11 things that Social Media is not

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I was ready to tell Geoff Livingston what social media wasn’t and then I had an acid flashback and I started ranting about something else completely unrelated. he was still waiting as of this post. Well. it’s not the first time, I left someone hanging or wandered off track. I’ll be lucky if I can keep this on point.

Thanks in part to Scoble we know that Social Media is not:

  • Newspapers.
  • Magazines.
  • Television.
  • Radio.
  • Books.
  • CDs.
  • DVDs.
  • A box of photos.
  • Physical, paper mail and catalogs.
  • Yellow Pages.

But we all spend so much time explaining to each other and anyone willing to listen, what social media is, perhaps if we turn it around and tell people what it is not, then maybe that will help define it better. If anything, it will be a fun excersise in twisting everyone’s interpretation of what it is. So here are 11 more.

1-Social media is not about the above mentioned entities now being able to talk with us. It’s not about mass media. It’s more about the audience finding it’s voice.  Hell, those guys, the old school, they are some of the most resistant adopters of anything that remotely resembles social media. They are stuck in their one to many, cul-de-sac marketing ways.

Brainstorm: Cul-de-sac marketing-The marketing efforts go in the same way as they come out with exhaust fumes in their vapor trail, and within that trail are the buyers of their  marketing elixir. Their schtick.

2-Social media is not up to them, it is up to you and your voice

3-Social media depends on but is not predicated on many to many, and 4-is not one to one, but it can be. But it certainly is better than one to one and wait. It’s one to one, realtime. 5-Social media is not closed to anyone. It’s blind to race, creed and color, social status etc. All it cares about is your ability to communicate. The rest, the particulars, have a way of sorting themselves out.  6-Social media is not calm, sedate, unresponsive, or static. It disprupts. It’s in your face. 7-Social media is not passive. 8-Social media is not laryngitis. 9-Social media is not just for kids. It’s for Gen X, Gen Y, Gen C, and the Boomers. 10-Social media is not mainstream, yet. And finally, thanks Brian Solis 11-Social media is not the final frontier of marketing

Please feel free to add to the list of what social media is not. I could only come up with 11 thus far. Hook me up.

 

4 thoughts on “11 things that Social Media is not”

  1. Pingback: Social Media Team Reading 6.5.08 » (EMP) E-Marketing Performance

  2. >>10-Social media is not mainstream, yet. <<
    I question this one. Mainstream marketers and corporations clearly have social media on the map. True, they don’t drive the content but now they at least have a clue. The largest social media site are being gobbled up by the big boys.

    12. Social media is not a fixed format such as myspace, facebook or digg, it’s a concept. That concept is interactive self-expression around an online community.

  3. Joe, they have it on the radar not the map. On the map would mean they have a destination in mind, and unfortunately, a lot of them are still trying to figure out a strategy. They do have a clue, but not much more. and you’re right the big boys are being gobbled by the big boys.

    In re to #12 you’re right it’s not a fixed format but i’m not so sure it’s a concept either. I think the concept is in place but now it’s more about implementation. The reality or business model is, interactive self expression around online communities.

    Great topics to discuss nonetheless, thanks for stopping by.

    Marc

  4. Pingback: The definitive list of what social media is not « Emerson Direct Marketing Observations

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