Many evangelise about social media, but at times there's ablinkered approach to this thing we call social. Don't get me wrong, I'm a bigfan. It's opened many a door for me both personally and professionally and has simplybecome the way I do things. But I appreciate this is not the case for everyone.Those that haven't yet adopted social are still trying to wade through the hypeto work out what's real, what's not and whether it's right for them.
A recent presentation given by Trendstream at the IAB looked at Europeansocial media trends and its use. It cut through thehype and showed us some social truths. For example, and contrary to popularbelief, sites like Twitter are not yet mainstream. That said, the presentation suggested that "...the social web is becoming part of the mass market and the implication forbusiness is that consumers communicate more with each other, even withstrangers and most of all, they trust them". If we think about that, theimplications for all businesses, big and small, are extensive.
I thoroughly recommend a thorough read of the research, but in themeantime here are some key, and very interesting, take-outs:
- Social networking takes a key rolein purchase decisions, with a lot of people trusting the recommendation ofthose on their social network or the author of a blog they read
- Digital networks are bigger thanface-to-face networks
- The people who influence us asconsumers are changing. In the past year, social network, blog and micro blogcontacts were the only sources to show an increase in the share of consumer'strust, while newspapers stood still and TV fell
- People increasingly want realdialogue with people inside businesses
- People are accessing the web andconnecting through a variety of devices, including TV, games consoles andmobiles
This provides some key learning for businesses that are stillunsure of the social web. The old adage 'people do business with people' hasbeen around for years, however it has a new lease of life since the web gotsocial and those businesses with a human face and the ability to connect withpeople will do well. Those that don't, won't. It's as simple as that.
But what does all this mean to us as 'people'? As individuals, social media allows usto find and connect with otherswe didn't have the chance to in the past. We keep up with friends, reconnectwith people we've lost contact with and get involved in conversations thatinterest us. We can listen, learn and watch. We can research potentialpurchases, making decisions based on real recommendations. As the social web is'always on', we can connect wherever and whenever we like, through desktopcomputers, mobiles and tablets. Personally, everything I buy is throughrecommendation on social networks and this is a growing trend.
But, something about all of this has been bugging me of late. Yessocial is great for business, the research shows that. Yes I've connected withsome amazing people through social media, people who have genuinely enriched mylife. But does the social web, in fact, make us antisocial? Have we forgottenhow to be 'in the moment' when we're sitting with a group of friends? Have weforgotten how to be 'present'?
I recently had dinner with some friends, two of them barely usetheir mobiles to make a call let alone chatter on Twitter or check in onFoursquare. The rest are avid users. I watched as each person turned up,checked in and proceeded to type away on their phones throughout the night,while at the same time trying to be part of the conversation at the table. Thetwo non-users were getting more and more agitated, and rightly so. At no pointwas anyone 100% focused on the conversation, and this felt wrong.
Now I'm far from perfect and have done this on plenty of occasionsmyself, but I do question if this is having a detrimental affect on our abilityto focus and fully give ourselves to situations. Having someone focus on you isa wonderful thing and I fear we may be losing that with so many conversationchannels open at any one time.
So I've made a promise to myself. Although still a big advocate ofsocial, I'm making an effort to be far more 'present' when I'm with people.There's a time and a place for social; while I'm physically with others is notit.
This is a guest post by Gemma Went
Gemma Went is a strategic marketing consultantand psychologist with over ten years' experience. She writes the blog The Cube,is a guest blogger for Brand Republic and regularly speaks at social mediaevents.