What is the impact of social media on your personal relationships?

Social media can connect people: It allows you to stay in touch with friends and family who are far away, and can even help you reconnect with old acquaintances. Social media can foster communities: You can connect with people who share your interests, which can be a great way to find support and belonging. Social media can create conflict: Disagreements about social media posts or misunderstandings due to lack of nonverbal cues can lead to arguments. Social media can cause envy and insecurity: Seeing other people's carefully curated online lives can make your own life seem less interesting. Social media can take up time that could be spent with loved ones: Spending too much time on social media can take away from face-to-face interaction

Social media is a channel to share our authentic experiences. It's through those touchpoints and shared stories that we learn to trust, bond, and ultimately grow. I once congratulated someone on a random post about her new start-up. (We were not connected.) She took the time to reply and say she would be passing through my town; would I care to meet for coffee? So yes, I drove to the airport to meet a stranger. Serendipity is the word to describe that outcome! I enjoy ongoing relationships with more people than I could ever meet IRL regularly, too. I can ask for advice, or share opportunities based on what I know about them since I take the time to read what they post. SM is an investment in your relationships, it needs to be nurtured.

Proximity; that’s the word I would use to summarise what effective use of social media brings. Well planned and constructed content and posting generates proximity with every post and over time the consistency of this intimacy with a following facilitates a relationship, predictably and therefore trust; the north star of every business relationship. Bonding, to me is created by having a regular but consistent blend of content that creates interest and value for your following.

Social media can definitely help you connect with people you wouldn't normally meet. It’s great for keeping in touch with distant friends and sharing your life easily. However, don't let it replace real-life interactions. Nothing beats spending time with someone in person, which builds stronger, more meaningful relationships.

Having a clear sense of who you are and what you stand for is important in life, but a deficit on this front can be accentuated on social media. The lack proximity to you makes it easy for others to level criticism, sometimes very harshly, which can be cutting and very detrimental to mental health. Creating a spine to your approach on social media will help to ensure that your social media strategy is robust, and that you’re not expiring topics where you feel vulnerable in the public domain. Protect yourself from being exposed by sticking to a simple but repeatable posting and content approach ??

It is important to manage expectations and communicate openly about how you prefer to use these platforms to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

I always try to make sure that I’m close to my posts for the first hour after posting them. Responding to early comments in the hour after responding engenders a positive emotion within people who are keen to comment fast, particularly 99% of them who will be sincere and positive supporters of you and your brand. If there are negative responses I think it’s critical to protect yourself and mostly to avoid getting into a polluted dialogue with someone who is unlikely to share your value set. Don’t feel rushed to respond at all, sometimes you just can’t, and sometimes a delay allows an aggregation of comments from your followers like a bow wave of positivity.

This is such a subjective topic. Part of the reason that super successful business people develop such a massive following is because they do what I call being “confidently vulnerable”. Doing this doesn’t mean feeling pressure to share more than you want to, but just making sure that what you do share feels authentic to the reader. I don’t think anyone expects you to share your innermost thoughts or feelings, but imparting a texture of authenticity in your posts will generally be enough to satisfy and delight your followers

Balancing privacy on social media can be tough. You might feel pressured to share more than you're comfortable with, leading to tension if boundaries aren't respected. If a friend shares something personal online before telling you directly, it can feel like a trust issue. Clear communication about privacy expectations with your friends and respecting their boundaries is essential.

A lot of the reason that my business has grown so successfully is due to social media. Developing a global following that far surpasses what I’d ever have been able to without social media has taken a lot of time. I take posting seriously and I only use LinkedIn nowadays. So to me it’s part of my job and happens to be part that I really enjoy. So, like any aspect of a job, I make it part of my working day and explain to people that it’s a critical part of my professional presence, even when I’m posting about personal perspectives

Too much time spent in any bubble - off or online - limits your perspective and ability to connect with others through shared experiences or observations. It’s my experience that it is almost impossible to identify cultural touch points when you don’t follow news, arts, and entertainment. Yes, there is a lot of noise - but to communicate effectively you need to understand how people are being influenced by swimming in the same channels. Marketing boils down to good storytelling. And understanding your audience means spending time with them where they live, work and play.

All relationships are based on the proper collaboration of Respect, Trust, and Need. Those relationships are challenged by TIME and PROXIMITY and can fall apart. My 94-year-old dad used Facebook to keep in sync with all his family interests. Social media offers the velocity needed. I learned my daughter was in Lisbon this past week because I saw her posts on Instagram. my F&F know to post in case we didn't have time to catch up. Linkedin is the same. I can learn more about those I care about, about those I am vested in, because of the construct of LinkedIn. rather than wait for the next event to find better conversations to discuss rather than "How are you doing?". I already have an idea how they are doing. That makes a relationship better.

Social media can create echo chambers where you only see opinions that match your own, limiting your perspective. This can strain relationships with those who think differently. Also, the risk of cyberbullying or harassment is real and can affect mental health and personal connections. Cultivate a respectful online presence and seek support if online interactions become harmful. Understanding these dynamics and applying them thoughtfully can help you leverage social media positively in your personal relationships.