Many people are still wondering about the role of social media. Some are even still wondering what it is (see my various links at right for examples). Well, it isn’t just a youth channel anymore - I saw a recent statistic that half of Australians are involved in some form of social media network. It is evolving organically and fairly quickly probably driven by a variety of forces:
- A need to return to old fashioned values of trust and genuineness – Word-of-Mouth satisfies that need
- A closed door creates interest – the curiosity of online users
- Steadily growing online popularity for search, purchase, gaming, relationships
- Massive amounts of US Venture Capital directed to various Web 2.0 ‘bets’.
Yet many companies struggle to understand the context and implications of it. Perhaps this is because their more traditional management structures typically act to limit curiosity. It seems from some reading on this point that Australian companies are well behind their
Unlike advertising, it's not really necessary for a publicity campaign to reach everyone. Forget reach and frequency. Think credibility and trust. When you can convince a handful of influential people, you can count on word-of-mouth to fill in the cracks and carry your message to the rest of the market.
As Einstein said,
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
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