For anyone reading this blog, it’s a pretty good chance that you’re already social media-savvy. Whether you found it through a Twitter link, a blogroll, Technorati or similar means, I’m guessing that you know about the benefits social media can offer.
(For anyone else that arrived here by mistake – well, I thank your error and hope you’ll stick around!)
And therein lies the problem. If you did use one of the methods I mentioned, you’re already a social media user, which is great. But for each one of us that “gets” social media, there’s another 10 that don’t.
(By the way, this figure hasn’t been scientifically proven – I just like round numbers).
This is the problem that social media needs to overcome if it’s ever to be taken seriously. There are some great people out there helping to spread the word about social media, both for personal and professional use. But there needs to be more to help the medium into the kind of acceptance the Internet now has with everyone.
One of the main issues is that there are just too many social media sites, applications, tools and more that it’s all too easy to get lost when you first jump in. No-one likes to be the guy that made the wrong choice – just ask Betamax video or HD-DVD early adopters.
What’s needed is a standard format for the different tools available. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to see a monopoly of social media any more than you do – but figures prove that something is much more likely to enjoy success the easier it is to use.
Instead of having multiple microblogging platforms like Twitter, Pownce or Plurk, etc, have one main platform to work from. Differentiate the users by offering categories, if you like, that helps them find like-minded users more easily.
Have three main social networking sites – Facebook for people, MySpace for music, LinkedIn for business. Integrate some of the better features from other sites like Bebo and FastPitch and make these three sites the one-stop shop for whatever field it covers.
Combine the best of Stumbleupon and Delicious to offer a bookmarking site that truly does drive traffic to your website or blog.
These are just some ideas to bring social media to everyone. The biggest stumbling block for people and businesses is simply confusion as to what social media offers. Having so many platforms doesn’t help. Narrowing all the current options down into a more manageable resource would go a long way into negating this confusion.
I’m not saying it’s the ideal solution – but it’s got to be better than the mish-mash that’s currently out there, no? What do you think – are there too many social media platforms or is all this choice a good thing?
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Danny,
This is a tough one… As you mention there are more and more social media applications popping up on a near daily basis, yet the number of people that adequately understand the marketing potential for these platforms remains constant. Whilst I think that the level of choice is reasonably good from a customer’s perspective as the likelihood of finding something that appropriately meets their needs is increased, for a marketer this can be a statistical nightmare.
From a marketing perspective, I think that the solution is to ensure that a greater number of marketers recognise the value of the solution media. I myself have attempted to highlight the benefits of such platforms as Twitter to marketing collagues in the recent past with very limited success. Unfortunately, I think that what it comes down to at the end of the day is ROI. As soon as some clever sort comes up with a means of attaching a real, measurable ROI to the social media it will explode. Whilst I think that this is a shame, and that it may signal the end of ‘caring’ social media, this is how I see things turning out. It’s just nice to be involved herein whilst the social media is still concerned with being social.
TLR
The Lovable Rogue´s last blog post..Who ‘Owns’ the Social Media?
The biggest stumbling block for people trying to understand social media is its everchanging meaning. The term has become so all-encompassing that it is close to useless. Plus, there is a fair amount of hype floating around.
New technologies and new ideas usually bring in a new vocabulary. In the field of social media this has yet to happen, but when it does it will make things a tad easier to understand.
Regards, George
George Cozma´s last blog post..The Curse of Offlinity
@ The Lovable Rogue. While I agree that some level of choice is good, Chris, I’m still not 100% convinced that the sheer amount of choice on offer is helping. Sometimes there can be just a little too much, although with social media as “new” as it is, who knows? I agree that the grasping of tangible ROI could mean a shift in how social media is used, though, and it’s something I intend to look at in a future post.
@ George. Good to have you back here, haven’t seen you in a while!
Yes, this is definitely another problem (and one that’s becoming increasingly frustrating!). A lot of this can be blamed on the “new experts” who are trying to be the next Chris Brogan or Jeff Pulver and are getting too embroiled in what they think social media is, as opposed to what it actually is. We can but hope that someone defines the medium. Going back to one of your earlier posts at The Gray Hat Zone, it’s probably going to need someone like a Google to step in and establish a common ground. Until then, I guess it’s the catch-all approach.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views, guys, always appreciated.
Agreed, Danny. Too much choice confuses people… At this rate, we may find that it gets to the stage where our customers each have their own social network. Now that would be interesting!
The Lovable Rogue´s last blog post..Who ‘Owns’ the Social Media?
First, you gotta get people to stop clicking on those damn pop-ups that say “you’ve been infected by spyware!”
Ha, yes indeed Joshua – that probably WOULD be the best starting point!