I developed and teach a social media class at the community college. I help with professional development designed to train faculty members  to use social media in the classroom. I also research the benefits of using social media in education and business.

I hear many reasons why people do not want to use social media.

Some of the excuses are listed below. I bet you have heard some of these excuses as well.

In your opinion, are the excuses lame? Are some of the excuses valid? Why or why not? What do you think?

1. Takes too much time
2. Someone might say something negative about me or my company
3. I am a private person
4. My business is tightly regulated
5. Social media is a fad
6. I’ve tried it and it didn’t work
7. Once you post something, you can’t take it back
8. No one reads my blog
9. I hate Facebook
10. I hate Twitter
11. There are crazy, wackos on social media
12. Stalkers hang out on social media
13. I don’t know the basics of how to use social media
14. I prefer e-mail lists to social media
15. Billboards are more effective than social media
16. You cannot measure the results of social media
17. It takes too long to see the results from social media
18. I don’t have enough to write about on social media
19. My personality is not suited for social media
20. I prefer to talk to my customers in person
21. Email is more effective than social media
22. Newsletters are more effective than social media
23. There is no way I can say what I want to say in 140 characters
24. I have nothing interesting to say
25. I don’t want my picture on the Internet
26. I don’t have any ideas for videos
27. Infographics are too complicated to create
28. I have no compelling visual content to add to my blog or Facebook page
29. Social media requires a major commitment
30. Social media has a limited life span
31. I can’t think of good titles for my blogs
32. My competitors are already on social media
33. It’s too late for me to jump on the social media band wagon
34. It’s too early for me to make the leap into social media
35. Social media is nothing but slick marketing
36. I don’t know how to get my customers to buy, sign-up, watch the video, or respond
37. No one ever comments on my blogs
38. No one ever retweets my tweets
39. No one ever shares my Facebook posts
40. Social media does not result in quality sales leads
41. There are too many roadblocks to carrying out a social media strategy
42. I don’t need the extra stress that social media creates
43. I don’t have enough remarkable content
44. I do not have anything interesting and unique to write about
45. I do not have time to blog regularly
46. Social media takes constant engagement and monitoring
47. LinkedIn is too formal
48. Google+ is like a ghost town compared to Facebook
49. I don’t understand the fuss about Twitter
50. I do not know how to use tools such as Hoot Suite or TweetDeck
51. Search engine optimization is too complicated
52. I don’t understand the details of Twitter
53. My post might go viral
54. My post never goes viral
55. I don’t understand retweets
56. I don’t know who sees my direct messages on Twitter
57. Hashtags are complicated
58. I don’t know how to set up my profile on Twitter
59. Who has time to send consistent tweets
60. I cannot wade through all the tweets
61. I don’t understand the importance of keywords
62. Who knows the difference between a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Page
63. I need to take a social media diet or fast
64. I am not a marketing superstar
65. I do not want to be on the computer after work hours
66. I don’t have the money to buy an expensive video camera
67. I don’t have a story to tell
68. I’m not giving away anything
69. I am in business to make money
70. Social media is for teenagers
71. Social media is for suckers
72. I have no clue about how to choose a domain name
73. My employer blocks my social media access at work
74. My customers are not on social media
75. I have a real job to do
76. I have no idea where to start
77. I’m too average to be successful with social media
78. I do not have the skills to use social media
79. I do not have the tools to use social media
80. I am a perfectionist
81. All the political activist are on social media
82. Old school marketing is the proven strategy
83. My customers are too opinionated
84. People share too much information on social media
85. Facebook is all about drama
86. Facebook is all about cats
87. I’m not interested in what people eat for lunch
88. People share too much mundane information
89. My boss might see me on LinkedIn
90. Social media is nothing more than an online yard scale
91. I don’t want to be friends with just anyone
92. The jury is still out on social media
93. Social media is only good for connecting with old classmates
94. I don’t want to build relationships. I just want to get my work done
95. TMI – too much information
96. I’m not tech-savvy
97. The rules are always changing
98. I have no clue how to conduct a webinar
99. I don’t have a mobile strategy
100. Social media is scary
101. I have not been trained to write content for the web