Gordon's Republic

Gordon Macmillan

Jeremy Ettinghausen raises the question as to whether social media is a Second Life fad in the making? Talking about how we should treat new social platforms (Twitter) as sales platforms. He does after all want to sell books.

Says it is time for less conversation and more action. Says what Penguin, Lego and Apple want to do is create products with marketing built in. Says they do their own social media and will not be handing out cash to social media agencies.

Talking Second Life; says we shouldn't have been asking what our Second Life campaign should be, but should we have had one in the first place. Same is true of social media he says.

Jeremy is a skeptic. He has a pop at BBH and their island on Second Life. Ouch. Is it still there? I hope they visit.

Mentions Millions of Us – the virtual world agency…they are now a social media agency. Do we need social media agencies to do social media? I never thought so.

I think he has it wrong. Social media is not the fad that virtual worlds were. They were inward looking, social media is outward looking. At least that's how it strikes me.

He is talking Twitter as an ad medium. Says it is polluting the Twitter stream. Says keep it social and don't pollute the stream with advertising. Says social media is not advertising; but PR.

Says the people he would hire are those who think creatively about technology. Says lets stop thinking about social media as an end in itself.

Finishes with the line conversations will not sell products or ring the cash register. Get excited and make things and then tweet about it.

Sandrine Plasseraud – We Are Social - Talking about getting back to basics – five principles. Says it is more than Twitter and Facebook. Says don't forget blogging and the conversation at the heart of social media.

Listen to the conversation – don't talk to people in social media as you would do in advertising.

Adapt the strategy to the conversation – slide of Dunlop's loop the loop campaign; has a car with Dunlop tires.

Think engagement, participation – she references the Ikea campaign where people tag furniture to win it online. Some debate about that campaign. Good idea?

Engage individuals in social media, don't use them as "media". Good point.

Buzz versus long term engagement – buzz is fine; but it can be short lived you have to plan far beyond. Says you need to be there for the long run.

Talking Scott Monty and the Ford campaign to launch the Fiesta brand in the US via social media; big hit and good campaign for a previously very traditional brand.

Think about how social media is revolutionizing organizations. Says it is bringing the departments together within organizations and if it is not, it should, as all departments need to be talking when it comes to planning social media campaigns.

Good stuff – but a big idea?

Last up Amelia Torrode and she is talking…rattle snakes? And Clarke Stanley. He was a 19th century son of a Texas rancher. Legend has it apparently that he went off to the Arizona desert and came across the Moki Indian tribe and learnt the secret of snake oil and its restorative powers.

He moved to Rhode Island and set up Clark Stanley's Liniment Company. Exploited people's desire for a fix it all elixir. Cut to 1893 and the World Fair in Chicago. 27m people visited. Clark Stanley demo'd his snake oil; hugely popular and he toured America and gave rise to his snake oil empire as well as a huge snake oil industry with lots of rivals.

How does this relate to social media you wonder? Shows Gartner's hype cycle slide; the one where social media disillusionment has set in. Says we are just past the peak of social media. Says she knows the exact date when social media disillusionment set in.

It was Sunday November 1st. Do you remember that day? It was when Stephen Fry was accused of being boring on Twitter and had a Twitfit and said he was going to quit before changing his mind. I knew we could blame it on Fry.

The story made the front page of the Sunday Times. I agree crazy that it made the front page of the Sunday Times.

She shows a funny slide as five people sit in a row; they look unhappy – it is apparently a panel of social media gurus. You cannot she says imagine a less inspiring group of people. You cannot disagree.

She says the whole phrase social media worries her a lot and it is wrong. As I think she said at Media 140.

Says it is the media bit that worries her; as if it is a line on a media spend sheet. She says it misses the point. She has a simple plea: we need social ideas not social media ideas.

Asks how do you know it is social: 1. why will I talk about it? 2. How do I get involved? 3. What keeps the conversation going?

Talking about dinner parties and how you might get sat next to the crashing bore and how that compares to the witty amusing guest you could have sat next to. What are the character traits that make someone a good dinner party guest? Says it is like social ideas the ones that are interesting as well as interested.

Punchline (there had to be one) there was no snake oil in Clark's snake oil liniment. Says that is her worry about social media in an emperor's new clothes kind of way. And is worried we get stuck in the hype cycle and we'll turn out to be snake oil merchants.

Takeaway: social ideas. Good stuff. Close run thing; but Jeremy wins it.

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