Cast Your Bread On The Social Media Waters

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.” That’s from the Bible, believe it or not. A seemingly contradictory statement, I have indeed found on many occasions that when I have put something ‘out there’, it has unexpectedly come back to me.

Today I want to look at social media in the light of this principle, because as many of us no doubt have found, what we have said on Facebook, tweeted, or posted on our blog, has often yielded unexpected results.

My point is this: in life, and also in social media, we are continually ‘putting stuff out there’. We sow seeds of effort, energy, finance, time, etc, into people, and are sometimes unsure whether we are actually adding value or not. But just like casting your bread on the waters, the effort does indeed return to you, and very often it is when you don’t expect it, that you discover just where you have been adding value.

The Act Of Casting My Bread

1. Be on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The world is only going to become more connected, not less.
2. Develop a 160-character summary of yourself and use it across all your social networks.
3. Realise that it is all about accumulation. Social media is like building with Lego bricks. One brick is worthless, but many bricks create a building that others see.
4. Be open. Our fake-overloaded society desires authenticity. Be you, share your scars as well as your successes.
5. Treat each person who comments, responds and retweets with due respect. Because you don’t know which one is carrying your bread back to you.

Notice I haven’t said ‘set your expectations’. Why? Because the whole point is it is often the unexpected return.