Comments on: Social Media is Dead

By: Noreen Sullivan

Noreen Sullivan — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Social Media is not dead it is just Media. All media has been social from the start. The town crier, the followers of Christ, all repeated stories to friends. When TV and Radio created the one to many news voice it was like the Church being responsible for all written language. We came out of a dark age where information was controlled by a few sources. Marketing supported those avenues. Now the channels are split into new forms and the marketing has come with it. The authentic feel of early social sharing is gone. The larger a social channel gets the more like big media it becomes.
Engaging with a brand audience still can be fun and great. So many “social experts” are not sociologists, or media experts. The new social has to understand both brand impact and group dynamics. Distinguishing between social and media is silly. If the content has social currency it will work if not it wont. This is not the first time that media has shifted, think the printing press.
Social is dead long live Social.

By: Derek Scruggs

Derek Scruggs — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:39:27 +0000

As a follow-up. I guess my concern is this post is basically the online marketing equivalent of “their old stuff is better.” If SEO is dead, please keep beating it to death because it's been great for our bottom line (and no, we don't do black-hat stuff).

By: Derek Scruggs

Derek Scruggs — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:37:25 +0000

Hm. I get the impulse behind this, but when I look at my sales conversion rates and see how important SEO is to that, well… We're just starting to really go after social media so I'm not ready to pass judgment on that.

By: micah

micah — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:46:24 +0000

I never use apostrophes, and dont care how you “take” me. Hope you
enjoyed the post!

Sent wirelessly.

By: leliathomas

leliathomas — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:16:57 +0000

Yeah, you lost me after the first few sentences, because you didn't use apostrophes in your contractions (i.e., didnt instead of didn't). Brush up on that grammar, man. It's hard to take you seriously, otherwise.

By: Jessica Randazza

Jessica Randazza — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:51:46 +0000

You're my hero:

“Where the companies and agencies that win are the ones that understand that, for example, there is real benefit to making the kitchen a social place to help build the brand of their appliances, or that real communities are built on collaboration through transparency.” – Now, I can absolutely back that.

Love your insight, Micah.

By: PR RIP? « Mesh Media Strategies

PR RIP? « Mesh Media Strategies — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:50:03 +0000

[...] From Inc. magazine’s staff blog, “Fresh Inc.,” comes this item: A moment of silence for traditional PR. Seattle entrepreneur and angel investor Andy Sack declares that “PR is dead.” As Sack explains on his blog, “I declared PR (public relations) dead. It’s the past. It’s all about social media now. And social media is a more complex, more fragmented game to play. PR agencies of the past will have a hard time adapting–in my opinion.” Of course, not everyone has been as quick to roll out the hearse. Some of Sack’s readers offered up a spirited defense of traditional PR. In fact, one commenter went so far as to claim that social media is dead. [...]

By: TashaBrighton

TashaBrighton — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:20:47 +0000

Great blog, though I'm not sure if I entirely agree – social media is becoming so integral to the way everyone communicates there can't but be personality and innovation.. being a copy writer myself I do agree search engine optimisation can often be seen to go very badly though! My euphoric tone in a recent blog post (for a potential part-time job) perhaps seems a bit optimistic though! – http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/2010... – Let me know what you think…

Oh, and megfowler – I do agree (and I doubt you'd like my blog!), but although it may be dying for some of us, for others it's still a novel idea, so still worth blogging about blogging and the like!

By: Suzanne Lainson

Suzanne Lainson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:53:58 +0000

No, of course you don't really need to have been online that long. But whenever I read about how Twitter will dominate social media, I remember how all the other online tools were supposed to be dominant and then got replaced. The very fact that something can rise quickly to replace what has gone before means something else can come along just as easily to replace that.

By: George G Smith Jr

George G Smith Jr — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:45:59 +0000

a doer with a loud mouth. I like that. We need more of those….

By: micah

micah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:35:37 +0000

Every technology and industry builds on the successes and failures of the past. But you dont have to have been online for 20 years to be a good social media marketer. You just need to understand engagement and what that really means.

By: micah

micah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:34:23 +0000

Thats dour! :) People dont ruin everything….just most things.

By: micah

micah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:33:46 +0000

I 100% agree. I told someone at Graphic.ly yesterday “Would you rather talk about winning the race, or actually win it.” Im a doer with loud mouth; not a talker. I would love to see more doers sharing their knowledge. Their real knowledge.

By: micah

micah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:32:30 +0000

It could be. I think that the amount of money top social media marketers are making (Chris Brogan has been able to build a whole business around his expertise and reputation, for example) is driving less talented and experienced people into the industry. That coupled with the shift in standard PR and marketing, people are just adding social media marketing to their offerings. Its just like web designers adding SEO to their list of skills, when we all know that they are just going to add some title tags and a description meta tag.

Its also similar in that there is little REAL sharing of information. I sit down with people constantly around how a company should blog, use facebook and twitter. I just related what we have found to be successful. I share everything. It always amazes me how many people refuse to share anything, and are considered LEADERS. Its sad.

By: micah

micah — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:29:06 +0000

Meg, I think you are on the right track. When you look at datum (how you like that singular?) Not a single one points to the “correct” way to do “social media.” Thats where its completely correlates to SEO. There is no set path, so anyone can spout “this is the right way,” and no one can dispute without data.