Social Networks are Your Local Pub

Walking out the door the other night to watch the SuperBowl last night was interesting. I walked past the Barking Dog (another bar), past the Ale House (another bar), past the Carriage Wheel, and then into the Stage 2 Cinema Pub, which is normally a movie theater, but when there’s a big sports event, it transforms into a great place to watch a game. I realized that any one of those places I walked past had people watching the game. I knew that each one of those places had “regulars” and “visitors,” and a sense of what’s okay and what draws disapproving stares. Sounds a bit like social networks, if you squint.

What Happens at Pubs

Pistachio called Twitter a village. That’s one way to look at it, as lots of different things happen there, and her analogy works out well. I’m going to go another way. I’m going to call Twitter what happens at a pub. And I’m going to call Utterz and Facebook and Seesmic and Yahoo Groups and Digg all kinds of other pubs. Jonathan Schwartz blogged recently about Sun’s intent to reinvigorate their software communities. Another pub.

Pubs are where people talk. There’s news. There’s gossip. There are deals and selling. There are pronouncements. There are silly moments. There are conversations, and chance, random happenings. The thing is, pubs aren’t where you do things. It’s where you talk about things. Right? It might be where the seed of ideas comes from (lots of the work of the Founding Fathers of the United States happened in pubs, for example), but the actual work and doing took place elsewhere.

Are Pubs Necessary?

Hell, yes. Pub is short for public house, and there is a long history of the value pubs have served to several nations. They are places where people of all backgrounds can gather, though as it true with most of social situations, some feel left out, or unwelcome at certain pubs. In general, overall, pubs are common ground, where people can come to be refreshed, to talk, to meet with like-minded and dissenting people alike.

If Social Networks are Pubs

First, be ready to buy someone else a drink. Take that as a metaphor for sharing overall. If you’re a marketer, share something of value to me. If you’re an aspiring blogger, ask to hear my story first. If you’re a salesman, do something for me before launching into what’s in it for you.

Second, mind the place. Pubs everywhere aren’t run by the barkeep. They’re run by the people who come there often enough to keep the place set straight, who know when a stranger might need welcoming, and who will keep an eye out for the place while you’re taking care of something in the back. This means a two-way relationship with the barkeep/management and the regulars. How you manage that makes all the difference in the world.

Lastly, if you look through that lens and consider these networks pubs, and consider the other people here are pubgoers, one thing comes right to mind: it’s not what you do inside the pub that makes you or changes you or gives you something to call your own. It’s what you do outside the pub that counts in the long run.

So, with this in mind, let’s talk about pubs. Where do you go for your “drinks?” Where is the conversation good? What are you getting out of this pub of yours for discourse, for new ideas, for challenges that you can then take outside the pub to work upon? Or is my idea all suds and no beer? You tell me.

The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.

Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.

Photo credit, Pixel fixer