The Cold Hard Reality of Social Media

The cold hard reality of Social Media is that it is just another medium. It's a whole bunch of connected computers with some interesting applications that allow people to connect with a little more interactivity than before. It's more two-way, but it's just a medium.

Okay, so that sounds harsh perhaps. But really, we started this whole thing a few thousand years ago painting stuff on cave walls...early blogging if you will. Then along came the telegraph, radio and TV. All just mediums.

The early days of radio meant an investment in technology and not all embraced it. The modern concept of advertising in these mediums took a while to form. Same with television...and suddenly we had "sponsorships" and then manufacturers discovered women had a lot of buying power and...well, we figured out a medium.

So why is there so much discussion around what social media "is" and "isn't"? Is it really revolutionary? Perhaps...I think we can't even come close to answering that. Those of us that work in the world of social media are students ourselves. We're simply sherpas helping guide businesses, governments and others along the way.

It's simply too early to call any shots on this new medium. We don't know how it's going to change us. There's so much novelty, new applications and services constantly cropping up...and dying. It's just another medium to be figured out.

Is it really a societal change upon us? When might we gain a deeper understanding? What are the clues? Or are we just entertaining each other?

The Web Isn't Important At All Really. Is It?

There is so much discussion around social media and the impact of the Web on consumer spending or discussions of how many people are doing what on the Web...and let's not forget the constant ringing of newspapers death bell.

So I was thinking about how the Web has influenced the broader economy and where this impact has lead to technology improvements as a whole...here's what I've come up with and feel free to add to it;

1. Digital Cameras: In the mid-late 90's digital cameras were expensive, and uploading an image to eBay or a website was not easy. The Web lead to better digital cameras, seamless uploading of images and "tagging". Even video cameras were spurred to the same heights of development.

2. Electronic Health: The Web contributed greatly to the development of eHealth solutions such as remote telehealth using video camera technology.

3. Personal Safety: Companies like Life Alert and others are leveraging the Web to enable better in-home security for customers....which leads to improved webcams.

4. Music Devices: The advent of P2P technologies and then the iPod radically changed the way we share and listen to music (I won't go deeper into the obvious.) Essentially CD players are fading. But a whole new industry with an attendant ecosystem has been born. Earbuds improved as well as speakers to connect to these devices.

5. Gaming: Now all gaming devices (Wii, xbox360, PSP) all connect to the Web for online gaming. An industry had a sudden lift and an ecosystem was born with peripheral devices like the iPod being made.

6. Mobile Phones: The uptake of email use in the business world lead to the Blackberry...and with mobile data rates improving we saw the advent of Smart Phones...and peripherals for those devices, spurning yet another ecosystem.

7. GPS Devices: Expect to see GPS devices integrate WiFi in the next 2-3 years as geocaching continues to grow. But satellites and the concept of the Web enabled this sector to grow.

8. The Netbook: The scaled down laptop. They're starting to sell and will also spin off a whole ecosystem of peripheral products.

9. RFID: The Web provides a backbone for data communications and so RFID tags and technology took off since the Web could be used to track everything from products shipped through to luggage.

10. Monitors: Because of so much time spent in front of a screen, now we have a whole new advancement in monitors with flat screen TV's and computer monitors.

11. Printers: Now we could print so much...that ugh, we cut down more trees than ever and now you can buy photo printers, colour high-resolution printers...even for home they are affordable now.

The Web is about information, anything audio, text, video and images...and as a result we've seen new devices that enhance our viewing or listening enter the market. Whole product ecosystems have evolved, and no doubt they will continue to evolve...some wonder about the Web still as in "does it really matter? Is it really important anyway?" as they hit the shuffle button on their iPod...

So, what else?

The Web Doesn't Always Matter

For some businesses and industry sectors, the Web just isn't that important. Yet. Why?

Those of us engaged in the Web everyday sometimes wonder how we ever got things done before. We live and breathe email, blogs and blog ourselves and are active on at least Twitter if not another microblog platform. Then there's the marketers that are increasingly driving budget spend towards Web initiatives and trying to understand Social Media. A question by Beth Harte last night on Twitter got me to thinking and inspired this posts...hat tip to Beth, she often asks some good questions!

So what businesses or sectors may not find much relevance with the Web? Beth went on to say "can you think of any business that isn't online or is never searched for online?" It's a good question and feeling somewhat ornery, I had to think on it. Here's my take...what's yours?

I differentiate between "searched for" and having a presence online. I see them as separate, since something is more than likely being searched for, but may not be online.

In Nova Scotia a past main industry was fishing, but it is far less today than it was. A friend of mine was making a documentary last year and needed to find a commercial fisherman. He searched and searched online...nothing. And Nova Scotia is a VERY connected province in online terms. He had to use good ol' human networking. Then there's the local shoe-shop I was in recently and blogged about...he really doesn't need a website. Similarly there's a biotech company I know in Boston who has no website; they know their customers, are profitable and see no need for a presence.

The areas I find less likely to be online are older, very local businesses. Mostly because the Web is only just starting to get very local. This is slightly different in major urban areas, but rural areas still lack good Web access, thus preventing them from being engaged with the benefits of the Web. This however, will change. In addition, the Web generation is getting older and taking on management positions and bringing those businesses more into the Web era.

As Web access in rural areas becomes more available, and localization of the Web increases, businesses will need to become more engaged. Some won't (I recall an export business in Halifax in 2003 that was still using rotary dial phones in banks...yup. They were forced to change by the Telco who could no longer support analog phone service, but they have no Web presence) and they will lose business to competitors over time.

Yet many businesses that are online don't really get engaged even still, they have a brochure website that is rarely if ever updated. Hence companies like GoDaddy who provide basic websites and do very well with small businesses. They are perhaps, a stepping-stone Web service. But for loggers, labour companies and some traditional sector businesses like mining, the Web still provides no significant value proposition, or no one has been able to make a valid case to them. Yet.

Am I missing something? What's your thought?

What Big Media Isn't Saying About the Recession

OK, so the unemployment rate rose to 7.6% in the US in January and 7.2% in Canada. So in Big Media terms it's all doom and gloom and the end of the world is nigh...or not. This Yahoo! article from AP sent me over the top with the use of over the top adjectives to describe the unemployment rates.

The recession as I see it is because a) the economy was far too overvalued in many sectors, b) the ridiculous sub-prime mortgage fiasco and c) the beginning shift from an industrial-based manufacturing economy to a knowledge-economy.

If you look at where the majority of jobs were lost in both countries it was the manufacturing sectors. But healthcare and education saw gains in employment. Knowledge-based sectors are either in a steady-as-she-goes hiring rate or increasing their hiring. Silicon Valley is still hiring but can't find people.

The shift we're seeing is that more and more goods are being manufactured in countries with lower labour rates. The social contract between unions and companies in developed nations is far too costly to justify the prices consumers are willing to pay. It's an economic basic.

We're seeing a shift as we need more healthcare workers and education will increasingly need people to teach knowledge-based skills such as software development, sciences, healthcare jobs, information management and on and on...

The biggest question U.S. and Canadian governments should be asking is; how do we retrain all these people? The next greatest exports for America and Canada will be knowledge, bringing better processes and practices to developing nations.

The rise of the Social Web and more people connected will show some incredible new opportunities in the coming years.

Newspapers & Journalists Are Not A Dying Breed

It seems everyday there is a new blog post blaring the doomsday horn of death for traditional media; newspapers, television, radio and of course, the journalists who write/produce the news/content. They aren't about to die anytime soon. They will change, certainly, but they are far from dead. Using our monitoring tool we found over 250,000 blogs (yeah, blogs) and other similar articles blowing this horn cry.

What a newspaper will look like in 5 or 10 years will be very different from today, but I doubt they will die out altogether...in part because they are an "experience good." Meaning, we like the experience we have when reading a newspaper. I believe a newspaper will be smaller, in tabloid format with clipped articles...depth of content will be on the website. The massive NY Times Sunday Edition and the likes will not be around, they are not sustainable in that format, but the NY Times will survive.

Journalists moreover, are I think, about to undergo a renaissance. Yes, in the world of pushbutton publishing anyone can write anything they want, from just about anywhere. The issues that will come to the forefront in the next few years however are; factual information, bias, investigation, reliability of news source...and good writing skills!

Let's face it, probably about 98% of the content on the Web is mediocre at best. So good journalists will become highly valued.

What we will see, is a massive shake-up of the traditional media agencies. News services like CNN are increasingly becoming more "entertainment" than true news. CTV Newsnet in Canada is always 24 hours late on breaking news, but are excellent for re-caps of what you've missed.

What is going to change is the "contract" that has existed between the general public and traditional media. This will mean more stringent rules for professional journalists and more transparency.

So, am I out to lunch here?