Ongoing Socially-Integrated Product Development
There are still numerous startups with a “great idea” for a social-something-or-other, conversation-whatchamacallit or socially integrated plug-in with facebook connect and sticker-badge reward point thingie-ma-bob.
Have you seen the new social site for ___________?
I just signed up for __________, you should too.
Wanna connect on________?
The gift and the curse.
On one level it’s amazing that we have this level of innovation, on another level it’s maddening to keep up.
On one level this competition spurs entrenched companies to step up their game, on another it causes paralysis in business as everyone waits on the eventual “winner.”
At one point we were satisfied with our channels of communication, now it’s hard to imagine being without Twitter.
I don’t want the new start-ups and ideas to end, but at the same time I don’t want it to go on forever at this pace.
This year’s “next big thing”
The next BIG thing is apparently Question-Answer sites. Quora, Ardvark, InboxQ and some of the originals like Yahoo Answers are becoming a big topic of discussion.
Group-buying is another hot topic so if you need a facial or a massage, there’s never been a better time.
Location-based marketing is last-year’s news and we only have so much attention bandwith. Some people are playing, some aren’t. More establishments are adding rewards. Which one should you use? I don’t know go ask someone on Quora.
With attention being diverted in more ways than ever before, we ultimately all get to the point of overload and inevitable shut down.
Fragmentation and the effect on engagement
It’s much easier to talk about the next big thing than it is to talk about the real value in Social Media…engagement. The next big thing is often an attempt to sidestep doing the actual work of dropping the facade, coming out from behind the curtain and actually connecting with your customers. The next big thing promises automation, or new avenues to do what you can already do with existing, popular channels.
Go talk to a social media big-wig about email marketing, believe it or not, most won’t laugh at you, they’ll tell you how successful it’s been for them.
Ask someone that uses Facebook or Twitter if they have a need for something to replace those channels? They don’t.
What we don’t really need is more sites, we need better use of the ones we have. I have an entire bookmark list just for sites that I have an alpha or beta account with, most of which I don’t even recognize by title anymore. What’s the value in that?
What’s a person to do?
My advice, play where you want to play. This is how winners are declared. Don’t use a site because you feel like you have to. If you like the way a site feels, use it. If your network uses Kik instead of SMS messages, roll with it. If you hate Twitter and love Facebook, “poke” and “like” away, my friends.
The key is to spend your time where you find the most value. Some people still love the heck out of Digg and are surely seeing results or else they’d likely move on. Some people Twitter the day away while others–such as myself–find it to be a great source of leads and referrals.
The key is this: stop looking for the next big thing, and start getting results from the big things of the past few years.
Are we there yet?
