The countdown is over, and the much anticipated Facebook vanity URLs are available. With little competition, I successfully got the username I wanted. Kudos to Facebook, by the way, for making it go so seamlessly.
I was realizing as I saw the countdown clock that I still have a sense of anticipation every time I put up a new blog post: What will happen next? Will anyone comment? Will it make people laugh? Will my point resonate? This, I think, is healthy anticipation. Less so is when I encounter people who start blogging or tweeting and anticipate immediate, big results.
Sure, big results from being active in social media can come quickly, but more often than not, results are measured in small increments and happen slowly over time. They’re also usually the product of effort consistently put in based on clearly thought out, achievable goals. Or put another way… tweeting once and anticipating a book deal will likely leave you disappointed; putting up consistently good content in the hopes of building a community will probably bring the results you’re looking for.
Many people abandon what they’re doing in social media because results don’t come as fast as they’ve anticipated, but more often than not, they’ve set themselves up for disappointment by having unrealistic expectations or having no plan on how to reach their goals. Despite the sometimes blinding speed of social media, having patience truly is a virtue… because most of the time, there’s not going to be a clock counting down to the moment you get instant gratification.
