This is part three in a series during this blogging anniversary week for me. In yesterday's post, I talked about what I thought were the best and the worst about health care social media in my seven years being online. In this post, I start looking at the future as I have reached another crossroads in my social media journey.
Why did you start doing social media in the first place? And, more importantly, why do you continue now? Are they the same reason? The reason I ask is that I've seen a lot of people (especially social media superstars) who started out for very noble reasons, get internet famous, and then kind of lose their way. "Fame can become very addictive," former President George W Bush said in a recent interview with the Huffington Post. I agree with that.
This week has been a real "gut check" for me and asking myself tough questions. I went through this a couple of years ago when I re-branded from "Doctor Anonymous" to "@DrMikeSevilla" and "Family Medicine Rocks." I was pretty transparent in that process. I invite you to check out this post, this post, and this post.
I think it's healthy to question yourself every once in a while. Have you ever had the time or desire to really re-evaluate what you're really doing in the social media space? Do you keep doing social media because you feel like you're making a difference, or are you afraid of losing the degree of internet notoriety that you presently have?
In looking back two years, I'm proud of what I've done with the Family Medicine Rocks website and podcast. Don't get me wrong: I don't think my work is done with this, and I will continue to tell the story of Family Medicine. But, there are other things I'd like to do in social media, and now might me time to change course, or not.
The Race For Relevancy is the continued challenge for all of us to remain important in the social media space - however you define that. Someone told me once is that if you're not a rising star, then you're a falling star. I've seen a lot of people in social media do everything they can to keep their popularity, and I don't have the conscience to pull some of those tricks.
For the people I respect in health care social media, the current trends in "The Race For Relevancy" are to write a book, to give at TED talk, and/or to have a smartphone app. I don't have the time, the patience, or the connections to make any of those happen.
So, I have some Social Media Soul Searching to do. And, I will talk about this live on the air tomorrow during the podcast. Do I want to continue on the (Rat) Race For Relevancy and find a way to go on? Or has my social media expiration date come up, and it's time for me to fade into the sunset? More thoughts tomorrow...