Is Social Media the new Disco?

Social Media is all the rage. At least in my world.

Yes I have traveled around the blogosphere over the last year & a half, dropping helpful suggestions, replying to those who rule over the url domains. I even had a LinkIn page for a few years. But I never did anything with it. And I have even been to the occasional HR seminar where I have heard the message, "if you are in HR and you are not using Social Media, then well it's your own grave." Since I typically don't take to threats and because by nature I am not an early adoptor, I turned my nose up. It's probably because I did not know what to do with it. Not because I hated it.

Last Summer, my partner introduced me to how Facebook worked. It was strange at first (long story for later)but eventually I realized how fun it could be & what an easy way to stay in touch with those who too easily fall out of touch. Eventually I updated my LinkIn page and now I have a Twitter account. So far this has all worked out well for me. Facebook for (real)friends. LinkIn for business colleages. Twitter for a happy medium between the two. And now I am writing my own blog. I have got this all sussed out. I understand my place in Web 2.0. I understand the ramifications of sharing and the depths I wish to share. A previous colleague said all the time, "nothing hurts you more than what comes out of your mouth." As in HR and in this new world, I understand this.

But unfortunately this cannot be said for everyone and this is what reminded me of disco in the late 70's. Disco was not invented in the late 70's, but it became popular in the late 70's. It became the dominate fashion in music, movies and clothes. People were into it because it was a fad. Parents started taking disco dancing lessons. Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Kiss all recorded disco-ish records. Ethal Merman recorded a disco album. Some people put together a movie called "Thank God, It's Friday." And they did it, just because they could. Make no mistake, I love disco. But let's face it and I think history can back me up on this, it was not for everyone. And it's still not. But it lives with us all the time now and no one gets upset about it anymore.

So when I see a story like this one, "Nursing Student Expelled for Blogging" I think perhaps this nursing student does not understand social media and does it because she can. And perhaps the school also does not understand social media and did what it did because it can. I agree with Stephanie Kempa's concern in a new blog Career Trail Guide "that today’s employees may make those crucial misjudgements in different ways if they’re not careful." And just like disco in the late 70's, some folks made some crucial misjudgements that haunted them for the rest of their lives.