by Geoff Livingston
Maybe it’s because I was gone for two months on a sabbatical, but returning to my reader has been a disappointment. Let me be more specific. In particular the social media, PR and marketing blog posts about PR, social media, marketing and, yes, the general “conversation,” read like a time warp back to 2007.
From social media consultant and PR bad apple rants to suggested proper RFPs and Facebook vs. Twitter posts, the social media conversation seems to be the same old conversation. The echo chamber seems to be in full effect tripping all over itself.
Hmm, that’s useful.
Meanwhile —-> There’s a mobile revolution going on driving the next generation of the web. And oh yeah, people are using it do really useful things, like raising millions of dollars to help Haiti earthquake victims. We’re talking record breaking amounts raised using mobile media.
Or how about an increasingly important issue raised by the semantic web with privacy? For example, Facebook users’ photos, home towns and friends lists are all public now, and Mark Zuckerberg would redesign the network to make all data open. While harnessing social information to serve users with “smarter” content companies, and increasingly nonprofits, sacrifice that most important aspect of the social web: Human relationships. In return for receiving users information in a trusted relationship, they move away from sincerity and return back to the 1.0 machine of consumer exploitation.
Or what about the incredible fight for viability the newspaper and traditional media industry continues to face? And then there’s the almost complete failure of government 2.0 to provide transparency into government.
What are we as a communications community of bloggers, the people that helped usher in the era of the social web doing to prepare our customers and readers for the web of now? In my opinion, the marketplace trusts us to provide this kind of intelligence. How can the current conversation about the conversation really be considered germane when overwhelming evidence shows a dramatic shift towards application-based and portable media?
It’s becoming a question of relevance. And it’s only a matter of time before people simply tune out.
Notes: Like Valeria Maltoni, I am a link nazi, but because of the sensitive nature of this post I felt it was best to not call out individual bloggers. Special thanks do go out to Ike Pigott for inspiring the title of this post.
Geoff,You left the bubble for 2 months and came right back to the bubble.Expecting a noticeable shift in the conversation isn’t going to happen. It’s noble to hope yet futile to expect it. We still have those trying to walk despite their feet.
What you got and what is sorely needed in this space is perspective. Those that never venture out, well, will never have it; and expecting those that do happen to walk beyond the sphere to have it in 2 months time, is just not going to happen.
As hard as it might be and it’s something I wrestle with daily, a little empathy might be in order. I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations on conversations about the conversations?
Geoff, I don’t really have anything to add, but I couldn’t resist *commenting* on a post titled “The conversation about the conversation”
Marc: A great question. I actually resisted writing the post, but felt it was a necessary statement. This post was a door closing for me.
I actually plan on ignoring the repetitive conversation. Some folks will just stay in the ongoing chat, and that’s fine. I can’t do it anymore.
Great post, Geoff.
It seems the so-called social media experts have created a comfort zone that, while may be profitable to some, does little to contribute to the intellectual bottom line.
After all, every day someone has the “bright idea” that their business, political operation or nonprofit needs a Twitter feed or Facebook page. But they don’t want to take any risks. Or talk to people. Or really listen to what anyone has to say. But they have to have it.
And so the noise gets louder.
Thanks for being a voice of reason.
Cheers,
Jason
the conversation about the conversation will not stop anytime soon.