Describe the mindset one needs to be successful at using social media tools?

There are a couple of mental/intellectual criteria which I believe are essential for a PR professional to both understand and leverage the opportunities offered by social media. These include:

1) Flexibility: The need to consider quickly the potential benefits of opportunities in the dynamic social media sector;

2) Adaptability: The openness to either embrace or discard potential social media opportunities depending on resources and prevailing media trends;

3) Sense of adventure: As social media evolves, PR practitioners in this field are, in a sense, pioneers. As early adopters, they must have a sense of adventure to venture into uncharted territory.

4) Team-building; This is perhaps the most important, as there remain many in the senior levels of PR who are suspicious of social media. To be effective in leveraging social media opportunities, PR practitioners must have the tools and skills to build teams and coalitions that also embrace social media sector opportunities.