Why is Social So Big

August 15, 2007 · Comments

Lee Lefever with me and Karin Klein Social media. Social networks. If you add these to your venture capital pitch, you’ll get an extra ten minutes to propose your “next big thing.” Why, though? Why is it suddenly hot to be social? Being that I’m often surrounded by the people thinking about this, I have some thoughts about the answer to why.

Social Reconnects Us

During his emotional speech at Gnomedex, Derek K. Miller started off by saying that the people who claim the Internet turns us all into shut in hermits are wrong. The Internet has given him access to people while he’s been at home, recovering from his illness. It’s just a simple reminder of a larger truth: using the social tools of the Internet takes all these millions of people using the Web and gives them a “commons, a marketplace, and a workplace.”

We connect through Twitter, through Facebook, through our blogs, through podcasting to some extent. We use Flickr and MySpace and all these other technologies to weave together a richer, more textured portrait of who we are.

Social Adds “Voice”

Giving us a way to pore over the same sites and participate with what’s there makes us feel somewhat more connected to the material. Have you spent any time digging into Amazon lately? You can leave reviews, write into a wiki, chat back and forth with people. All around a product. Sure, some of you are saying, “Why would I?” But others of you might see the advantage of having that much additional data on a product you’re considering purchasing.

Using the tools of social networking and social media means adding our own take to things, no matter where we find them.

Marketers Love Social

Because they see it as the second coming of “word of mouth” marketing. And in a way, they’re right. But only insofar as we, the people inside the networks, enable this kind of conversation. I’ve long held that the new wave of marketing should be reversed. Marketers should be seeking out the pre-existing evangelists of their products, or people who like similar products, and empower them to do more truth-based marketing. For instance, I love my Macbook. I love my BlackBerry Pearl. I love my Sony DSC-T9 camera. Why aren’t those marketers finding me, and helping me rant and rave even more effectively?

Spam, even social spam, won’t be tolerated, and I think that people need to disclose fully if they’re being augmented by someone else. Full disclosure.

Social Mimics Life – Kind Of

It’s not analogous, but it’s not bad. Social media and social networking are (can be) messy. It’s imperfect. We twitter into a set point in time and someone is either there to respond immediately, or they respond 10 hours later. That doesn’t happen in real life, but it makes sense here. Facebook gives us a rich interaction, including understanding of the people who connect to us (insofar as they populate their profiles and tell us about their lives). It helps us connect a little deeper. A little.

There’s still a weirdness around the world “friend.” Are you a friend because you know my name on two services and read my blog? Are you a friend because we met twice at a conference? Yes, according to social networks. And in my eyes, I like having friends, however tangential. But how then do you separate FRIEND friends versus people you know through networks? So, all the kinks of this aren’t gone.

Social for Businesses

Should businesses be social? Should they use these tools? Are they timewasters? Which ones? (I get that question a lot). Of course, it matters which ones and for what purpose. I think there are some values to be found in social networks, social media, and bringing a human face to most organizations.

But, even as I’m writing this article, Jeff Pulver pointed out this article about whether social tools are bad for business productivity. (Answer: yes.)

So, what have I missed? What are you thinking about social media and social networks? Do you recommend them for your business?

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  • You say it so much better than I could. Really great post. Awesome that you put it all in one concise post. Thanks.
  • Thanks for the link. I find that many of the social networks, from Facebook on, are strangely bound by the conventions and environments of their developers and founders. Facebook is huge here in Canada, but here we generally don't talk about "college" or "middle school" (so much Facebook terminology is based on American usage and educational structures, and on young adults and teens rather than anyone of another age) and the whole "friend" category is a bit mystifying in its overly wide range.

    For venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, I think the toughest thing about these social interactions is that it's no difficult to predict what might succeed, because success isn't necessarily based on what service is best, but on which one most people decide to use. Again, it's the real social interactions of people that decide success, not technological or design superiority.
  • I think about them all the time - it is what I'm paid to do. How to find the evangelists, people who want to talk about the products. How to put something into networks that people want to talk about, want to share, that gives them something that makes them think well of a brand.

    Different tools for different products though. What is right for some is not for other. As important is the type of client; much of my work can be education about how and why to use networks and when NOT to use. Just because they are there does not mean they are right for you.
  • "I" (me, blogger and author) am my "business". I sell my words. And I have seen my "business" improve using tools that are "beyond blogging".

    Writing the blog was a way to share my thoughts and meet people (yes I consider the folks I meet on the Internet to be my friends). But using other social media has been a fun and exciting path to follow, and has proven to be more effective as far as converting eyes to buys. I'm not sure why (wish I did! LOL) But the fact remains that while I had steady readership at my blog,I've sold more books since engaging in social media and networks.

    As always, Chris, you have a knack for tapping into ideas and questions that are percolating in my head. I've been thinking about the impact social media could have for authors. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
  • Businesses that see "social" as just another channel to insinuate their tiresome and relentless one-way sales pitches into my life should stick it up their soc-net.

    However, if they see it as a way to really find out what I want and relate to me as a person instead of a nameless, faceless representative of a corporation, then they might be on to something.

    I have to say, I'm a bit bemused by all the smoke rising around business uses of soc-nets and soc-media. At this point, it seems like a lot of the old solution-in-search-of-a-problem phenomenon.
  • "I’ve long held that the new wave of marketing should be reversed. Marketers should be seeking out the pre-existing evangelists of their products, or people who like similar products, and empower them to do more truth-based marketing. For instance, I love my Macbook. I love my BlackBerry Pearl. I love my Sony DSC-T9 camera. Why aren’t those marketers finding me, and helping me rant and rave even more effectively?"

    Absolutely. This is key. Every marketer should be focusing on how to facilitate the conversation.
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