Social media - your will is your only limit
social media January 17th. 2008, 9:15am
The power and reach of your social media work is only constrained by your mind. Your platform, whether it’s a blog, a social news website, a newsgroup, or even your comments on other media, gives you the ability to transmit virtually any message. Popular culture contains powerful examples of this amazing ability and here’s an analogy for you to ponder.
BACKGROUND?
One of my recent posts, entitled Your Blog Is Your Power Ring, contained a curious statement, especially if you aren’t familiar with comic book superheroes:
I think of blogs and other social media platforms as the writer’s version of the “power ring”.
At this point, you might be wondering what a power ring is and why it’s relevant to social media.
The power ring is a tool that is used to focus your thoughts and will to create objects or otherwise make things happen; a blog is a tool to capture your thoughts and broadcast them to the world, which can make things happen.
Here’s another quote from that article where I drew an analogy between this comic book device and the power of social media:
The power of the individual realised through innate talent or abilities (most superheroes, the Jedi of Star Wars) or by focusing willpower through enhancing/magnifying devices to acheive great things (the Green Lantern Corps focusing their willpower through “power rings” that enable them to travel though space, contain supernovas, and defeat evil; the Lensmen from Doc E. E. Smith’s series use a similar device).
WHAT IS A POWER RING?
If you want the detailed version of what exactly these things are, you can follow the links that I included above. I’m going to try to summarize decades of comic book history in a few points:
A Green Lantern is a kind of interstellar police officer who helps keep the universe safe; some are human beings, most are alien to us (one Green Lantern is a living planet!) They are responsible for a certain sector of the universe (think “niche), but collaborate on cases as needed (joint ventures?) In times of extreme peril, the entire Corps can be summoned to one location to deal with the darkest, blackest evil or problems.
The Green Lantern’s weapon or tool is a power ring, which allows them to wield a form of green energy to do amazing feats:
- Flight (on a planet, or in outer space, at unimaginably fast speeds)
- Telekinesis (using the green energy to lift, move, or even destroy solid objects - like giant robots, mountains, asteroids, planets…)
- Protection (create protective shields or force fields to protect them from harm)
- Communication - think of the world’s smallest yet most powerful cell phone, communicator, whatever you can imagine, on a very exclusive network)
- Illusion creation
- Manifestation - create solid objects (from the mundane (boxing gloves) to the esoteric (manga/anime characters and robots!)
- Mental control - power rings have been used to change or erase memories, as well to communicate with telepathy
- Other abilities only limited by the Green Lantern’s imagination and the strength of their willpower
The Green Lanterns (collectively known as the Green Lantern Corps) take their orders from a race of mighty, but short, blue-skinned aliens called the Guardians of the Universe. When not under more pressing orders, the Green Lanterns follow guidelines or procedures to do with problems they find.
(You may notice more than a few similarities between the Green Lantern Corps and the Jedi Knights of Star Wars. I’ve often wondered about that…)
WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT SOME ADOLESCENT POWER FANTASY?
By now, I expect some of you are screaming “but what the hell does this have to do with blogging and social media?”
Here’s where I draw them together:
A power ring = a blog (or other social media platform) - it’s a powerful, flexible tool with incredible potential
Your willpower = your creativity, imagination, and resourcefulness in creating content (words, images, video, sound)
The “green energy” = the World Wide Web and the Internet, which powers everything and keeps us connected
The “Green Lantern Corps” = your social media network and connections - mighty individually, nigh unstoppable when working together
A THOUGHT TO TAKE AWAY
If you’re stumped on how to move forward with social media, trying to figure out your next blog post, or otherwise wondering what the next step is, I’m going to offer you the following acronym:
WWGLD (What Would Green Lantern Do?)
A Green Lantern is limited by their imagination and their will to get the job done, plus they have a network of peers to help them out when things get rough. That’s not much of a limitation! A Green Lantern also helps out his colleagues when needed.
Are you stuck? Pretend you are a Green Lantern with vast resources of power and will to draw upon. What Would Green Lantern Do?
P.S. I know I’m using some materials that belong to other people here, but I’m using them for effect, not for financial gain. Go to the original sources and support them, please.
Table of contents for Your Blog Is Your Power Ring
- Social media - moving beyond your weaknesses and limitations
- Social media - your will is your only limit
- Your blog is your power ring
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January 18th, 2008 at 9:28 am
[...] Social media - your will is your only limit [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
[...] Social Media - Your Will Is Your Only Limit [...]
January 20th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
[...] Social media - your will is your only limit | Broadcasting Brain WHAT IS A POWER RING? If you want the long detailed version of what exactly these things are, you can follow the links that I included above. I?m going to try to summarize decades of comic book history in a few points: (tags: Social media) [...]
January 21st, 2008 at 2:06 pm
But who cares?
The whole point of internet marketing, no matter if you call it SEO or Social Media Market or whatever is connecting to an audience.
If you get too intoxicated by the power of publishing anything you want, you won’t be attentive to needs of the audience, the value you can create, and how you can capture a bit for yourself.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
@Tired Tiger - I’m most interested in unlocking possibilities and creative ways to use the blogging platform. If those possibilities “stick” with other people, then social media will do the work of distributing those stories.
Here’s one example: I used to be dead set against using pictures or images in blog posts, mainly because I thought it was too much work. I’ve become a convert because I’m starting to see how they can help. The blogging platform, and other aspects of social media, are incredibly flexible and subject to our imagination and drive.
Thanks for your comment!
June 24th, 2008 at 2:31 am
[...] publisher of popular comic books about Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, the Teen Titans, Green Lantern, and many other characters) ran a multi-part story in their Batman comic book called A Death In The [...]