I’m as guilty as anyone else–after all, my blog is subtitled strategies and tips on social media and online marketing–but why the focus on media?
Social networking makes sense, typically alluding to online versions of the community center bulletin board, printed restaurant review guides, telephone “party” lines, suggestion boxes, and assorted customer service modules.
While its Wikipedia entry distinguishes social media from industrial media–newspapers, television, and film–the fact remains the second word, “media,” continues to have connotations that make some uneasy if they don’t like talking to the press. Not to mention, I’ve had numerous conversations in recent months with high school students around town; and while they use MySpace and Facebook, they never heard of the term social media–even if that’s what it is may be.
Chris Rasmussen, in a recent interview about using social tools in e-government, hit the nail on its head when he compared social media to a “Rorschach test in that everyone sees something” differently.
The Guardian’s technology correspondent, Bobbie Johnson, is fed up with social media. He’s had enough. He’s one of those people Chris would categorize as seeing things differently.
Bobbie confesses to his blogging, tweeting, and Facebooking addictions; but he’s tired of “the incessant chatter about how social media is changing the world.”
Bobbie writes on his blog:
Nobody talks about people down the pub laughing… as a “social drinking sensation.” They don’t call people giggling about it on the phone as a “social telecommunications sensation.” They call it joking, or they call it gossip, because that’s what people do. Whether they do it online or offline, down the pub or on Facebook doesn’t matter. “Social media” is mainstream–we don’t need to claim any more victories for it.
Within Bobbie’s tirade was a riff on social media group blog Mashable.com (where I disclose I’m a fledgling contributing writer), at which point Mashable editor-in-chief Pete Cashmore chimed in with a comment about halfway down:
[I]t may seem to you that blogs are over emphasizing the importance of these developments, but can you really disagree with the statement that the web, and its powerful social tools, are one of the most significant transitions the media has experienced?
Wait a minute. Bobbie jokes about “social drinking” and “social telecommunications” but Pete echoes Chris Rasmussen and uses the umbrella term of “social tools.”
If Pete is right and social tools are an evolutionary step for media, then why are we using “social” to describe media? It’s not like mass media has conquered how to use the social tools, has it?
Related posts:
- Social Media: Banning vs Blocking
- Why Social Media is a Fad
- My 20 Most Popular Blog Posts on Social Media
Comments:
Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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I hesitate to say “social media” is changing the world. It’s another step in the natural changing direction – the evolution – of the world.
Whether it’s first a change in media or a change in forms of social interaction, we’re using the term “social” in relation to media because a form of media is being used in a social manner. Had people been more apt to name every change in their existence back in the days when paper made scribbling on cave walls obsolete, the term would’ve come into existence sooner, since both cave walls and paper are forms of media. But back then they had more meaningful things to be concerned about, like saving enough money to one day actually buy some paper.
I think the most ironic thing about the social media debate is that it’s mostly being held by people involved in social media, not among the mainstream press or the average guy on the street who isn’t involved in blogging, tweeting, etc.
That giant sucking sound you hear is all the air escaping from the vacuum we’ve created in this online space as we incessantly babble on — to ourselves — about how important we are.
Let’s take a look at the meaning of “social.” According to Random House Dictionary, one of the meanings is “of or pertaining to the life, welfare, and relations of human beings in a community.” Social media enables us to engage with human beings closer than any other marketing tools out there (aside from face to face). There is more of a human element and sense of community when using these tools. Depending on what the objectives are, social media, coupled with other marketing efforts can create the most powerful impact when you are trying to communicate a message or idea to your audience – a way to amplify your message to impact and help others.
Anna Barcelos´s last blog post..In a transition…
Agree with your line of thought here. The notion of media has evolved and is no longer relegated to traditional influencers and traditional outlets. Now anyone with an opinion can be an outlet. Are they media in the proper sense, no. The whole “social” tag is a bit trite and subjective IMHO, but there is no doubt that these new social tools have enabled more people to perform the function of what we tradtionally classify as “media.”
These new tools – from blogs, to micro-blogs to communities – as Peter pointed out enable new (tech crunch, RWW) and old (NYT, business week) media outlets to be more connected and to some extent social. The social element breaks down though when any media outlet utilizes these new social tools to push traditional stories. Sure Twitter and blogs are a way to push out more stories and drive eyeballs to a specific .com site, but it’s important to keep in mind that in this evolving world of networks the underpinning value is conversational.
If media – in whatever guise – is pushing headlines to their broader stories and driving traffic to their .com property it’s really digital media. If media is starting and/or participating in a conversation its social media.
My 2C.
kelby johnson´s last blog post..Who’s influencing the influencers?
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@ariherzog Giant sucking sound is air escaping from the vacuum created as we incessantly babble to ourselves. [link to post]
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Why is Social Media About Media? [link to post]
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One “distinction” between social media and media I keep reading from writers across all lines is that in social media, anything goes. We should be allowed to express ourselves in any way, shape or manner we choose. That’s what makes social media so fun, so cutting edge, so relevant.
Fair enough. But I believe there’s one word that still needs to hover as something of a guidepost: Responsibility.
As I wrote – and you commented on – recently (”Social Media and Beyond: Responsibility Rests with You”), this notion that we can say whatever the heck we want in social media platforms like Twitter still comes with a certain level of responsibility. Sure, say what you want…but be darn well prepared for the consequences if what you’re saying (read: accusing, claiming) cannot be substantiated. There seems to be this growing notion that if it’s on the internet – if it’s on Twitter, or any number of other similar platforms – we can be free like hangin’ at Woodstock.
As one who works in traditional media, I’m bound by responsibility. I can indeed say what I want…but if I cross the line into indecency (and it’s not relative – there’s a clear definition of what is, and is not, decent), or if I out-and-out lie, there will likely be consequences.
As Anna Barcelos said earlier, “Depending on what the objectives are, social media, coupled with other marketing efforts can create the most powerful impact when you are trying to communicate a message or idea to your audience…”
It’s that last part about the audience… There’s an audience everyone targets, and there’s a hidden audience. The latter is the one you always need to be mindful of, no different than a radio talk show, when going “on the air,” as it were.
CGabriel´s last blog post..Low Pressure Front? No, It’s a Colonoscopy
One problem is that so many people think of social media as just another tool for communicating messages TO target audiences without also concentrating on the two way nature of communication that social media enable.
I will second Dennis, who is making great contributions in this space. “The medium is the message,” so lets use it.
Adriel Hampton´s last blog post..A Simple Guide to Twenglish (Twittish, Twitterese?)
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