Far too many of my colleagues roam the halls of social media espousing its virtues and calling for a worldwide revolution in the way we communicate.
Sacrilege?
I don’t like attempted coups disguised as simple efforts to affect a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oh, mon Dieu? Sacrilege? Yes, I too am a social media consultant, a research consultant precisely, meaning that my research “informs” my actions. I love that buzzword. It informs my actions. As if my actions were physical entities awaiting some briefing. I’d rather say that my research is used as the basis for my recommendations. That way, people actually understand what I’m talking about. I’m not an evangelist.
Far too many of my colleagues label themselves as “evangelists.” If you’re a business person looking for an honest opinion about how social media may help your company, avoid the evangelist. You’re not going to get an objective opinion. Why? Perhaps because their research has over-informed their actions. Send them, instead, over to your competitor; you’ll be better off. I’m a realist. I like a balanced view.
Far too many of my colleagues actually ignore the research of others which informs us that social media, in some instances, ain’t such a hot idea. For the contrarian view, check these links.
The Contrarian Viewpoint
As I said, I’m a realist. So let’s get some ideas from somebody outside the church of social media.
About Linked In. Frankly, I participate in Linked In and sometimes I wonder just what the heck I’m getting out of it, except less time to do other things that produce revenue.
About crowdsourcing. Akin to those meetings in large corporations where nothing ever really gets accomplished. You know what I’m talkin’ bout, Willis.
About the 50/50 corporation. FYI. My company, Kahuna Content, hasn’t fallen into the trap of the 50/50 corporation. We’re 100% profit making. Aren’t ashamed of it. And KC supplies damn-specific information to keep you out of the “Kool-Aid” cabinet. And while we’re on the subject of delneros . . .
About social media profit. Did anybody ever intend for this stuff to make money? Or was that just an afterthought. I survived Web 1.0. I think I know the answer.
About more monetization. Ibid.
About Google monetization. Ibid redux.
I could go on, but instead I’ll just wrap this up.
The Point
The point is don’t get drunk with any point of view. And don’t let your researcher take you to the social media cafe for some after work trendy blogging latte which actually may be a cup of business hemlock in disguise. If your research is going to inform your actions or, as we used to say, if you want to learn from your research, then it’s got to be objective and free of evangelista influence.
