What’s Going WRONG with Social Media?
I read this piece from Mark Earls…
One thing stand out to be quite definitive from the excerpt:
…that the old ideas about communication involving the sending and receiving of messages, transmitted down channels/media/tubes or whatever are just plain wrong in trying to think about the new world.
Russel Davies touches on the same note here
“the assumptions about how advertising works we’re baking into our media tools are wrong. And so we’re making bad media tools. Things that will piss people off. I think that’s largely because while Google and the rest of the clickonit scientists were relentlessly implementing a mechanistic, message and relevance based model of how advertising works the thoughtful bits of the advertising business (admittedly not large in number) had their head in the sand denying the existence of anything digital”
So to touch base from my end, I would like to add just one point. Correct me if I’m wrong in stating but Social Media has always been about people and less about technology.
Please add more if it interests you in the comments below…
Search Interactive Marketing Blog
January 19th, 2009 at
I agree: Social Media is about people – albeit using and depending on technology and those (companies) providing these technologies.
Honest interaction between people has to be build on trust – and that does not always run well with advertising and the implementing of marketing strategies. People are an end in themselves and don’t want to be just instruments to reach someones goal.
If they are realizing they are talking not to a person but to some social media manager of this person or – worse – a bot, they will get angry. The question is: how do you communicate with millions of people in an authentic way?
January 19th, 2009 at
Could not have agreed more to that!
Infact, the moot question as u asked is so relevant in present context of things around: How do you communicate with millions of people in an authentic way?
I believe the answer lies more to being open and conversational in not only marketing, communication or PR activities but also in all processes involved because I believe the true dialogue starts from inside rather than outside.
Best example coming to my mind right now is “Google”.
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Sampad
January 20th, 2009 at
Do you think Google is particulary open about things and developments going on inside the company?
Okay, there is the AdSense-Blog, the YouTube-Blog etc – is that what you have in mind?
January 20th, 2009 at
No exactly! That’s what I didn’t want to mean.
Ok, let me try it in a different way. Google is outwardly participatory with blogs, forums and other stuffs and amplified by Googlers. It doesn’t tell us about how Google is working from inside but till they serve the purpose for us, I don’t think it will be problematic.
Now after clearing, now would like to hear from you…
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Sampad