In recent weeks, I’ve found myself in a staggering number of conversations with family, friends and coworkers about social media. I attribute this not only to their recent adoption of new technologies, but also to the surprisingly ubiquitous presence of social media in our regular news stream. These days it seems as if the New York Times can’t grant enough front page real estate to stories about Facebook’s fabled founders or how Snickers is taking advantage of the social media revolution.
Running parallel to the coverage of social media has been analysis of the precipitous fall of the economy. Given the overlapping timing of these two sea-changing stories, I can’t help but think about the connection between them. Obviously both the global economic crisis and the ubiquity of social tools are complex phenomena with causes and effects too large to number on these pages, but at the same time, it’s clear that the faltering economy played no small part in the explosion of social media services.
In other words, social media probably wouldn’t have grown so quickly if marketers hadn’t been forced to trim their bloated advertising budgets. Without free or low-cost ways to reach customers and prospects, how else could they stay relevant in the face of slashed budgets?
As people who already use social media in our daily lives, this is old news. We know how these applications and platforms have helped to shape online communities, build brand awareness and cultivate sales. For those who don’t spend their free time reading tech blogs and plotting a way to attend SXSW, however, social media is suddenly showing up everywhere.
I wonder if social media has gotten increasing media play because in some ways, it is an antidote to the dread-inducing stories on the economy that have dominated the news for months. After all, each day we read how the global financial catastrophe grew out of a cascade of decisions that allowed for individual gain at the expense of the common good. That’s not exactly heartwarming news. Wouldn’t we rather hear about how Christopher Walken is using Twitter? (update: He’s not)
Social media, on the other hand, is predicated on the sharing of information between individuals and groups. People who evangelize social media tend to highlight how it fosters transparency, a refreshing contrast to the back-door dealings of large financial institutions on Wall Street.
What will happen to social media once the economy picks up steam? My hunch is that businesses will find new ways to monetize their social media tools and we will see even further competition among services. Social media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, just last week, Mashable posed the question, “Is social media an industry?” It seems like just yesterday we were trying to convince our colleagues that blogging was worth the investment of time and now we’re discussing how it contributes to our capitalist economy. Without a doubt, social media has taken a positive turn in ways that nobody predicted. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that our economy does the same.
What are your predictions for Social Media?
I agree, I think the fall of the economy and the amount of coverage social media has been getting are linked.
However, I think it has very little to do with marketers looking for new ways of balancing the budget. In fact, social media activities, usually performed by entry level employees or interns, have been some of the first things to be cut.
Despite the hype there is no actual evidence proving that social media is a good use of time for many businesses.
I am a social media consultant for Referral Key so I get no thrill in pointing out that a lot of social media is hype.
Check out our rescent blog post.
http://www.referralkey.com/small-business-blog/2009/04/13/study-finds-twitter-facebook-and-linkedin-are-not-helping-professionals-close-sales/
One other thing to keep into consideration are dying media outlets scrambling to be “hip”. It’s actually quite foolish but I’ve seen countless instances of traditional print media quoting bloggers and promoting social media in an attempt to stay relevant.
Chris, thanks for your comment and the link to that great post. I agree that some of the boom is due to a last-gasp by dying media outlets. But I also think that we’re quick to use old models to demonstrate ROI, and we might instead need to think about developing a new system to evaluate our growing investment in social media.
I can’t help but wonder how big a toll social media is taking on productivity in the workplace. How many times have you or someone you know checked in on Facebook or visited blogs over the course of their work day? I know I am right now, and sure I’m here to learn so that I can more effectively contribute to my company’s social media efforts. But, let’s face it: The more time we spend grazing the Internet for opportunities to “share our thoughts” the less time we spend doing the jobs we’re being paid to do.
Matthew,
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Bert Schreuder
Courtételle Switzerland
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