You heard it here: one boomer decided to deal with social media.
No. All of us boomers deal with social media in some form, especially those of us still working. If you find yourself a bit struck by some of the social media activity going on around you, here’s how one boomer decided to deal with social media.
Know
- Don’t be a Luddite, but do accept that the younger crowd will be more engaged than you in social media.
- Pick your battles. Decide which social media you should engage in, do what makes sense for you.
- Know that being in children’s and/or colleagues social media stream will keep you in the loop at work and at home.
Blow
- Social media can be a time waster, for some more than 60 hours a week, but you can set the limits of time you spend.
- Without social media you may not know what’s happening in the office as younger employees quickly cooperate on projects through Slack, Teams, Zoho, Google, and other platforms.
- The younger crowd also network directly with customers and others outside the company on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, or some other platform.
Go
- Find a platform you like or ask around the office, your church, the university, or whatever your community is, see what social media the majority of others are using.
- Lurk on the platform of choice and see how your crowd messages and shares.
- Find a young person familiar with how the platform operates and get a quick lesson on the ins and outs. Concentrate on the simple stuff first, especially how to follow your community of friends and colleagues, you can do those fancier moves later when you know how everyone else operates.
I run social media accounts for many of my clients and for myself, there’s nothing magical or difficult about it. Take it one step at a time and get comfortable before you take the next step. Being on social media might lead to a better job or other opportunity in the near future.
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Live well.
In the book 51 Life Lessons Every Boomer Male Should Have Learned by Now, Jim writes about key lessons that he believes every evolved boomer male needs to know to make his third act his best. They fall into one of three categories: health, wealth and happiness. Each lesson serves to inspire and motivate you.
