Yesterday I gave a lecture about Social Media at ALMI for Textil Gotland – a group of women who work in textile craft and design. Everyone except two uses Facebook; many of them have homepages, but only a handful have blogs, and even fewer use LinkedIn or Twitter. Knowledge of Social Media varied a lot, which was about what I expected.
ALMI booked this lecture the day before, so I didn’t have much time to prepare, but I had a Keynote I could use after some adjustments. Everything develops so quickly! The last time I gave a lecture about Social Media, there were 750 million Facebook users; yesterday, there were 800 million. Just a small fact like that… Anyway, there is a lot to cover to give an overall picture of Social Media and how small companies can use it. There is always a lot more I would like to say when I notice the group’s interest and their lack of knowledge. I wish there were more time to give better answers to certain questions.
When I talk about Social Media and marketing, it often means a lot of the discussion is about Facebook. Because most of the women in the group used Facebook, I could tell they understood what I was talking about. But then there are those who have not yet taken the step to join Facebook. It is in their questions that I understand the difference in ”knowing about the digital world and Social Media” and not to.
A Swedish poet, Alf Henriksson, wrote a thoughtful poem in the book Teckningar & Vers (Drawings and Poems). I hope my translation will make sense:
The lapse of memory
There is so much you have forgotten when someone asks
and so much you know when no one asks
and so little you forgot that you know
and so much you know that you have forgotten.
My experience is sometimes ”so much I have forgotten that I know” …
What is knowledge? How does knowledge come to us? It’s easy to ”see” how the knowledge came to me during the years I studied at the university, but most of what I learned through life is a result of my being curious and never stopping to find out and learn more. Knowledge of the digital world has quietly entered my life since April 1989, when the first Macintosh computer arrived at our home. A couple of years later, I started using the internet. Four years ago, I got my first iPhone. A little more than a year ago, I took my first step into the world of iPad.
When I meet people who still haven’t become good friends with their computer, some communication problems may arise. Especially when there is not enough time to explain things better.
I consider myself knowledgeable about the digital world, but I have avoided games. When I listen to or talk to any of the competent, young game developers on Gotland, I am the one who’s lost. I don’t get what they are talking about. I don’t understand their words. No bells ring when they name-drop. I have to ask them again, they have to be patient…
I know that if I were to listen to any of these textile women talk about their areas of expertise, I would be lost.
There is ”so much we have forgotten that we know”. All the things we have learned over the years have seeped into our brains and bodies. We have breathed in knowledge; it has slowly seeped through our skin, the words have tripped in through our ears, and the pictures have twinkled themselves into our eyes. Everything in an eternal stream. A natural flow. We forget what we have learned because it happens every day.
But then you stand there, in front of a person who doesn’t have that knowledge that you have, and in that moment you realise that it actually is a lot that you have learned during the years.
This video is a good reminder of how absurd Social Media can be…
