This Social Media Thing

As my maternity leave ended and I prepared to return to work (not that being on maternity leave is a total picnic – nobody spits up on me at work, or emotionally manipulates me into playing “here comes the airplane” at 3am) – I anticipated a lot of change.

Indeed, everything from management strategy to recruiting tactics to employment legislation has shifted over the last year, and all of this change was naturally bringing with it new approaches, strategies and understanding.

And frankly, after a year of talking in my “mommy voice” and discovering that I have a disappointing and very large capacity for hating children’s television — yeah, I’ll send Dora on a voyage of exploration; as long as it’s one way! – I welcomed the opportunity to encounter the new, changed landscape of work.

But…what I didn’t realize, was how much technology – and in particular social media — has influenced the workplace in so many different ways.

Twitter, Rypple, LinkedIn, blogging, “digg”ing things, Facebook as a recruitment tool, online surveys through Wufoo (I can’t believe I just typed that). These are my new social media friends. They’re here to stay. And now it’s up to me – for the first time in my career – to play catch-up with workplace technology and learn how I fit into this new social media world at work.

Honestly, it’s a bit of a daunting task. Almost as daunting as dodging mashed carrot from your son who just won’t eat WHY WON’T HE EAT I MEAN I’M TRYING TO FEED HIM AND WHAT MORE CAN I DO WILL YOU PLEASE EAT THE CARROTS PLEASE CAN WE MAKE A DEAL HERE, HOW ABOUT SOME DORA…

(Sorry. That happens every now and then. I’m sure it will pass.)

The point is, as strange as some of these social media tools and terms may seem (wufoo?),they can also be overwhelming. There’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot to take in. There’s a lot to make sense of.

However, just as quickly as I’m learning to have meetings on dim dim, I’m also learning that these social tools are actually fun, helpful and surprisingly easy to use – once you get the hang of it, and simply stop fighting the movement.  I feel ridiculous saying wufoo but it’s a great tool and it makes my job easier.

So if you’re finding the whole social media blitz overwhelming, my advice to you is to take a deep breath, go at your own pace, ask for help when you need it, and take it one day at a time.

Heck. If I can master the fine art of mashed carrot dodging, I’ll OWN this social media thing in no time.