Does social media favor extroverts?

When I was using Google asking how to start a blog your name came up. I took your message to just begin and ran with it. That was a few months ago and I still do not feel as though I have a direction or voice yet but I truly enjoy it as a creative outlet.

I have read many of your posts and the other day came across one where you were talking about Twitter. I have an aversion to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all the Pinterest, all of the social media for the masses. I have taken the Myers Briggs test 4 times professionally and always an INFP. Since you are a Myers Briggs fan do you think Introverts are on Twitter or is it the 75 percent Extroverted population that find it so lovable?

Penelope Trunk says:

April 30, 2012 at 10:49 am

First, as background, here are the two posts we’re referencing:

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/penelopes-guide-to-blogging/

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2010/02/10/twitter-can-save-your-life/

The short answer is that extroverts do not have an advantage in social media. Social media is about sharing ideas and caring about people, and introverts can do these things as well as extroverts.

That said, today, 95% of all communication online is through social media. The last 5% is email. No kidding. This means that if you want to be relevant in today’s workforce you have to pick some social media tools you are comfortable with and start using them.

I like blogging because I think it provides the largest range of benefits for the least amount of work. I know this sounds counter-intuitive because writing a blog post is more work than, say, writing a tweet. But a blog is about your own ideas and a tweet is about sharing other peoples’ ideas. So you get more mileage sharing your own ideas.

A blog is not about getting traffic. A blog is about finding a way to convey your ideas so people can quickly understand how your brain works when they want to get to know you. So, with that as the goal, maybe you are doing a better job on your blog than you realize. And, if you are not interested in sharing your ideas, you should figure out why.. who wouldn’t want to be known for how their mind works?

I did a series of webinars about how to get benefits from blogging without having a lot of traffic. You can get a job, meet new people, rise up in your field quickly, all sorts of stuff that does not require a lot of traffic. Here is a link to the webinar series:

http://brazenu.com/secrets-of-an-a-list-blogger-a-week-with-penelope-trunk/

Penelope

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