Commentary

The End Of Social Media

by Joe Marchese , December 1, 2009

Thank god, there's an end in sight. We are closing in on the end of "social media" as a standalone concept. Media has always been social in nature, but not until recently have media creation, augmentation and peer-to-peer distribution been so easy as to necessitate its own category and terminology.

I know what you are thinking: "But I just hired a 'social media expert'!" Don't worry -- understanding the principles that drive consumer creation/participation and the technologies that enable the people to spread content will simply become a part of all media and advertising activities. But I admit, I have no idea what's going to happen to all the cool titles like "social media expert," "social media guru" -- and, my personal favorite, "social media ninja." Social media is dead! Long live the socialization of media! OK, maybe not yet, but it's coming.

First, let's all agree that the rules of social media today are not new or mysterious. Forget the medium for a second. If you created a television show or a marketing campaign, wouldn't you want people to talk to each other about the marketing campaign, to recommend the show to their friends, to earn a place in the cultural zeitgeist? The goal is the same today, just with new tools that put this goal on steroids.

Last week I proposed that the creation of Facebook Connect and other universal log-ins will lead eventually to no difference between "digital strategy" and "social media strategy." Think of it this way: if your task is to create a digital media experience, either for the purposes of marketing or entertainment, a massive part of your task is to understand how people will want to socialize (also read: share/spread/comment/augment) your story. This applies to everything from the news to television content.

The reason why social media has been a separate category is because people are simply not willing to replicate their social graphs and share the personal information necessary for every media property they visit to create a rich social and custom experience. Not that most major media companies haven't tried to get people to create profiles in pursuit of developing community around content. It's natural, because all media is social, but difficult because people have limited time.

Now, as the barriers to creating a rich social experience for all media are taken down because of portable social graphs and universal logins, we will see a new evolution of media properties and marketing campaigns. These marketing efforts will leverage the new tools available, simply taking the core of what their goals have always been: to create an entertaining, informative or persuasive experience that people will remember and share with there friends.

This post in 140 characters or less:

The end of "social media" will be the best thing for everyone, including "social media experts" http://bit.ly/5PPZbV @joemarchese

Will we see the end of the term "social media" before the end of 2010? Post your bet in the comments, and /or simply watch on Twitter as I try to fight off "social media ninjas" -- www.twitter.com/joemarchese

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20 comments about "The End Of Social Media".

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Thomas Kurz from EFP, December 1, 2009 at 2:45 p.m.
Joe,
You are spot on. I am so bored with the concept of Soical Media as a "stand alone" concept. The fact is that if you are not incorporating some level of socialization into your media, you are missing out on the opportunity afforded you by being on the internet. Everybody is doing it so in this vein, the idea of treating it independently seems dated.
Cheers for throwing that out there!
Reply

Owen Greaves from Owen Greaves Consulting, December 1, 2009 at 2:47 p.m.

Personally I believe all Media is being re-shaped, the death of Social Media is a true reflection of whats taking place. Media as a whole is being forced to change and be re-shaped, Social Media merely brings out the need for transparency and openness.

Eventually Social Media will take on a new meaning, but traditional media still hasn't figured out what it is now!

Just my two cents.

Owen

Esther Steinfeld from Blinds.com, December 1, 2009 at 2:52 p.m.

Unfortunately, not everyone has hit her "Social Media" and "Social Media guru" saturation points. It's not in everyone's job descriptions to put up with these so-called social media experts on a daily basis. I suspect we have a long way to go before it's a thing of the past, as it should be. Luckily, early adopters of the "Social Media is a not a separate disciple" school are very vocal. Messages like yours are louder than ever. Thanks for the post.

Carri Bugbee from Big Deal Digital, December 1, 2009 at 2:53 p.m.

Joe, I've always said that once the newness wears off, social media will be "baked in" to everything. Any self-respecting marketer will be expected to know all about social media and include it in the marketing mix.

That said, I'm quite surprised at how slow most marketers have been to adopt social media tools and methodologies. Most are more clueless than I would have imagined at this point, so I don't think social media "experts" will be jettisoned anytime soon.

I predict it will be at least another two years or more. It's a big, complicated, fast-moving space that takes a long time (and a passionate commitment to self-education) to figure it out. Marketers (especially those in advertising) who have eschewed the digital space as the ugly stepsister have a lot of hurdles to overcome, not the least of which is fear and loathing.

@CarriBugbee
Social Profiles: http://www.CarriBugbee.com

Joe Marchese, December 1, 2009 at 2:54 p.m.

@owen and @thomas we said. It's not like social media will disappear overnight (I am sure I'll have to use the term here many times in the future), but it's good to look at what the landscape will look like after the silos break down.

Nelson Yuen from Stereotypical Mid Sized Services Corp., December 1, 2009 at 3:07 p.m.

Is it just me or does @Joe (the first commenter) totally not get what the writer is trying to say???

Trevor Stafford from Red Canary, December 1, 2009 at 3:12 p.m.

While I agree that social media is not and cannot be a standalone concept, I don't agree that it can be applied on a 'campaign' basis.

Social media is not a tap you turn on to drive awareness that you have cold water, it's a relationship, a product of two-way communication and it needs to be nurtured over time. It's is overarching. It encompasses the your marketing, sales, customer service and branding. It is in essence a reflection of your social capital.

I'm not saying that because I'm a 'guru' who's trying to justify his existence. I just cringe when I read 'social media and campaign in the same sentence'. You're just going to blow up.

Making a campaign easy to share is not social media (though it does use the tools). Getting people to talk about your campaign is not social media (it's PR). Taking action that helps you be perceived as an authentic, representative entity that people want to associate with and re-broadcast IS social media.

Also, you can absolutely have a 'digital strategy' without a social media component. Apple computers does it every day!

Joe Marchese, December 1, 2009 at 3:18 p.m.

@trevor well said, although I can't agree that people talking about your campaign over twitter isn't using what today is called "social media".

I like the more narrow definition you are trying to apply to social media, but don't think it is the one that is universally accepted (if there even is one), nor do I necessarily think it should be. Saying the social media = customer relationship management I think goes to narrow. But that's just my opinion.

You can also have a digital strategy that doesn't include search engine optimization and search engine marketing, doesn't mean you have the complete digital strategy, or a good one.

Jay Deragon from Social Media Directions, December 1, 2009 at 3:18 p.m.

Joe

Well said however if 96% of the market is using social technologies simply as another channel to "old marketing methods" how will "open silos" help them attract, engage, converse and build relations for commerce?

There is still a huge learning curve by those either calling themselves as "social media experts or marketers". In MHO :)

Tari Donohue from Grace Studio LLC, December 1, 2009 at 3:23 p.m.

I think what Joe says in the first line is what sets the entire debate apart: social media as a STANDALONE CONCEPT.

When social media first lifted off, there was all this chatter about being able to fling unrelated updates willy-nilly (did I just say 'willy-nilly'?) and build a friends or followers list that could circle the earth, and by golly your business would just take off. Viral marketing at its zenith!

What we're learning now, to our latent credit, is that true marketing on these vehicles requires a strategy, utilizing other tools besides linkbacks, retweets and general hashmarked comments. The last paragraph of the post puts it nicely: that the peak of just chattering for the sake of 'getting your name out there' will level off a bit, and fit in more kindly with the other very cool tools in the interactive space that can underscore your offering in the marketplace.

As a P.S., the Salon article I wrote describes how film is about to go this path, with communities and specialized applications written for marketing digital film to the masses in the newest channel to hit the market. I can't wait! http://tinyurl.com/yjjf59o

Betsy Kent from Be Visible Associates, December 1, 2009 at 3:30 p.m.

I agree that social media as a stand-alone concept is on its way out. More and more the lines between social media, SEO, Internet marketing, etc. are blurring. With Google and Bing indexing Tweets and Status updates, and content being generated everywhere that is interactive, the truth is: All Media is Social.

Richard Roy from DIGITAL IMAGE STUDIOS, December 1, 2009 at 3:31 p.m.

Social media doesn't work, tell all your friends.

Christine Randle from DPR Group, December 1, 2009 at 3:53 p.m.

I just like the fact that you made it easy for me to tweet this article with the inclusion of 140 character text;)

Rich Reader from WOMbuzz, December 1, 2009 at 3:53 p.m.

Are we also agreed on the end of Traditional Media as a standalone concept?

Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., December 1, 2009 at 4:12 p.m.

Does it scare anybody else that "Social Media" websites and tools (facebook, myspace, twitter, etc.) were created by some of the most anti-social people on the planet - computer programmers? This all could just be an elaborate acceptance ruse. ("Look, Earl, instead of talking and walking and loving they're all typing short messages into their devices...just like US!")

Christine Randle from DPR Group, December 1, 2009 at 4:22 p.m.

Hilarious, Jonathan! I've often thought the same thing...

Aleta Walther, December 1, 2009 at 10:50 p.m.

Thanks Joe, particularly your point on social media outreach eventually falling under the umbrella of a highly honed communications/marketing campaign. Social media itself should not be a stand-alone solution for reaching target audiences, but we all know that, don't we?

Also, loved your jest on "what's going to happen to all the cool titles like "social media expert," "social media guru...” I do not claim to be an expert in social media, far from it. I am, however, often amazed how much I have learned about this medium. I am not far behind some of these so-called experts. Ironically, it seems many of the social experts I have run into ( I didn’t say all) don't have jobs other than touting their social media prowess. Perhaps that’s why they have time to do a deep dive into social media. Lord knows there is no lack of resources to peruse. ... But then one has to do what one has to do in this economy. Lots of company’s looking for social media “strategists.”

Kyle Sharick from New York University, December 1, 2009 at 11:59 p.m.

I have learned that there is just as much "hype" in PR with industry terms and fads, as in any other realm of life. These conclusions are obvious or at least we can hope. I love the phrase "the socialization of media!" and cannot understand why organizations have not made that connection yet. The strategy is simple. Erase all the extravagant nomenclature and extinguish the fireworks around social media. What is left? Simply, how people have been communicating and relating with each other forever. Talking day-to-day as friends, neighbors, and passerby's. The creativity and uniqueness behind these TOOLS is where the focus and payout is.

Ron Ladouceur, December 2, 2009 at 11:42 a.m.

Joe Marchese is certainly right that the end is near for treating social media as a “special” category. Integration is the future. Goodbye “ninjas!” But the examples he chose to illustrate his main thesis suggest the author is not yet fully around on the changes wrought.

In his attempt to reassure, Marchese states that media has always been social. According to Joe, people have always talked about things like television shows and marketing campaigns. All social media will do is allow them to talk more. The future will simply be the past on steroids.

The flaw here is imagining a future still divided between those who make media and those who consume it. But that future's already gone. Massive networking moderated by social media has already destroyed the divide.

Take Joe's two examples, television shows and marketing campaigns. People don’t just talk about them. They interact with them, and the sum of their interactions has a profound effect on what these things are to begin with and how they evolve.

The passive "consumer" is no more. Through social media, he or she is a caustic agent who has as much power as a product's maker and marketer in determining what a brand signifies, what it is worth, where it can be found, whether it should be trialed and if and when it should purchased. Marketing, what Media Logic calls <a href="http://www.mlinc.com/model/">Conversation-Centric Marketing</a>, must allow for and encourage upstream input and two-way interaction in order to create and position products, gain relevance, maximize impact and justify investment.

Tim Patterson, December 2, 2009 at 5:27 p.m.

A month ago I gave a presentation on 'Social Media' to a local PRSA group and wanted to 'take the temperature' of the room before starting. As I expected, the knowledge and levels of engagement were all over the board. Some were tweeting about the presentation while it was occurring; others were still waiting to 'get involved' with social media and they weren't even sure what that meant yet.

I liken today's SM landscape to the way we perceived the 'World Wide Web' and the 'Internet' back in about 1995. Some really got it and were trying cool new things (audio! sketchy video!), others thought it wouldn't be worth looking at in their lifetimes.

I remember when blogging came along around the turn of the century (okay, when was it really?). I didn't get it at all: who would want to try and write something new for a website on a regular basis? What a chore! Can't you just put something up and leave it? Now of course I'm blogging several times a week and tweeting regularly; have a FB page, a YouTube channel... Everyone will engage at their own pace.

As @CarriBugbee said, I agree that 'social media' as a standalone category will still be valid for a couple of years to come at least. In a recent conversation with a social media consultant he likened the current landscape to the 'wild west' - one reason is because so many companies want to get involved but aren't even asking the right questions.