I was trawling through my feeds this morning when I came across Rebecca Caddy’s latest post ‘Understanding Social Media’. Which asks some excellent questions that many people in the echo chamber tend to forget are important. These are questions that prospective clients will ask and it’s important for social media and PR types to have an adequate response – a simple and sarcastic ‘Oh, it’s only the future of the media’ isn’t really going to cut it when you’re asking for a big fat slice of budget.
I’ve posted up a few comments outlining my thoughts on her questions and I’ve pasted them below too. Ideally this is the sort of thing that should become a wiki and we can crowdsource some definitive answers.
My definition;
“Social media is a pretty fluid area. The key to understanding its nature is simple, it’s all about community and social interaction; be it in the form of citizen journalism on blogs or through communities of consumers reacting to a product/service online. Social media is the empowerment of the consumer and the individual, all enabled by their peers who offer constant support and critique. And as I spied Stuart Bruce on Twitter yesterday; “@spwalker “The PR who thinks social media changes everything is a fool, the PR who thinks it changes nothing is a bigger fool” me in Guardian”
We’re always going to see comparisons between old and new – as you said, it’s inevitable. But the important thing is to realise the new opportunities that social media brings and the way in which it can combine with ‘old media’ in a positive way. In terms of ‘dead tree’ media transposing into social media, it’s very interesting and at the moment I think we’re in a transitionary state where the CEO’s and the owners of media empires are beginning to look into new media (for new media, read new revenue streams). Recently Rupert Murdoch announced plans to tier content on The Wall Street Journal site – with the top tier providing completely customisable financial news. It is these sort of announcements and attempts at social media that will cause the inevitable deluge of old media jumping into new media. Some will do it correctly, and some will FAIL – I suppose it’s our jobs as social media people to help the transition and guarantee that both public relations and social media thrive in the future.”
What’s your definition?