http://www.tvguide.comSo this past weekend I had two speaking engagements and I managed to spend some time with my family.  You're probably reading the title of this post trying to figure out where I'm going to go with this.

This Saturday afternoon, I went to see the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" with my husband and son.  It was a really great movie about a boy who, despite an entire town of nay-sayers, realizes his dream of inventing something very cool.  His invention gives hope to his town, a town that happens to be in need of some major economic development.  What happens though, is that as he wins the admiration of his town by transforming it into top tourist destination (it rains food there, you'll have to see the movie to truly appreciate what I'm talking about) and on top of that, a love interest...he soon learns the lesson that it is possible to have way too much a good thing.

OK, so try to stay with me here.

On Sunday, I spoke at the PRSA International conference in San Diego on a panel called the Nexus of Social Media.  The panel's moderator, Peter Himler, inspired by Arianna Huffington's keynote mentioning the power of a dramatic headline (a la Balloon Boy), posed the question of whether or not we need more drama when it comes to social media.

I agree with Huffington and Himler in that, yes, drama is a surefire way to attract attention and interest...however, Saturday's movie reminds us all that sometimes too much of a good thing can be detrimental.

To my point, on the panel we talked about what to do when influencers have something negative to say.  My answer?  Determine if they are doing so because they genuinely want to work with you, as the company, to solve a problem or if they are simply doing it for their own agenda that may not even be explicitly related to you.  The bottom line?  In my opinion social media has become embraced so quickly and so enthusiastically because people ultimately just want to be heard.  Guess what?  Companies really really want to listen.  And sometimes by focusing on the drama, we potentially fall in the trap of not hearing those who genuinely have a problem they want us, and in a lot of cases, need us to solve because their megaphone isn't as large as some others.