Commentary

Who Here Has Been Poked Lately?

That was one of the quips Social Media Insider summit programming chair used to get things going on Day One here at Lake Tahoe.

Cathy’s point was that social media is evolving and changing as it moves into what she calls the “post-hype era of social media.”

Among those changes are both business and consumer usage changes. And while most consumers have grown tired with poking each other, they’re posting status updates, and sharing photos, news, and other aspects of their lives via social media more than ever before.

Cathy’s other main point was about the current backlash surrounding social media due to Facebook’s underwhelming IPO, which some in the industry may equate with a death knell for social. She said this reminded her of her time covering the original dot.com bust, and the way people on Madison Avenue suddenly grew skittish about online advertising, which as we all know, proved to be a false hiccup.

“It just kind of goes to show you that if you keep tracking what consumers are doing in social, and remember that as you are marketing, you will continue to see that this is going to be an ongoing part of what you do until the cows come home,” Cathy concluded, invoking an odd bovine metaphor. But hey, cows are pretty social animals too. And there’s also an implicit “brand” connection there.

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