The following video, “Social Media Revolution,” does an excellent job of capturing why social media is such a force for businesses today and why companies should take notice. Social media is changing the way advertisers, marketers, public relations professionals and businesses reach their target audiences. The research and predictions outlined here provide a persuasive argument for using social media strategically as part of your outreach efforts.
What are your thoughts about this video? What do you think of social media and the latest trends? How will social media affect your life in the future?
Is it just me, or is Facebook being invaded by the over-40 set in 2009?
My aunt, still youthful in her late 60′s, is one of the latest converts. She’s all over FB and blogging up a storm. Is it just me and my family?
It turns out it’s not just me at all. Although I prefer to operate under the delusion that I am unique, once again I am proven to be just an average guy.
Indeed, Businessweek cites a a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project that adult Internet users are joining social networks like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn at a much faster clip than teenagers these days.
“The research group found that some 35% of online adults now have at least one profile on a social networking site, more than quadruple the amount that did in February 2005, when the figure was 8%. Compared with teenagers – who flocked to these sites early on but then slowed down in adoption – the number of grown-ups jumping on the social media bandwagon has roughly doubled every 18 months over the past four years.”
This development isn’t surprising to me in the least. Older folks tend to be more socially isolated than college students — lucky youngsters who still have the opportunity to meander down the hallway and knock on the door of a friend, even if it’s 2 o’clock in the morning. At the same time, older people often have wide networks of friends and acquaintances near and far, the result of their years of life experience. So social networks provide a catalyst for interaction that is tremendously valuable for them.
The BusinessWeek article says the older demographic on social networks could serve as a boon to marketers looking to tap into “mature consumers with discretionary income.” I’m a little more skeptical about that. Efforts to coax teens and college students into parting with their money by advertising on social networks have so far been mixed at best. But the demographic shift certainly means that social networks are more valuable from a public relations perspective.
If you’re looking to communicate your company’s message and engage with your customers economically and efficiently, a presence on social networks is a must-have these days.
Now, according to the Pew report, you can be sure that there are adults out there who are eager to share in the conversation.
I try to stick with my New Year’s resolutions. So I‘m going to start blogging. I committed to begin in 2008. It’s December 31. Tweeting? Maybe next year.
What to blog on? Blogging and social media seem a good place to start.
I have been in communications for decades, and while I agree that the medium is the message – for day to day survival and the functioning of life and business, content needs to come into the equation. And that is my concern. “My haircut sucks” “Carr’s (Howie) an idiot” “Stuck in traffic” “Soup too hot” are nice things to know, but…… Today’s media of choice – whether it’s Twitter, e-mail or text messaging have ratcheted down the quality of content. I’m as much to blame as anyone – my life, work and relationships depend on e-mail, a laptop and a mobile phone. But when the medium drives the message (the way it is framed, its length, focus, words chosen, speed of delivery, frequency and level of intrusion) to such an extent, I think the value is diminished — to the point of being ignored. Too much can be too much.
As communications professionals, we sell social media as a route to achieve our clients’ business goals – and generate awareness, usually as much as possible. Spin used to mean putting the best face on a situation (yes, sometimes, the lipstick on a pig) and providing information that was useful and addressed an issue or situation – and that reached people and created understanding and grew business. With social media, churn has replaced the spin. The more churn the better. The louder, more frequent and distracting the better. The more data the better. The more clicks the better. The more friends the better.
What to do? One suggestion is talking. Pick up the phone and speak directly with someone (it is difficult no doubt, and requires many tries, but the result will generally exceed that of all tweets, MySpace visits, text messages and e-mails combined). Another suggestion, write something with meaning and substance to other people – not just a text to your friends, family and members of your LinkedIn network. This is especially important to communications professionals. This is our job. Our thinking and writing is shrinking – it’s divided, segmented, fragmented to serve new media. It is in jeopardy of having no meaning at all — much less the intended affect.
One-to-one is an effective form of communications, perhaps the most. I have no doubt. What social media and other recent technology have done is establish communication from one to one but also from one to too many (many of whom really don’t care or worse yet don’t even notice).
No matter. Marshall McLuhan (even writing in the 1960s) was right when he postulated the medium is the message. What would he have made of Twitter?
