![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4138\/4926821630_74842249c6.jpg\" "\\"I")
<\/p>\nI\u2019m a pragmatist.<\/p>\n
One of my strengths is that I can take a big, lofty idea (usually conceived by someone else), and help bring it down to earth. Break it down into reality, make it happen. Tamsen excels at that, too. (The blog\u2019s tagline here is no accident). So for most purposes, I\u2019m pretty practical, and I\u2019m sometimes the killjoy as a result.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019d like to say something.
\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been in the business world for nigh on 15 years now. I\u2019ve worked in nonprofits and the corporate world, mostly in communications roles like fund development, marketing, client services. I\u2019ve seen little business, big business, slow business, and fast business. I\u2019ve experienced bringing the web into the business world, and all that\u2019s entailed (for better or worse). I\u2019ve watched a lot of stuff change, and a lot of stuff stay the same.<\/p>\n
In the 3 years or so that I\u2019ve been working in and around social media specifically, I\u2019ve seen some amazing things happen. I\u2019ve been in awe of the implications, the changes, the subtle shifts (and the not so subtle) that have been happening in the way we communicate with one another, be it business or personal.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m still excited.<\/p>\n
I know negativity sells. Controversy catches eyes, and it\u2019s all the rage right now to, well, rage against the machine that is social media. Or point out all its shortcomings. Or declare things or people dead, over, overhyped. Or spend time tearing ideas down instead of applying true critical thinking, and figuring out how to build something from the rubble.<\/p>\n
But I just don\u2019t think that\u2019s very helpful.<\/p>\n
We are indeed at a time of unprecedented opportunity. The web and its agility give voices where there were none, ways to connect that defy time and geography, opportunity for ideas that might never have seen the light of day. It\u2019s helping businesses rethink everything from their culture to their people to the systems they\u2019ve built, and even big ships are finding themselves turning in new directions.<\/p>\n
And we\u2019re starting. We\u2019re trying. We\u2019re learning with little things that feel comfortable and familiar (and don\u2019t always go so well, but that\u2019s the nature of progress). There are missteps and misunderstandings and lots of imperfections, but those will always be there. The nature of a gawky adolescent with limbs too long and a mind too easily distracted.<\/p>\n
But we are moving. Waking the sleeping giant. Growing and maturing with flashes of brilliance amid our zealousness. And things are indeed changing around us\u2026for good.<\/p>\n
I think that\u2019s pretty spectacular. We\u2019re part of history right now, and not an insignificant part. To all of you with enthusiasm and knowledge, I say let\u2019s leave people with things they can do. Focus some of our boundless energy into the hard work of creating, of criticizing with thoughtfulness and progress in mind, and laying a foundation upon which we can build this next generation of human connectivity.<\/p>\n
I still believe. Do you?<\/p>\n
Amber Naslund<\/p>\n
photo credit: Bob Jagendorf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m a pragmatist. One of my strengths is that I can take a big, lofty idea (usually conceived by someone else), and help bring it down to earth. Break it down into reality, make it happen. Tamsen excels at that, too. (The blog\u2019s tagline here is no accident). So for most purposes, I\u2019m pretty practical, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,55],"tags":[632,633,634,30],"class_list":["post-1208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-ambernaslund","tag-constructive-criticism","tag-negativity","tag-potential","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1208"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1208\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}