Every time I get online, first thing I do is check either my Facebook or my Twitter. Chances are, I am not the only one doing this. As I was searching for articles to discuss for my blog on websites like PR Newswire or PR News or the PRSA website, all I saw was blogs and stories about social media.
This started turning the wheels in my head – what happens when social media is no longer a tool for brands, companies or celebrities?
Social media was non-existent as tool for increasing business or awareness about a brand ten years ago. Now, it is a source for almost every business everywhere.
“Join us on Facebook,” “Follow us on Twitter for the latest promotions.” Even on billboards, the Facebook and Twitter logos are sitting in the bottom corners, waiting to be glimpsed at, asking to be noticed by the onlooker.
Why? Why is it that everything appears to revolve around Twitter or Facebook. It is almost like companies do not know any other way to communicate with their audiences.
I am not discrediting Facebook or Twitter. I already said that I check mine constantly throughout the day. I follow my favorite brands or celebrities, I want to be in the know and I love that if I have a complaint about a brand, I can comment on their Facebook page or tweet at them.
The quandary I struggle with is how will companies communicate with their audiences once social media is outdated and unused – like the print newspapers. Will everything go online and stay there? It likely that a new technology will emerge that will prove more successful than social media. So how worth it in the long run is it to train and educate college students about social media if it is likely to die by the time they graduate or shortly after?
Blogger Jeff Bullas believes the hype about social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogging will be over in two to five years. Freshmen in college, who learn about social media now, could have no use of it upon graduation. Bullas uses the Garner ‘Hype Cycle” to illustrate his point.
This debacle looms in my mind whenever I log into my social media outlets. But honestly, I know that its effectiveness, for business in 2011 could be quite substantial.
Audience feedback will be taken into consideration during company strategic planning. The ridiculous amount of smart phones being purchased (almost making computers unnecessary) will increase the use of mobile apps – which have proven effective (Apple). Of course, the constant evolution of online markets is something to be considered. Companies must prepare themselves.
Read Write Web, an online blogging page, says this “The next big Online Social Network will not be a network at all. ”
“People today look for more personalized, authentic, private information (where we make) a ‘social contract’ around a topic or context that is beyond the reach of search engine results and Facebook crowds,” said Dave Blakely, director of technology strategy at IDEO.
Obviously, there are many different opinions on where social media will migrate to in the upcoming years. Hands down, it will take us somewhere. Companies must begin researching ways to build upon Facebook, Twitter and YouTube so they are not left in the dust upon the changing of social media.
One thing Apple does well is outdating their own products. Thus, companies must learn how to outdate social media before it outdates their company strategy.
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