Be the Author

The online world has its own nature. It offers lots of opportunities for relationships and connections. It also presents significant pitfalls and dangers. Your challenge is to figure out how to take advantage of the opportunities and avoid the dangers.

Focus on the opportunities and put most of your energy there. At the same time you can keep your eye on the pitfalls and avoid them as best you can. If you pay attention and make the effort, you will get better and better at both.

How well you do with the other core challenges – identity and competencies – will have a big impact on how well you are able to manage relationships in the social media landscape. For example, the more defined your developing identity becomes and the more comfortable you are with it, the easier it is to reach out on line. And the easier it is to be authentic vs. trying to “sell” an idealized version of yourself. This is reinforced as you develop more and more competencies.