Have you ever had so much to say that you couldn’t get anything out? That, combined with a busy schedule, is my lame excuse for my Wednesday Wisdom coming out on Thursday. The truth is that I’m quite opinionated about a lot of things, but some things, the jury’s still out. And that makes it hard for me to quickly form a coherent opinion, and blog post, on something and have it provide value to you. Hopefully my indecision will prove useful though.

Will everyone stop criticizing social media please! Not only is my jury out on this one, but I think all of your juries should be. A) It’s just a tool. B) It’s in its infancy. It’s a good thing the early adopters of the car or bicycle didn’t listen to their detractors and hop off at the first signs of criticism, no matter how valid.

The history of the bicycle is littered with what are, in retrospect, poor designs. Clunky, awkward, impractical, or otherwise a pain-in-the-ass designs abounded. But this was an early stage where innovative ideas were being explored, and has eventually led to a wide variety of adaptations that are useful in their own specific space.

Of course, they have always been, and always will be, used by dumb people to do dumb or useless things. From tight-jeaned skidding through red lights to lycra-clad snobbery, there will always be someone doing something that somebody else doesn’t like. Who cares! Run with it. If you want to tweet about your morning coffee, go ahead. Own it! If people don’t want to listen, that’s their business. Just like failed bike designs, the market will determine if you succeed or fail in your chosen endeavour, but even “failing” doesn’t mean your time has been useless.

Social media to you might be a way to “hang out” with friends and family spread around the world. Maybe these people are interested in what you have for breakfast because it helps foster that banal connection that is part of being proximate to friends and family. Less than 5% of Twitter users have more than 100 followers, meaning that 95% of you are connecting with a close, intimate group. That’s cool. Write whatever you want. Hell, Lance has >1,000,000 followers and he still tweets about useless stuff.

My rambling point is this. Neither I, nor anyone else, knows which structure and use is going to become the diamond frame design of social media. So go ahead and play. See what works, what doesn’t, what’s interesting to you, and what isn’t. But remember it’s just a tool; it’s just another way to communicate. Just like the bicycle, I’m sure after 100 years of social media, there will still be people annoying the crap out of us. That doesn’t mean it’s useless, but it doesn’t mean you deserve to make a living from it either.