I recently made an assumption that resulted in a somewhat humbling turn of events. I forgot that some people still rely on traditional means of communication. Allow me to explain. About a month ago a wonderful event took place that needed to be announced: the birth of my first grandchild.
When my own four children were born, the first thing I did was call family members and friends to give them the great news. I didn’t use my cellular phone because I didn’t have one. I got my first cellular phone sometime in the 90’s. If memory serves, it was a Motorola DynaTac Classic, approximately the size and weight of a small motorcycle. I did have email by the time my youngest daughter was born, but there was no point in going that route since few of my family members had internet access.
So I went home from the hospital and made many, many long distance phone calls. I asked everyone I called to be sure to fill everyone in on the wonderful news. That worked but it took a while and resulted in a super-sized phone bill.
So here we are in 2010. When my wife and I came home from the hospital we called our other children of course and my mother. She is 92 years old living in a retirement home. Even if she could be reached by other means, it just wouldn’t be right. There are some things you want to communicate at least by voice if it can’t be done in person. The birth of a great-grandson is definitely one of those things.
We had spent the night at the hospital so we were pretty tired but I figured I’d at least share the news on Facebook. I created a photo album and uploaded 12 or so of the 567 photos I had taken of our grandson during our 5 hour visit. The reaction was immediate, as you would expect. The last photo was still uploading when I started receiving comments. Messages of congratulations started coming in fast and furious from family and friends around the globe.
Given the immediate reaction and feedback I was receiving, it didn’t really seem necessary to call anyone else.
Imagine my surprise when my sister called a few days ago to tell me she had just heard the news almost 1 full month after the birth. There is an important lesson to be learned here. Social media shouldn’t be ignored as a powerful communications channel, but it still isn’t everyone’s primary source of information. This fact is worth remembering for both personal and business use.
I regularly give seminars on e-business and e-marketing during which I remind people that they mustn’t ignore traditional means of communicating and promoting to potential customers. When you have something important to share, make sure it gets delivered. This event definitely confirms the advice I’ve been giving.
It’s a shame I didn’t follow it. My bad.
Reflections on things 
Excellent point. One I’ve been trying to get across to many friends. Actually both sides of the point.
Many of my friends are not on Facebook or only check it out once a month or so. Many more do not Tweet, are not LinkedIn, etc. So I still communicate a lot by email or phone. I still enjoy chatting on the phone, in person is even better. There is no substitute for the subtleties of voice inflection, pauses and the like. You can actually ‘hear’ a smile on the phone or you can ‘hear’ that the other person is distracted with reading something. BUT the best of all is calling someone to announce great news and hearing the excitement in their voice when they say congratulations (or whatever).
Having said that… I also strongly encourage people to get involved in social media. A recent occurrence illustrates why perfectly. While having lunch with a friend recently I asked if she was attending an event, starting that afternoon, organized by a close friend. She had not even heard about it. I told her that she was on the invite list both on Facebook and email. She had not checked either in over a week and was not able to get away last minute due to prior commitments. Shame 😦
Cheers
The always verbose Me 😉
With such a wonderful, virtually free way of staying in touch with loved ones, it shocks me to still find some people are violently opposed to social media. There is nothing wrong with personal interaction, and I, who hate the phone, would rather greet you with open arms in a surprise visit at my front door. That being said, why not make a little effort to stay in touch with people any way that you can? Some people just INSIST on being made to feel special by receiving that early morning phone call about momentous events. A little while after your charming grand-baby was born, my wife’s cousin also gave birth, and when we informed family about both births, the bitter response was ‘I HATE Facebook! Why would YOU get to know before US?’ Avoid the drama, keep in touch with everyone, and don’t forget the personal touches. They mean something.