I am of two minds about the growth spurt of social media, because I inhabit two different realms: a personal one of friends and family, and a business one of colleagues and clients.
Thus, I find myself torn right now as to how much to criticize social media ventures. I have spirited arguments with friends about the problems vs the benefits of Facebook vs Twitter.
And yet, many businesses seem to have the attitude that they need to jump in to any new media opportunity, before they've fully explored their goals and what they want out of it.
Two interesting recent articles on this topic are:
Social Business Reality Check: Move Beyond the Hype by Robert Strohmeyer of PC World, and The Twitter Trap by Bill Keller (Executive Editor of the New York Times).
The PC World article is more geared towards business professionals, but both tackle the issue of a "reality check" with social media.
From a business perspective, Stohmeyer analyzes the issues of getting on the social media bandwagon without a well thought out strategy. Chasing "followers" makes no sense if those followers don't translate to either good PR or sales of some sort.
Keller bravely tackles the "illusory" aspect of many social media, which is more the "Emperor's Clothes" issue so many of us feel but (in business circles, at least), don't always articulate:
"I’m not even sure these new instruments are genuinely “social,” Keller says. "There is something decidedly faux about the camaraderie of Facebook, something illusory about the connectedness of Twitter."
I am glad I am not alone in my wary distrust of all media social. These articles make good reading for the cautious.
