“Social Media is a Fad”

To that I say, yeah… right. Twitter may wax and wane and facebook may eventually go the way of Friendster and MySpace, but something will always replace it. In fact, I rarely actually use Twitter.com when I post on Twitter. I use third party applications that were built because Twitter is open-source (meaning programmers have access to the code and can write programs around that).

People want a voice. People want to be heard. People want to connect with other people. People want to interact with other people who share the same interests in them, and to argue with people they don’t agree with. Social Media provides this opportunity in a way that was not possible before the internet.

The fact that “Social Media” is a relatively new term applied recently to online communities begs the questions of it’s legitimacy but the truth is that Social Media, albeit in different forms, has been around since the internet’s conception. Forums, AOL chat groups, etc,etc are all forms of Social Media when you strip the term down to its fundamental definition.

A good friend of mine, Lindsay Dicks (@lindsaymdicks) was the first to show me this video from YouTube aptly titled “The Social Media Revolution” which paints a pretty clear picture of the future of Social Media. It’s worth a watch (the music by the way is Fat Boy Slim)

The internet is our digital Wild West and Social Media the proverbial gold rush for many business owners. More importantly though, it’s an opportunity to be part of something new, something powerful, and something that is changing the face of modern business.

You don’t have to look hard to see the impact it’s having on big business. Look at the recent incident with Filmmaker Kevin Smith (@ThatKevinSmith) and Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) that made public headlines. Entire networks are using Social Media to better connect with their audiences. Take a look at HGTV (@HGtvOfficial) who has actually started incorporating tweets from real viewers into their commercials. Ever watch the NBC nightly news. Tom Brokaw now mentions NBC’s twitter page and facebook fan page as part of his sign off every night. The icons even show up in the closing moments of the show.

So is Social Media a fad. Hell no. Not even close. People will always look for new ways to connect, new ways to stay “in the know”, new ways to have a voice, new ways to express themselves and the internet and Social Media are making that easier than ever. If anything, Social use of the internet will grow exponentially and probably reform our current economy to one of Consumer-based Capitalism. I say, ’bout time!