The Impact of Social Media: A #Bufferchat Recap

This week on #bufferchat, our community shared stories about the positive impact of social media on our lives and businesses. Seven members of the Buffer team joined in from around the globe to chat with the community and tell their stories via video!

Read on to discover all of the wonderful stories that were shared during the chat.

Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hundreds of other smart marketers and social media enthusiasts. Same topic, same place, just at different times – feel free to join in to whichever chat time works best for you!

4 pm AEST (Sydney time)

9 am PT (San Francisco time)

This week’s stats:
1st Bufferchat: 44 participants; reach of 1,137,253
2nd Bufferchat: 163 participants; reach of 1,608,113

Q1: What opportunities have come to you through social media?

From Hailley, our PR specialist from Toronto:

• Video text: “Hi everyone! My name is Hailley, and I do public relations at Buffer, and I’m in Toronto, Canada. My first-ever freelancing opportunity came my way through social media. Someone saw that I spoke French on Twitter, and from there that totally changed the course of my career! I wound up working remotely in freelancing and traveling, so social media has had a huge impact on career opportunities for me.”

From the community:

• “As an introvert, social media taught me that’s okay to put yourself out there. Made me more confident offline.” @CardozaGab
• “A great career and the ability to extend my influence and meet new really smart people who know a lot more than I do.” @joeDmarti
• “@danielnewmanUV & I met via a twitter chat & became business partners before meeting in 3D & host @SMACtalkLIVE for 4 years!” @iSocialFanz
• “All my jobs after college came from my social/digital presence. I don’t think I’ve applied for any job. Inbound marketing :)” @SocialGamePlan
• “I’ve been able to make a career freelancing by joining a social media community and organically building relationships.” @kathryndlewis

See all the great answers to question 1 here!

Q2: Who is someone you were able to connect with via social media that you otherwise would never have met?

From Roy, a customer researcher from Toronto:

• Video text: “Hey folks! My name is Roy, I am a customer research at Buffer and I live just outside of Toronto in Canada. Someone I met on social that I never would have met if not for social, this guy called Stevo the MadMan on Snapchat, just the funniest guy in the universe. I’d have never come across him if Snapchat didn’t exist. So it’s pretty cool who you can bump into through social.”

From the community:

• “When I moved to a new country I made a whole new friendship group after appealing on Facebook for connections!” @ElizabethKF
• “I’ve connected with authors, actors & journalists – Twitter really opens up direct communication unlike any other medium.” @codytatman
• “If I named all the people, I’d need 100+ tweets. Everyone in these Twitter chats count + all my followers and friends.” @MktgInnovator

See all the great answers to question 2 here!

Q3: How have you seen or experienced social media bringing people together?

From Deborah, our people success manager from Montpellier, France:

• Video text: “Hey there, I’m Deborah, I’m the people success manager at Buffer. Recording from Montpellier, France! One thing that I find that is making communities stronger through social media is with neighborhoods. How neighbors are able to engage and get closer and solve issues together through Facebook groups or Twitter in their every day life. I find that really neat!”

From the community:

• “Complete movements and communities coming together for projects that might’ve never happened. Ex. Rihanna-Lupita film.” @KrysKreative
• “#SocialMedia has created a global platform for uniting people across nations, races, ages and industries. It’s so powerful!” @MiriRod
• “Austin @womensmarch brought a crowd of 50k together – all w/a FB event. I was so proud to be there!” @leahspector

See all the great answers to question 3 here!

Q4: How has social media introduced you to new perspectives, thoughts or ideas?

From Super, one of our product managers from Columbus, Ohio:

• Video text: “Hey everyone, I’m Super, a product manager at Buffer. I’m coming to you from Columbus, Ohio! So for me, I find social media the most effective way to find people who don’t hold the same perspective that I already do, on topics that I’m really interested in and care about, like politics, or the pros and cons of technology. My friends and family definitely give me a lot of perspective, but it’s a whole unique thing to see the nuance and depth of things like that when you hear from people all over the world.”

From the community:

• “It has exposed me to other angles of difficult topics – I’ve learned much, empathized deeper, blocked a few along the way.” @biggreenpen
• “I’ve been able to use social media for inspiration on how to design for a global audience, not just using my own biases.” @mldunseath
• “Being on Twitter has exposed me to all the ideas around #a11y and what it’s like to use the internet with a disability!” @emplums

See all the great answers to question 4 here!

Q5: What was the best thing to ever happen to you because of social media?

From Dave, a happiness hero from London:

• Video text: “Hi, I’m Dave, I’m a happiness hero at Buffer. This is Diego, he’s chewing my headphones at the moment — I need to sort that out! The best thing that’s happened to me because of social media is getting to meet people in real life. I attended an Instagram meetup about 7 years ago, met some amazing people, and we have had incredible adventures — little photo walks, we’ve been to Venice, Italy about 5 years ago. It’s been incredible to make those connections, and I treasure them.”

From the community:

• “I met my wife in an AOL Chat Room in 1997!” @ChaimShapiro
• “Social played a big part in giving me the confidence to go out on my own as a marketing consultant.” @SFerika
• “Finding long lost family members that live across the world was probably the most impactful for me.” @DeborahRippol

See all the great answers to question 5 here!

Q6: What’s something new you’ve learned by being on social media?

From Emily, an engineer from Portland, Oregon:

• Video text: “Hi, I’m Emily, and I’m an engineer at Buffer, and I live in Portland, Oregon. The question is, what have you learned from being on social media? I think some of the biggest things I’ve learned are issues around social justice and activism. Using Twitter has been a really great way to get an inside look at other people’s lives and some of the struggles that they go through that you might not be able to see in your day to day. So it’s been a really awesome way to become more empathetic and to get an inside look.”

From the community:

• “How to be concise and describe myself in 140 characters and to more strongly own the impact of my words.” @MegAHakey
• “The power of language. We all interpret things differently, + w/ only words/images on a screen, clear communication is key.” @Anne_E_Mercer
• “Being a social media manager made me dust off the notions on psychology and go deeper. Which I didn’t expect (fool I know).” @dorilyss

See all the great answers to question 6 here!

Q7: What would you love to see more of on social media?

From Juliet, a happiness hero from London:

• Video text: “Hello you all! This is Juliet from London — I’m a happiness hero at Buffer. I would love to see more honest and vulnerable conversations on social media, where we can treat one another, and ourselves, with more respect and compassion. I can’t wait to hear your answers. See you on Twitter!”

From the community:

• “Healthy debates. It’s okay to agree to disagree sometimes.” @MollyKoernke
• “I’d like to see more people engaging outside of formal, scheduled Twitter chats. #JustBeSocial more often!” @martinlieberman
• “Social media that makes us excited, inspired & inquisitive, without losing sight of our integrity & what makes us unique.” @ArrowDigitalAU
• “Humour! We all need a good laugh every day.” @RoyBoss
• “Respect. Kindness. Humanity.” @aswinlutchanah

See all the great answers to question 7 here!

Thank you so much to our awesome community for sharing their amazing stories!

Do you have any stories to share in response to these questions? Share them in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!

Image sources: UnSplash