Commentary

Is Social Media's Bubble Set To Burst?

Has the world gone mad? Has the buzz of social currency gone completely out of control? Or is the Birds Eye pop up restaurant the smartest piece of social media marketing -- and PR -- you've seen in years? It's hard to tell, isn't it? 

On the one hand, anyone who doesn't get caught up in games of buzzword bingo at creative meetings would ask themselves a very simple question. Why would you cook dinner for people and accept a tagged photo on Instagram as payment? Even if it is for just a couple of days, where's the benefit?

On the other hand, there's the question that if we're going to give out samples of a new produce range, why not insist people tag photos of them? What do we have to lose? We're giving away stuff; might as well get a tag for it. We'd tap into a natural habit -- apparently half of the British public photograph their food -- and if every diner has one hundred followers, we only need to feed a couple of tables for a thousand people to see our campaign.

One can imagine these were the kinds of conversations that were going on when the Picture House pop up restaurant at Soho's The Ice Tank idea was discussed.

So where do I stand? To be honest, it's quite difficult to know because there are arguments on either side. Yes, it's crazy to think an Instagram tag carries that much weight, in comparison to the cost of a meal that has been cooked and served to diners. On the other hand, you might as well get a credit somewhere if you were going to hand out meal packets -- albeit with the addition of hiring out a restaurant and paying wages and so on.

I still think this is the start of something potentially dangerous. 

I remember playing pool in Old Street in the days when the Web was still very young and exciting -- in fact, it still is -- and there were dozens of startups all giving away free stuff in return for attention of some sort. It even got so bad that one group raised the bar to giving away an island for one lucky visitor to its site. I rather suspect it was never given and that the guys went, as we said in the day, b2c ('back to consulting').

Truth is, people will always like you if you give them something for free. That's our nature and you can bet your life those Instagram feeds were soon packed with selfies and badly taken pictures of Thames bridges with a sepia filter effect added for some reason.

There is currency in getting someone to mention you online. The best hat tip is a positive mention that they enjoyed your goods or service -- particularly a positive review because, by definition, you have their money in your hand and they've told their friends about you.

So I have a feeling that cooking meals for people in return for an Instagram hashtag is more of a publicity stunt than anything. People will know the hashtag is there as thanks for a free meal. If half of us really do photograph our food (I have a couple of friends who do this on Facebook, so I recognise the activity) then the "thanks for the freebie" shot will soon be replaced by a stunning shot of a meal the person is actually excited enough by to show their friends, unprompted, to let them know how great the Thai Salad is at such and such a restaurant.

Social currency has some meaning, but let's not get carried away.

If we do, there'll be talk of giving away islands again and we all know where that got us -- picture an Instagram snap of a balloon with a pin pressing in to its rubbery exterior.


1 comment about "Is Social Media's Bubble Set To Burst?".
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  1. Pete Austin from Fresh Relevance, May 13, 2014 at 11:29 a.m.
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