Next to “Web 2.0″ it might be the most commonly used vaguely defined term I hear in technical and marketing circles today. I don’t like the fact that companies are chucking millions of dollars at people in the “social media” field, because they need a “social media strategy”. I love the new forms of online interaction and what they represent to a marketing organization, but why do we need to lump everything into a single nebulous bucket?
Here are some ‘working definitions’ of social media…
SocialMediaClub: Social Media is redefining how we relate to each other as humans and how we as humans relate to the organizations that serve us. While it is commonly represented by blogs, podcasts, vlogs, wikis, user generated content and social networks, it is not about those specific things as much as it is about what happens around and because of those things. This includes most notably the ability and desire to easily share with each other, to build upon that which is shared and to discover people, places and things that are of interest to you, because the sharing of these things with these new tools, is making visible that which was previously unknown.
Wikipedia: Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories, and understandings.
Uh… dictionary FAIL.
Tamar Weinberg put together a blog post yesterday with quotes from many “social media experts” looking to define common traits. It’s a good, albeit long, read, but I can save you a bit of time. The most commonly used (relevant) words were: “social media, marketing/er, community/ies, audience, conversation, understand, relationships”. Over and over again, across numerous sites, it all continues to boil down to engaging in a conversation, yet we are lumping all these disparate methods and technologies into a completely inappropriate term.
Why does this bother me so much? First, I feel it “dumbs down” a fairly interesting topic. The same way any generalization creates issues (such as racism, elitism, etc), it creates a certain amount of sensationalism around something. And with any hype comes inevitable backlash (I find the Amanda Chapel twitter stream particularly interesting to follow), which will in turn cause incorrect behavioral shifts.
Today social media consultants can charge a boatload of fees to marketeers who are unfamiliar in the space. Fundamentally, many of their techniques will fail, not due to a lack of trying or expertise, but simply because there are too many round pegs being shoved into square holes (great example). The same way the bottom fell out of the “Web consulting” industry in the late 90s, those who have hung their hats on “Web 2.0″ and other nebulous terms will find themselves wondering how the well dried up so quickly.
So to my peers in the social media community who understand the conversation, consider narrowing your field into the area you are particularly good at. Community managers are needed, and will be for a long while. Blogger relations people are needed, and will be for a long while. Expertise is worth more money than generalism. Being able to easily and rapidly articulate your skills and the benefits you bring to the table will keep more food coming to your mouth long after this generation’s “Web producers” are still trying to sell untrackable, unmetricable, unfocused success.
Spleak Media Network, based here in San Francisco, announced some big news this morning - the press release went out on PRWeb this morning at 9AM. Three new content hubs have doubled the size of the Spleak network; GameSpleak (gaming), StyleSpleak (fashion) and TVSpleak (television) have joined the list, each with their own network hub. Previously CelebSpleak (celebrity gossip), VoteSpleak (politics), and SportSpleak (sports) were the topics of conversation across the Spleak network. All of the them are accessible at www.spleak.com, though of course most users create and consume content via IM (AIM, MSN Messenger, Google talk), on social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Piczo) via SMS or on destination sites via interactive widgets.
