going to finally summarize that Dharma talk in an effort to add a different perspective to the notion of practice.
Although all Buddhist traditions focus on the cessation of suffering and the interdependency of all things (!), each tradition has a different take on the 'how to', or 'practice'. Perhaps these various perspectives will be of some use in our own increasingly interdependent vehicles of values and communication.
What is interesting is that Buddhist practice (meditation, mindfulness training, etc) is by definition a neutral tool. By itself it has no impact on behavior, but the notion of calling it 'practice' as a part of (or opposed to?) ritual by definition means that we are moving beyond passivity, actively seeking to diminish our suffering or that of someone else. It means an engagement with our selves and a take on how what we do impacts others.
Analogously, older forms of advertising are built on passive mechanisms. Sure spending $100MM on TV advertising feels like an action, but because it wasn't constructed with feedback and interdependence in mind, just how valuable is it? Blind ritual, lacking in introspection, right?
By using tools that help cultivate our potential, we must rely on instinct and individual judgement. We question the input of our senses, but external tools (quant studies, etc) will only be of so much use as technology accelerates our feeling that we are a part of a larger whole, connected. Is it any surprise that sustainability thinking has arisen around the same time as digital social networks?
At the same time, another lesson is learned from Buddhist traditions. Some traditions say, our inherent Buddha nature that aids us in perfecting ourselves, that cultivation alone is insufficient.
In this case one wonders if these are the intellectual forbears of those who claim that strategy alone guides the way. Does a brand have an inherent value in and of itself outside of its behavior? Digital social media brings practice and theory together in a way that was previously difficult to understand.
Or is who we are defined by what we do? Is, ultimately, the value of a practice in just that: the practice.
Looking at the word "practice" through various definitions, one finds three main uses of the word that are remotely relevant to this now longwinded analysis (blog posts are supposed to be short?!): practice as repetition; practice as taking an idea into action; internalizing a concept and bringing it to true realization and integration into one's being.
Now that I've completely overanalyzed 'social media best practice', it's the last of the three that I think is relevant to us.
Social media is about a preparation that is, to paraphrase Dogen, at best a continuous mistake. To do it well, we must use our judgement (that's the 'best' part) but be flexible and open-minded. Best practice here is about not fixating on the tool, but rather on relishing their lack of relevance. Best practice here is an internalization of the challenge that no fixed center brings to our work. Rather than generate illusions of effect (400 GRPs X MB copytesting score of Y=Excel Lies) we can look at the role of interdependent relationships between people and seek to understand and encourage those.
Despite the chaos of the last few weeks (and it has always been thus) the future is bright, but challenging. Paradoxically, technology fades as it improves and it will just bring us all closer together as humans, not avatars. Those of us who make a living at creating those networks should be well disposed to, well, practice.
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