Update: Old School Mentality on Social Media

The other day I met up with that bakery owner I had written about a month ago. He clarified that the reason he did not want to expand his social media operations was not because he was averse to criticism (on the contrary he said as a chef he cherished it) but rather a lack of time. I saw that as the honest truth since he works six days a week; I was surprised he even took time out of his day to talk to me, over something as insignificant as a blog post.

A lack of time is a perfectly legitimate reason not to dive into social media, because the only thing worse than no social media strategy is a half assed one. Facebook and twitter are littered with unused accounts that were started because everyone else was doing it. Once these businesses realized that some actual effort was needed to keep these accounts active, they quickly gave up on them. These dead accounts with posts that are months or even years old reflect badly on the businesses that manage them. With limited resources, social media would not be the first place I would invest in order to start building a web presence.

Aside from talking about social media, I was very impressed by the bakery owner’s talk about internships. If anybody is looking for an internship in Shanghai where you will not just get used and abused, I highly suggest seeking out this man out. What he will teach you in a span of a year, I have needed multiple years, jobs and internships to learn.

The only hint I will give for anybody trying to find him is that his shop in Lujiazui makes one hell of a cappuccino for 25RMB.