In case you hadn’t realized it, I am a multi-tasking, uber-achieving prince of the blogosphere… Meaning that apart from writing this occasional blog for BrandRepublic, I also write a US blog, and manage to bore the *** out of people with various articles and books. The rest of the time I drink, smoke and am generally obnoxious. Anyway, I do have a certain propensity to piss people off when I rant about what I consider to be the slavish insanities of users of such phenomena as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.
Please don’t get me wrong here; I am not saying that they don’t have a certain appeal to people who can only express themselves in less than 140 characters, or want their home page to look like some art directional nightmare designed by your grandmother. Think email here… Isn’t 80% of the stuff that ends up in your inbox total ***? So why would you want to multiply that with Tweets, friends, pokes, virtual teddy bears and messages on your wall. There are only so many hours in the day. But, if your life is so pathetically barren you need to tell total strangers what you had for breakfast, so be it. I am only raising questions about their current ephemeral (as in short-lived) popularity. Who knows, one day they might be recognized as having been as important factors in the epochal changes of civilization as gunpowder, movable type and indoor plumbing. I doubt it. Think Second Life here… But, moving on…
What is described as “New Media” will, by the time you read it probably be “Old Media.” And will without question have since been replaced by “New-New Media,” or “Uber-Uber New media.” But rest assured, whatever the practitioners of these black arts choose to call them, they will be relentlessly promoted as the next big thing. Something you should definitely climb aboard before the express train leaves the station and you end up in penury for the rest of your miserable life because you didn’t jump aboard. Personally, over the years I’ve realized that sometimes it’s better to grab a cup of coffee, or a beer, in my case, relax, and wait for the next train. Most of the time, you’ll be far better off having missed out on the sheer exuberance and froth of whatever was on offer.
But then, we in the ad biz have always taken the optimistically blinkered view that with the explosion of choices via cable and satellite, the hundreds of magazines that now pander to virtually every niche interest, and the deluge of guerilla, new media, CGC, viral, social, experiential or whatever marketing opportunities are increasingly available, that we now have virtually unlimited ways to reach potential customers. What we conveniently choose to ignore is that the consumer now has unlimited ways to tune you out.
George
I love your rants, they make me feel somewhat real in this world of virtuality.
The truth is that social media is so peripheral to dealing with customers that it is rarely worthwhile. The best thing to do is wait on the station, take it all in and ensure that your customers can find what you offer and deal with someone directly who understands what they need.
Mark
Mark...
Thanks for the kind words. I fully agree that most social media is peripheral in customer relationships. Instead of joining the hords of "friends & followers" why not deal one on one via email, or that clunky old thing, the telephone? All my best customer relationship experiences have come about that way.
Cheers/George
Ey oop thee !
I like thee our George, does thar know why ? cos thar tells it like it is
Tha sez what thee likes and tha likes what thee bloody well says
George Parker
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Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 26 Nov 2009
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