In an article today in iMedia Connection, with the provocative
title (hey, it got me to click) “Why we need to kill social
media”, Rob Key, CEO of Converseon, makes a well thought out argument that “the term 'social media’ itself is stunting the potential of the very force it is trying to describe and, hence, has outlived its usefulness.” Of course, Converseon is a “social media consultancy" so one can infer that the topic is near and dear to their hearts after years of trying to explain the so-called medium to clients.
But what entertained me were the comments. Apparently between the hours of 12:38 pm ET and 5:31 pm ET two warring factions managed to articulately (and somewhat diplomatically) duke it out. Shel Holtz, a consultant who develops social media strategies for companies, innocently started it all with his comment disagreeing with Rob’s point of view. Then Jeff Molander, professor of digital direct marketing at Loyola University’s school of business disagreed with Shel, siding with Rob and claiming that “all digital media is now social.”
Both camps made eloquent arguments. And, they are both right – depending upon the looking glass with which you happen to be currently viewing this complex topic. Is it really “media” from a marketing perspective, or a newly entrenched model so widespread it encompasses all modes of human communication? Like others in the online advertising biz, we at TruEffect have been watching as long held beliefs about consumer awareness are dispelled. Turns out, it's not a commodity to be understood and packaged within any one particular channel. Those “eyeballs” do not live and function in a vacuum, and cannot be defined solely by their proclivity to type a keyword into Google, visit a particular website, Tweet about tomatoes, or leave lamps in their Overstock shopping cart.
Billions of words have been written on social media in the past few years. And, here I am – adding another 400 or so. But in the words of William Gibson, “The future is not Google-able.”
So, as of 5:31 pm ET, Jeff has had the last word. I wonder if they left their computer screens and went out to “socialize.” All I know for sure, is that all three gentlemen in question, today, found an appropriate use of social media to further their individual causes. And now, I've done the same.
– Layne Salter
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