10 Social Media Transitions and How to Use Them

10 Social Media Transitions and How to Exploit Them

10 Social Media Transitions and How to Use Them

Transitions, those edges around your social media accounts and jobs, can get messy and weird. Many people don’t plan for transitions. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t think about them! Here are some thoughts on the transitions that I’ve witnessed within social media.

When Friends Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil

This has happened to me a couple of times. One friend used to send me links to country-western songs every morning. We had never met. And it was quite sad. I never had the usual closure you get when someone you’ve met goes to that great tweetchat in the sky. There was no memorial service to attend. Just a message posted by his family that he had moved on. Talking to a mutual friend or writing about it (see below) may help to ease the pain.

When Looking for Another Position

When Looking for Another Position

When Looking for Another Position

You probably don’t want to check in on Foursquare when you’re out looking for another job. Also: ixNay on the acebookFay. That is, don’t make friends with your soon-to-be coworkers all over the place and start chatting with them before you even get to that cool new position. Here’s where the word S.E.C.R.E.T comes in: it’s ok to write their names on a Cootie catcher, but don’t get their name tattooed anywhere just yet.

When You Leave Social Media Accounts Behind

Naturally, the company where you worked owns all the accounts you created. Even if it was a lot of work, they own all digital assets unless you’ve made other arrangement. You may be able to maintain friendships with some of those you’ve met, though, if you reconnect with people through your new accounts, once you’ve left the old ones behind.

How to Say Good-Bye to Online Friends

Even a simple plan can really help when getting ready to leave. Yes, it’s difficult. Even if you’ve never met most of your followers in person, you can get attached when you spend all day online and share each other’s ideas. I really like this post about updating your title across all your social media all at once, from The Muse. After you’ve expressed your gratitude about all you’ve learned from your soon-to-be previous team, and let that news sink in for a few days, it’s time to make that announcement that you’re leaving.

For Any Occasion: Writing as Ritual

For Any Occasion: Writing as Ritual

For Any Occasion: Writing as Ritual

For me, since I’m a writer (or pretend to be one on T.V.), writing helps a lot. Writing a letter to someone saying good-bye, and stating what their friendship meant, helps to move through the emotions since there is no formal ritual. If there’s anger involved in your decision, writing helps there, too. Writing an angry letter that’s never sent, then rewriting it, helps to displace the anger. Did you know there’s a journaling tool called the unsent letter? Yup!

When Alliances Change

For those of us who freelance, gigs can change suddenly. A client might decide to go in another direction or retire. In any case, you may want to let others know what’s going on with you and that company if your friends have followed you on that journey. People aren’t always in sync with what you do, though. Don’t expect your friends to drop that company like a hot potato if they’ve taken a liking to the place you work.

The Internal Transition: Passing a Milestone

Do you celebrate when you pass a milestone? However phony the idea of a milestone is (especially if it’s a “vanity metric”), many milestones mean more engagement on social media. For instance, when you pass that 1,000 follower mark on Twitter, you will have more engagement, at least if you’re doing social right. If you’re freelancing for someone, you may decide to raise your prices if the number of engagements goes up dramatically. Here’s a piece I wrote about my 100th blog post, and what I learned.

When You Move a Community

When You Move a Community

When You Move a Community

When I ran a chat and moved it to a new chat, #DigiBlogChat, that took a bit of doing. That is to say, some moved with me and stayed on, and others were left behind. We all need and want more community, and having one online can help to replace those in-person ones we’ve lost along the way. #DigiBlogChat is the highlight of my week, and one where many of my virtual friends reside. By the way, here’s my crazy long list of Twitter Chats: 101 Tips For Success.

When Do You Train a Replacement

Hopefully, the company or startup where you work already has a set of guidelines in place. That said, there may be some words of wisdom that you could impart to your replacement if the parting of ways was amicable. In a perfect world, we’d all leave on good terms, but that isn’t always the case.

 

Exit Strategies

Exit Strategies

Exit Strategies

As far as saying the final farewell, it could be a good idea to let a trusted friend know what you’d like to do with your social media accounts when you go to that Facebook group in the sky. Some people even go so far as to write their final tweet while they still can. Have you done anything about this? For me, letting my lawyer know my final wishes was a great relief.

Comments

  1. I did write my final tweet and it’s still pinned to the top of the account. That was a hard thing to accept. But the people I love and cherish the most knew where else to find me. So that’s good.

    “Dear Friends,
    I’ve accepted another position outside of the construction industry. Thanks for an awesome 6 years.
    Love,
    @YouTooCanBeGuru”
    https://twitter.com/RigginsConst/status/668483780013756416

    • Hi Bridget,

      Thank you for sharing that. And I’m so happy that we could stay in touch through all the ups and downs. You were there a long time, and that magnifies the emotional aspect. You must be happy that that transition is over.

      Onward and upward! Love you,
      Carol

  2. Hi Carol

    The only social media accounts I manage are my own, so I don’t forsee any “transitions” in my immediate future. As long as I keep drinking my green smoothies I think I’ll be around for a while.

    I have to say that your images are stunning. They look like covers for expensive art and design books. I especially like the “Writing as ritual” one. I like the black space surrounding a tantalising snippet of an image. It reminds me of some of my favourite cinematography, in particular that of Chris Doyle.

    Have a great weekend.

    Clement

    • Hello Clement,

      Sometimes people we meet online pass away, or change alliances. Those are transitions, too.

      Thank you about the images. We went and took a look at some of Chris Doyle’s images. My Art Director has been working with images for years.

      Thank you so much,
      Carol Stephen

  3. Great post, just when I think every “how to” about social media has been written, I find a new one that fits an important need.

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