#fgiSMS

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending an insightful panel discussion at Fashion Group International's Social Media Seminar. Much of it was interesting, true, and most importantly, relevant. Have you jumped on the bandwagon? Should you? Here are my thoughts.

Hashtags, tweets, pokes, followers, geotagging - that's what we call social media terminology. Many of us have embraced social media, others blatantly refuse. But what is social media?

Social Media is user generated interaction. It can be as simple as text(sometimes in 140 characters or less), photos, videos, blogs - the list is endless. Many refuse to be a part of this 'revolution' because they feel that it blurs the lines of privacy - and it does, no one can doubt that. But in the same breath, many applications allow us to interact with friends and followers and to make new friends. So why shy away from something that can help, rather than hinder?

Social media allows companies, brands and even celebrities to interact with you and me. As a person, you can still maintain your individualism, but grow your fan base. You can engage your audience and add a 'human' aspect to it. Keep in mind, although websites are great, they can be limiting, so why not expand with other mediums such as Twitter and Facebook. But don't forget, 140 characters is no excuse for grammar and spelling errors.

In the end, social media isn't something to be feared but instead a tool to be embraced. Remember the 3 C's, content, community and conversation, and don't forget to stay authentic and true to yourself. It isn't about the amount of followers you have, but the amount of influence.