This post isn’t about you. If it were you wouldn’t be reading it because you don’t do social media.

Chances are, you have a Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, friend, co-worker or business colleague that completely rejects the notion that social media is valuable and can somehow, either directly or indirectly, improve their lives and the lives of others.

This post is about them. They are the last of the social media holdouts.

(Marty is not a holdout, follow him on Twitter)

I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner. His wife is a doctor and they own and operate their own medical office. Both refuse to use Facebook, an ideal medium to promote their practice and educate their patients, because they believe it could destroy their marriage. How so? One of them could use it to reconnect with an old high school flame.

A former business partner of mine owns a home remodeling business in Illinois. His craftsmanship is exemplary, yet his company is struggling to make ends meet. Still, he won’t take the time to learn how to set up a blog with before and after pictures of his remodeling projects. To me, this is the equivalent of him not knowing how to use a hammer.

Then there’s my family. One relative sends me 6-10 chain emails a day, addressed to 15 other people on his contact list. This person won’t get on Facebook because “it’s a waste of time.” I have another family member that won’t do any social media because she is afraid her identity will be stolen.

Clearly, the social media holdouts have their reasons for not going online. However, I believe the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Over the past 12 months I’ve used social media (Blog, Facebook, Twitter) in my business to:

• Sign a book publishing deal about fixing and flipping houses
• Raise over $200,000 in investment capital
• Connect directly with journalists at the L.A. Times and Wall Street Journal
• Refer homebuyer and seller leads to my Realtor partners
• Refer home remodeling work to my contractor partners

On a personal level, social media has helped me to stay in touch with old friends and distant family. Last week, a soccer buddy sent me a message on Facebook to see if I wanted to join his indoor team. He also asked me to list his house for sale. That’s a valuable connection that probably wouldn’t have been made in the offline world.

Technology can be frightening, new technology even more so. While I’m fairly certain lots of people initially debated the value of the automobile, the airplane, the computer, the Internet, cell phones, email and text messaging, few would disagree that today they all help to improve our lives.

So the next time a social media holdout you know wants to bash the medium share this post. Of course, you’ll have to print a copy and put it on their desk or send it to them in the mail because they don’t do social media.

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