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That said, I think the points made were good, and I think this post needs to be expanded. At the end, I agree: the bourgeois world is supersaturated with social media, and hopefully people will experience burnout sooner rather than later. Sure sites like Facebook have helped me find old friends who I haven't thought about, let alone spoken to in 15 years, and yeah, that's important. Facebook is also a good way to keep in tough with my centripeded friends who have distributed themselves across the face of the globe like a fine layer of volcanic ash, and that actually IS genuinely important. But when it comes to actually conducting one's entire social life on facebook (who does that?) on sites like Facebook, then you know we are collapsing as a society. And one site like this is enough, but it seems that everyday new platforms are being launched which repackage the same basic engine, and really, how many of these things do we need?
Well, I gotta keep one, because some "friends" are on one and not the others. And I got to get this one, because I can make some new friends that are exclusive there and not elsewhere. That sucks, because it takes me 5 minutes to look at each one, even before I comment on posts pictures, and chat.
And the problem is: is that REALLY friendship? Is chitchatting about the day really what friendship is all about? Is joining someone's gang on MobWars really friendship? In the aether, I suppose that passes for friendship, but I have a fear that that will make its way into the real world, and relationships will actually be a mile wide, but an inch deep.
What is the solution? Well, I don't want to risk being a monopolist. I don't think that Facebook should be the only social networking site. Nor do I think that social networking should be shut down. But I really wish there was some way that I could cause people to step back and actually examine their new habits, and see just how much of the world they miss when they veg out in front of the Facebook. If people would be conscious of the ways that their interactions with people change as a result of thier facebook or MySpace or whatever usage, I think the backlash would be swift and severe.
IN sum: "social media" is a good thing, but perhaps it is too much of a good thing, and perhaps (to use some hyperbole which may not be that far off the mark) it is actually destroying the fabric of our society.
I do think social networks can be great to build and grow real community. However, I think that most internet people over-estimate their reach, and under-estimate traditional media. New and old media are not inherently bad and can work in tandem with each other.
For the record, Doc, I think you and I satired the 'tyranny of new media bourgeois fascism' back in the day.
Being an expert typist does not mean you can write. Being a great sound engineer does not make one a great musician or a brilliant orator.
I'm happy to use the term 'social media' when talking with others who understand it and the context. But when applied generically to describe 'the crap we do online and how to leverage it' 'Social Media' is a substanceless, jargony a marketing term.
I have had a chance to meet a few of the social media "gurus" LOL and for one, they dont self label that. They openly admit that much of it is a social media jerkoff, but they are able to see above that. That the value is in the conversation and in helping people. A term that I understood in theory but had no "vocab" for was a social media listening campaign. This can be very powerful idea if used in a value added or customer service not just a pimp my shit way. When summize (twitter search) first came out. I gamed the system by having a search for "wordpress designer" to pickup consulting work. But now that idea is so saturated that 20 actual people plus ten bots will probably be on top of them.
When twitter first came out it was a great tool used by thinkers but it has now be taken over by the myspace effect where followers invade and rather than do anything original they simply talk about the original ideas others have or take them as their own bastardized version.
To sum up social media can be great but also social media can suck if you are a douchebag.
This post, for the record, was not a personal attack. Many of the East Coast SM people are good friends. My snark is mostly reserved for the gross PR people and amateurs who try to sell themselves as experts..
Social media is following a very similar trend to the Internet bubble of the late 90's. There is a lot of wasted time, money, and just plain stupidity out there when it comes to social media. I wrote a blog post at http://navelmarketing.com/2008/12/08/the-myth-o... that talks about the hilarity of the term "social media marketer". The true social media marketers are "marketers" first who use social media as tools.
Anyway, good stuff!
If the self-proclaimed marketing experts and gurus really were experts and gurus, they would realize that they need to stop using social media as an annoying one-way billboard with flashing lights and loud music and actually begin to use it as a two-way communication device. They need to stop blasting out links to websites and teleseminars; lay off the grades, awards and stats and starting talking to rather than at the people who are in their network.
Is that likely to happen? Somehow I doubt it. But that's the beauty of this whole thing - you and I don't have to listen to their endless drivel - we're free to un-follow or un-friend (and spend our time interacting with people who interact back with us). It will definitely be interesting to see how social media evolves over the next year.