Does Anyone Really Understand Social Media Language?

Maybe it’s just me, but I wonder why social media mavens can’t communicate clearly. Ironic isn’t it? What do I mean? Take a look at this example from a recent Guru.com project description.

“I have been working on evolving today’s media to a very innovative user controlled media which includes a Social Network and its IM with exhaustive detail on user interface and a plan for integrating our own print magazines (Movie channel-on the road map for 5 years) with the online applications built for them. There is innovation in the revenue channels as well as the purpose for the core Social Network too. The idea is very innovative but it lacks a business plan that could assess the commercial viabiltiy (sic) of this idea and various other financial assesment. (sic)”

Huh? I had to read this paragraph four times to figure out what this guy meant. And I’m still not quite sure I understand him.

No wonder he’s seeking someone else to write his business plan. If he wrote it, the banker would probably laugh him all the way out of the office. And never mind the bankers, the consultants reading this request for proposal are going to have a tough time figuring out exactly what this guy’s business is. So, writing a business plan for it will be extra challenging. If this guy continues to write like this, he’s going to lack a business plan, and funding, for quite a while.

Lack of understanding? As I said above. It could be me. But I doubt it. I’ve been in this Internet business for ten years. Pretty much since the beginning. And in that time I’ve seen this sort of gobblety-gook communication get worse. Much worse.

The above example of nonsensical writing brings me to my point. In social media, it seems that most mavens are so concerned about appearing ultra-hip, that they fling buzz words and buzz phrases around so freely that all sense of meaning is lost. I’ve sat in meetings where the buzz flies fast and loose, and it’s piled higher and deeper as the meeting progresses. Social media mavens also seem to have an aversion to using proper grammar and syntax, just like in the example above. Again, it seems that they do this in order to raise their own “cool” factor. Well, it’s not cool. It’s confusing.

It’s especially confusing to potential clients who aren’t part of the social media “scene.” What these potential bill payers see is a group of “cool” men and women, all dressed in black by the way, essentially talking among themselves. Could this be part of the problem behind the slow adoption of social media by business?

Of course, I understand that language, like programming code, changes and evolves. But in each, there are still standards. And the standards are there to create a common ground for understanding. That’s what language, and the communication it creates, is all about.

So to all social meeting mavens out there, would you stop trying to one-up each other, use common language and grammar, and simply communicate clearly?