by Geoff Livingston
This year’s SxSW had an interesting flavor to it (image by marcatsworld). You get the strong feeling that conversations and panels about social media have hit the wall. There’s an air of autumn to the conversations, and a consistent undercurrent revolving around what’s next.
Everyone knows that organizations are still rapidly moving towards adoption and there are still, MANY, MANY best practices to be adopted. Yet, there’s no longer a newness to the dance; rather an acceptance that it must be learned or a conversation about continuing to refine skills. From MysPace and Digg to Facebook and Twitter conversations, social media fatigue reigns in Austin.
The vibrant SxSW conversations focused on new technologies or new applications. From new contests and social good to GPS based activity and mapping, people were focused on what’s next. And for the heart of the interactive community, the early adopter community, this makes sense.
What does this mean for the average communicator? We are in a phase where it’s no longer hip to announce your new social capabilities. You either do it, or you need to quietly learn, adapt and get it. Further, it needs to be integrated within the larger offering.
At the same time, I sense we have a big mouthful to chew with social. Verticalization and specialization within social will be a huge factor. While mobility continues to be a big factor (FourSquare vs. Gowalla, for example) and is getting wrapped into the social conversation, there’s an unease as we seek what’s next. Maybe we already have what’s next, but there sure seem to be a lot of icebergs looming in the dark…
Though I wasn’t one of the first in the tweetstream, I’m a relatively early adopter. Having trained a bunch of people to understand the differences and similarities between old and new media and later, social media, I will admit to being saturated by “new media” and “social media” information that deals with “beginner” steps – though acknowledging so many are still in the “beginner” phase.
That said, there’s a lot of room for work to bring people to what will best work for their business in the new/social media sphere. Less is known about new/social media by small or local or enterprise businesses than is commonly thought by early adopters, and the newness still exists to a scary degree for many.
The market for training, consulting, monitoring and maintaining social and new media is ripe for those with the skills and patience to train businesses. The market for the clerical side (uploading already-written blogs or FB or tweets to the respective sites) is also broadening as social media early adopters understand that their skills may be better used for innovating or teaching than spending the day uploading or monitoring.
The “field” is changing and it will be interesting over the coming year to see where things go.
@ginakay
Gina, great observation. I’m going to say it like budding curmudgeon I am.
Geoff, I remember the fat, bearded ISP entrepreneurs who were the ones that first put together the modem banks and wires that allowed paleogeeks like me to surf, pre-Netscape, at blazing speeds of 14.4. I worked for one. A few years later they bemoaned the “fact” that the Internet was “dead.” It was 1996. They didn’t like that VC-backed, white-shirt-and-tie types were taking over their babies. Some of them went onto other things. Like online gaming. As you know, the Internet is not “dead.” It’s more alive than ever. Because it grew up.
It’s time for social media to “grow up.” The white shirts are back in the name of the great god of profit to take the new shiny objects away from the new generation of (figuratively speaking) fat bearded guys.
You are absolutely correct. “You either do it, or you need to quietly learn, adapt and get it. Further, it needs to be integrated within the larger offering.” The case studies have just begun to be created on how the existing tools we have can improve marketing and communications. There’s no need to feel the “thrill is gone” when there’s more thrill yet to come.
ISPs got eaten by most of the dinosaurs they thought they were going to kill. Now social media is being absorbed, amoeba-like, by the Marketing powers that be. But it is not the autumn of social media. It is still very much the spring. And the next “big thing,” whatever it is, will attract its own generation of early moths who will shortly get eaten by the bats. (sorry about the visualization there!)
One can’t continue to go Great Gatsby-like, constantly looking for the next party while not enjoying the party that they’re actually at. There will indeed be other parties, but eventually you have to settle down and enjoy the moment.
One should avoid what I have been guilty of myself and snarkily call CADD (collective attention deficit disorder), where people are spinning their wheels latching on to the “Next Netscape” then the “Next Google” then the “Next Twitter” then the “Next Foursquare” but quickly becoming dispassionate each time.
You are an accomplished professional and your career is far from over. I think you make a better bat than moth – and I seriously and sincerely mean that as a compliment, despite the visualization. :)
I hope this makes sense and that my curmudgeonness actually helps teach people something…
Peace.
Geoff,
What’s next for social media? Simple. It will be absorbed.
You know, once upon a time, there used to be a specialized area of campaigning called “television campaigning.” We don’t hear much about it nowadays, even though it still commands the highest amount of money spent.
Ergo, with adoption, comes absorption. The same thing happened with every new media that has come along. The only difference with this one is that it represents an environment where any number of interests are in play.
Best,
Rich