I went to a presentation at MRIA Ottawa Chapter this week by Robert Hutton of Pollara. He was presenting some research on attitudes about social media, both among marketing professionals and users. There was certaily some interesting data. However, what struck me most was the very premise of the study: people who are using Facebook, LinkedIn, Ebay, YahooGroups and so on are not participants or users of social media. They are using social networks.
This crucial difference seems to continue to elude corporations and institutions as they are trying to figure out how to harness these supposed social media. Taking an advertising point of view is futile: users migrate away from social networking sites when they become too commercial, ie turn into media (whatever that means to the individual).
From the beginning the web has been about relationships, users defining what they accept and engage with. It's the genesis of the shift in power from the brand to the consumer. The challenge is not harnessing social media at all. The real challenge is working on having authentic relationships with ones audiences, including prospects. That means becoming a valued part of a social network. And it's way beyond buying ads on Facebook.
The old ways aren't going to keep on working. Let's invent new ones!
