Where is Social Media Going

I'm not saying social media, user-submitted content, and blogs are bad things. I see why it appeals to the Joe Netizen, who wants to get their point across. Good on them and their need to produce reams of digital drivel. But this new idea that tapping into the Communitainment channel is an absolute must for great online marketing is somewhat over hyped in my opinion. And yes, Communitainment is a word, Piper Jaffray told me.

My personal belief is that it’s just the latest cause célèbre for the excitable online marketing type that have to be seen as championing the next new thing. They present to unsuspecting ‘main streamer’ client the picture of a great new opportunity. The simple analogy is a train you need to jump on or be left behind. Two years ago that train was blogs, 12 months ago podcasting, now its Myspace or any of the rest of social networks.

However the result I am increasingly seeing is fine examples of how to stand out as the dork at the party, or the gate crasher who stands motionless sipping his beer while the party flows around him, hoping someone (anyone) will talk to him. As a quick experiment I logged into Myspace just now, and picked the first two campaigns that I was presented with, not just two to illustrate my point. Check these blunt examples of media cut through Smoking Aces DVD or this one for Samsung .

What exactly is the point of these ‘profiles’? Is success measured by the amount of people that decide to link their corporate profile to their Myspace profile? Ask yourself what sort of sad individual would want to have Samsung in their close knitted social network? The same person that speaks to the dork at the party I suspect.

If it was just awareness they want to generate, there are better ways. But I suspect clients are told that they can sleep soundly in the warm glow that they have been invited into an inner circle and exposed their brand to a positive engagement with their core audience.

It’s also a classic case of publishers shooting their golden goose. Like most things online the seeds of Myspace’s destruction, at least as far as marketers are concerned are already planted. It was originally designed to connect like minded people and not a marketing vehicle. At this stage if I personally see someone with Coke, Samsung, Pepsi or Quicksilver as part of their ‘network’ I think laggard and hardly the key opinion maker I would want to amplify my brand.