Social Networking and the Corporate Environment: No, it's not helping you.
Friday, 13. November 2009, 18:52:07
Ok so let's get something straight. Social networking, whether it be on Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Twitter or the multitude of new startups out there, is not going to be the do all saviour to tie your company together with the real world. I know, it seems like such a great idea now but what are you really going to gain?
Let me explain a little of my own personal experience for a bit. Most people that I know are gung ho about using any and/or all of the available social network forms at first. A few months down the road most of these websites become more of an annoyance than anything else. Why? Probably because you just added all of your family and friends, your friends friends found you and because they met you once they added you and you accepted. Soon you find out that Aunt Milfred is having a get together, not that you could care as she is like your third aunt removed. Before you know it this Mifred model is repeated with every person you know. Your event invites are 75 events deep, your inbox is full of crap that you could care less about and you have been tagged in thirty photos with a grid of random describing words with you tagged for one of them.
Much like the rest the interwebs, the social networking arena is now full of crap. Techno junk is surrounding you from every which direction when you enter the social networking arena. So I have an idea... Perhaps companies should inject themselves into the social media world! Wrong. Considering that there is so much junk already why would you think that people would want to deal with corporate junk? Are people not getting enough advertisements as they drive to work in the morning? Does the newspaper not pimp more goods than a Compton swamp meet? Does the TV not pause for a commercial break every handful of minutes?
Sure I can hear your defense right now, "but we are only trying to get our customers more involved". Yes, sure. So innocent that you certainly don't expect to drive your sales up through various forms of social networking.
The real question here is, do you understand that when you tweet about a new widget that you are pimping to the masses that no one really cares to listen?
Your customers may visit your twitter site once but I can bet that in most cases they aren't receiving your tweets directly to text message like they would with their real friends.
If you think I am being harsh perhaps an article in InfoWorld may prove a little more convincing (Read #6): IT Snake Oil: Six IT cure-alls that went bunk.
Let me explain a little of my own personal experience for a bit. Most people that I know are gung ho about using any and/or all of the available social network forms at first. A few months down the road most of these websites become more of an annoyance than anything else. Why? Probably because you just added all of your family and friends, your friends friends found you and because they met you once they added you and you accepted. Soon you find out that Aunt Milfred is having a get together, not that you could care as she is like your third aunt removed. Before you know it this Mifred model is repeated with every person you know. Your event invites are 75 events deep, your inbox is full of crap that you could care less about and you have been tagged in thirty photos with a grid of random describing words with you tagged for one of them.
Much like the rest the interwebs, the social networking arena is now full of crap. Techno junk is surrounding you from every which direction when you enter the social networking arena. So I have an idea... Perhaps companies should inject themselves into the social media world! Wrong. Considering that there is so much junk already why would you think that people would want to deal with corporate junk? Are people not getting enough advertisements as they drive to work in the morning? Does the newspaper not pimp more goods than a Compton swamp meet? Does the TV not pause for a commercial break every handful of minutes?
Sure I can hear your defense right now, "but we are only trying to get our customers more involved". Yes, sure. So innocent that you certainly don't expect to drive your sales up through various forms of social networking.
The real question here is, do you understand that when you tweet about a new widget that you are pimping to the masses that no one really cares to listen?
Your customers may visit your twitter site once but I can bet that in most cases they aren't receiving your tweets directly to text message like they would with their real friends.
If you think I am being harsh perhaps an article in InfoWorld may prove a little more convincing (Read #6): IT Snake Oil: Six IT cure-alls that went bunk.
WIDGETIZE