Stay Weird, Be Social!

Stay weird, but also be social.

Did you find this blog on Facebook? Great. Knowing that the click-through rate is 1-percent, you just made me very happy. With more than 2 Billion active users, Facebook has increasingly become the public room for reviewing tabloids, and two sentence sound bites. And unless you’re thrilled about reading the latest tweets of some bloated turkey, you might consider taking your thoughts elsewhere. As many have.

You might have noticed some of your friends proclaiming to have gone on a social media sabbatical, or even read about Facebook managers who avoid their own platform like the plague, and you might wonder, where have these people went off to? Is it a professional suicide? And what would a social media diet do to your beach body?

The answer is: Relax, your curves will look gorgeous. There was life before social media, and taking a break from it might even prove to be productive. And here is why.

There are a handful of major business events, spaced throughout the year. Arctic15 definitively being one of them. And these events are more than enough to catch up with your friends, to learn and explore opportunities, and to do the necessary handshakes to your heart’s content. Planning out and scheduling these events is key for making them worthwhile. which is what you should do, instead of scrolling news walls.

Following the news is great for cocktail parties, but in terms of business, specializing and following one industry will help you to grow your business. Reducing the clutter of general news and notifications allows you to focus, and to double-down on the essentials. And it also helps you to stay weird and edgy to the rest of the world.

Finally, once you’re in company, be fully there by leaving your devices on silent. Because the only thing more annoying than habitual swiping is a habitual swiper in the company others. Save those thumb-ups, and make it a habit of telling your friends when and why you appreciate them. And instead of a comment, give them a call or ask them for lunch. 

Do that often enough, and you’ll have the only social network that you need. Stay weird, but also be social. 

About the author

Leo Kadieff, Chairman of the Board Young Entrepreneurs of Finland Federation of Finnish Enterprises. He is pursuing a more entrepreneurial Europe. Connect with Leo on Linkedin or text him on Twitter.