Quietly Participatory: The Phlegmatic and Social Media

Part of the Temperament/Social media series in collaboration
with Elemental Truths. You can find all of the relevant articles
linked at the bottom of the Introduction.

Phlegmatic temperaments play an interesting and oft-underplayed role in social circles: they’re maintainers. When the Melancholies have retreated into a moodiness, the Sanguines have flitted off to the next big thing, and the cholerics and supines are busy with their causes and goals, it’s the Phlegmatics that provide the calm, quiet consistent presence that keeps a network together until the rest of us get over ourselves and wander back.

But what do Phlegmatics get out of modern social media?

I remember taking some of my phlegmatic friends to dance clubs years ago. They’d sit quietly in the literal shadows of the building, watching others. I’d always be sure they were bored to tears, but on the way home, they’d tell me what a really wonderful time they had, and tell me about everything they’d observed.

That’s how I suspect Phlegmatics use the social media applications, too. They sit quietly in the technological shadows, observing the interactions to their heart’s content, participating actively only when they choose to.

And modern social media offers a low-maintenance means of keeping up with friends, family and professional contacts. The networking aspects lets Phlegmatics build a circle of acquaintances through passive interlinking of the friends of friends without expending much effort at all.

So what’s the drawback?

In its current forms, social media is a pain to get involved in. There are so many decisions to make - which service, which plugins, which add on applications? And all of the advice about how to use the services? It’s overwhelming.

Phlegmatics want a simple, easy to use fishbowl window into the cyberworld. They don’t want to have to bounce between services, create multiple profiles, or pressure friends to join their network. These are the technologically capable folks who still use email delivery for RSS Subscriptions because its easier than picking an RSS reader. (I see you choleric geeks over there, rolling your eyes! But you know the people I’m talking about.)

Even once a Phlegmatic is signed up for a service, they can feel a bit left out. Their preference for watching quietly makes them totally invisible on most services. Whey do speak up, uttering one of their rare but often profound statements, its likely to be drowned out, left behind or totally overlooked in the fast moving noise of Twitter, blog comments, and the like.

Phlegmatics do want relationships and attention (low levels of attention, but still attention!) and on the modern services, building relationships or getting any attention at all requires being fairly aggressive - and that goes against the grain for a Phlegmatic.

So what’s the best approach for Phlegmatics to take?

Be willing to expend initial energy to get set up. Pick a service (probably one your friends use), pick an add application and a plugin or two (also probably the ones your friends use), set up your profile, and then you’re done fiddling. Really.

Passively build a network. Wander through your friend’s contacts, do keyword searches for areas of interest, and glance at the featured members sections most services offer on their front pages. There are a lot of interesting conversations going on that you can read without feeling the need to respond.

Don’t feel that you’re intruding on others by subscribing, following or linking or responding to them, even if you don’t know them. It’s no more intrusive than watching people on a dance floor, or smiling at the person behind you in the grocery checkout line.

Ignore the labels most services use to label contacts. They’re silly and inaccurate, and we all know that no one has 10,000 best friends. Marking someone as your friend does not mean they’ll expect a Christmas gift or a dinner invitation (but I’m always open to gifts!). So don’t let it freak you out

Treat Social Media like a fishbowl. Years ago, I had a friend whose desktop AOL icon was renamed”Sociological Bonanza!”. The current social applications are just as revealing about human nature, and provide tons of fodder for analyzing and picking apart the whys what’s and wherefores of group dynamics and human nature.

Recommended Services?

This is a tough call, because I really think the old Web1.0 services with their chat rooms and message boards served Phlegmatics better than the current popular offerings. The trick is often to find a way to passively share information that will help Phlegmatics build a network without forcing them into uncomfortable levels of interaction. With that in mind:

Twitter holds some promise for Phlegmatics. Since no one can see who is watching at any given time, and the conversations move so fast, there’s no pressure to reply or respond. Follow some active Tweeters and just watch the tweets whirl past!

Twitter mashups and addons may hold more interest for the analytical side of Phlegmatics. These are services that fold spindle and mutilate data from Twitter users, spitting it out in interesting formats. Summize lets you search for topics. Tweetwheel shows you which of your friends know one another. Twistori shows a sampling of what people feel, wish, love and hate. A list of fascinating, strange and useful Twitter mashups can be found among the offerings at Mashup Awards.

Microblogging with services like Tumblr is another low maintenance option. It’s like a blog, but… shorter!

Book marking services like Furl, StumbleUpon and Ma.gnolia may also interest Phlegmatics, letting you gather, analyze and share online information without having to force yourself to get noticed. A new related trend is web clipping services that that allow you to save and share just a part of a webpage: contenders in this area seem to be Evernote, Clipmark, and Clipit.

Both Flickr and YouTube allow you to sit in the shadows and watch other people’s worlds, commenting, sharing and/or contributing when you feel moved to.

In Summary?

I think there’s still something distinctly missing in modern social media when it comes to Phlegmatics. They are valuable core members of any community, and need a way to be quietly involved and appreciated a bit more effectively.

But until the technology catches up to you, dear Phlegmatics, keep patiently observing and analyzing us … Social Media is, after all, a sociological bonanza!