Is social media helping or hurting?

So last week i said my next blog post was going to be about twitter and how its affecting success/failure, from a photography perspective.  Is it helping or hurting business?  I think at first people's response is a resounding "HELPING!" but i got to thinking the other day, WHO is it helping?  I think some professionals out there, be it photographers or otherwise, are rising to their true potential because of twitter, and other social media.  I mean careers have literally been made here recently because of the ability to spread your vision with the click of a few keys and a tweet.  But one thing that i think deserves to be looked at and pondered, and something ive personally been struggling with, is the level that one can be absorbed into these tools.  While ive already said that business is booming out there for a few people, i honestly think if people arent careful these things can actually hinder your progress.  How? well im glad you asked.

Think about it, i personally spend a fair bit of time each day reading about other photographers experiences, or learning a new technique, or watching a new tutorial on how to do something ive been curious about.  I mean the number of twitter accounts/blogs on my daily "check list" is growing by the day. While that all sounds like, "yay caleb's really learning his craft!" its actually more like, "calebs doing a heck of a lot more reading, and a heck of a lot less shooting," and i dont think im alone. 

Twitter and facebook and other social networking mediums are only valuable to your business if YOU are contributing, and not just watching.  The whole draw is that everyone at almost any time, in any place, can create a video, an interview, a viewpoint, etc.  Thats incredibly powerful, if you are on the right end.  On the other side, if you are just watching and learning, no matter how great and useful the information you are learning might be, it isnt useful at all until you start using it!  Im writing this because i had the realization that lately ive been starting to open my computer/phone a lot more and use my camera a lot less, and thats certainly not what these amazing photographers out there that we are following are doing.  In fact, most of the stuff i read about from chase jarvis or jeremy cowart or zack arias is about how something went awry on a shoot and how they solved it, or how to do this to help your shooting go more smoothly, or the newest, easiest way theyve acheived getting a certain kind of shot.  Shooting shooting shooting is always the recurring theme.  While twitter, youtube, facebook etc.. are all valuable tools the i personally gain a lot of perspective from, we cant let ourselves become complacent in our own lives and businesses. 

I think the take-away from all of this is that none of these guys are sitting around waiting on that certain tweet or blog thats going to unveil the secret to making themselves a success.  They are out there in it, and im going to "follow" their lead.

Caleb