Social Butterfly Meets Social Technology: The Challenge for Sanguines

Part of the Temperment/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths. You can find a list of the relevant articles in the MindTweaks Sidebar, or linked at the bottom of the Introduction.

Sanguines: entertaining, outgoing, responsive, warm, and friendly - that’s just part of Reg’s description of Sanguines. They thrive on attention and affection, they love being included, and they go out of their way to include others. So social media should be a breeze for those with strong Sanguine traits, right?

Well, yes and no.

While Sanguines aren’t afraid to put themselves out there in the spotlight, they can quickly wilt if the spotlight takes too long to switch on. They need a high level of feedback and response - a response that sometimes comes slowly with social media.

Modern Social Media is based around networking

It’s about building links to people, who also build links to people, who build links to still more people; The attention any one person gets depends on the size and quality of their network, and their network’s network. Building a strong social circle on these services takes time and effort - time and effort Sanguines aren’t always willing (or able) to expend.

So unless they come onto a service already being used by an existing circle of contacts, things may be a little quiet for a Sanguine’s taste at first.

Often accustomed to drawing a crowd just through their presence alone, Sanguines may expect a party to form around them as soon as they sign online. But that sparkling charisma doesn’t automatically translate; we don’t see those sparkling eyes, that flashing smile, the warm and engaging tone of that marvelous voice. Social Media crowds doesn’t just magically form around newcomers. And no matter how charismatic they are in the real world, online, a Sanguine without a network is just another font in the crowd.

Quick, short attention spans cause problems, too.

New social media services pop up every day, and “new” is so very attractive to Sanguines. They may be tempted to flit from service to service, rather than sticking with a few core services, building their popularity and really learning the technology.

And just learning how to use all these new networking toys can challenging; researching and setting up the sticky details of a complex new service just isn’t fun in a Sanguine’s book. While most of the services themselves are fairly simple, nearly all of them have so many add ons, plugins and customizable features it can quickly overwhelm the fun factor. Sanguine’s want plug and play, with “play” being the keyword!

Then there’s that famous life of the party exuberance… When they do find a service they like, they often tweet, post, pm, and ping so often that others get annoyed with them, and may even offer up the ultimate insult of ignoring them. Ouch.

So what can a Sanguine Do?

Be patient and realistic. Social media takes time to work. Don’t expect to be a huge success right off the bat - trying to grow your network too quickly will get you a reputation as a spammer (Even if you never actually spam anyone). Give your network a chance to grow naturally, and spend the time to actually learn the technology.

Stick with one or two core services. I know, I know… just *everyone* who is everyone is off exploring that new service, GimmickGurkGurgle or whatever. But trust me… there will be another “next big thing” next week, and the week after that, too. Go ahead and check them out, but pick one core service and stick with it. Your friends will appreciate it, and it will work better in the long term. I promise.

Try not to talk too much or too loudly. Really. Remember that social media isn’t a party, and a lot of the people using these services are actually at work. As hard as it is to believe? They have better things to do than look at 40 pictures of your pet poodle FiFi! Amazing, I know, but true!

Oh, and… they almost certainly wont appreciate those nude snapshots you took in the bathroom mirror this morning. (if you must send them, attach a Not Safe For Work disclaimer, ok? ok!)

Remember that the conversation moves quickly and don’t pout if you’re not the center of attention. It’ll come back to you again, if you’re patient!

Don’t use too many bells and whistles MySpace, Facebook, and the like all offer customized home page profiles. It’s a simple matter to load them up with all of the fun toys you can think of, including animated gifs, video files, and your favorite music. But do yourself a favor, and don’t over accessorize. Keep the focus on you, your personality, your charm.

Best Social Sites for Sanguines?

Whichever service your friends and family are already on! They’ll provide you with a built in, ready made network to start with, and keep your boredom at bay. Try to avoid becoming invested in the “latest, greatest” services; look for the established applications, those that offer a ready audience you can pluck from for your own following.

Some other choices?

StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking tool that is just plain fun, and its perfect for those short attention spans. Just add the stumbleupon toolbar to your browser window, click the “stumble” button, and it sends you to a random website in your area of interest. You rate the site thumbs up or thumbs down, and it sends you on to another one. Sounds wacky, yes, but it’s actually a lot of fun, and very Sanguine.

YouTube and other video-sharing sites should appeal to a Sanguine on just about all counts. Visual, verbal, noisy, motion filled - if you upload your own videos, that charisma of yours *will* come shining through!

Twitter is a great option, as well. The Sanguine willingness to talk to strangers will make you a welcome addition- Twitterers usually love it when strangers chime in. (just dont chime in TOO often; there is a careful balance to strike so you don’t flood people with too many tweets.)

But the top solution for Sanguines?

FriendFeed. Yes, yes.. the interface is anything but fun. It looks plain boring. And ok, it IS a little boring to look at. But here’s why I suggest it:

FriendFeed allows you to tie together multiple social services all in one place. So you can use StumbleUpon, and Twitter, and YouTube, plus Flickr, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever blogs you may be running, etc etc etc.

That way, your friends, fans and followers don’t have to follow you around as you flit from service to service - they can find everything you’re doing, all in one place. And they can leave you comments too, applauding your every move, whatever service you’re actually on. Once it’s set up, you can pretty much ignore the dullness of its interface, coming back only to check for comments and requests for your autograph.

FriendFeed. How awesome is that?

So, my Sanguine friends…

Go out and conquer the world of social media by storm.
We’re waiting for you!