THINKing

Social Media: You Are Wearing Me Out

September 17, 2008 on 7:52 am | In Twitter, #smcharlotte, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Networking, Social Media |

Apparently, many people are tired of social media. According to a Synovate study about social networks,

We spoke with over 13,000 respondents aged 18-65 years in 17 markets around the world to find out who’s connected and who’s not, as well as attitudes and online behaviours. Some of what we found surprised us… like more than a third of social networkers say they are losing interest in social media. And how many people do not even know what it is.

Jay Small recently riffed on the topic. THINKing also has discussed the topic of social network fatigue before,

Like everything new, people will flock to it initially and then the ones from short-attention span theater move on to the next thing. Bound to happen. It does every time. But that doesn’t mean that social networks are a thing of the past. There still is value in them. I believe the biggest value is in those social networks that center on some niche. Smart marketers will develop their own networks. Think Apple. They had a network of brand evangelists before the term social media was in gestation.

Here’s my advice if you are going to be involved in social media, or anything for that matter: focus. Don’t try to be involved in every new network that comes along. I turn down requests everyday from someone trying to get me into some new network. Pick no more than four and work them.

What are your favorite social networks? Have you abandoned any because you are worn out on them?

UPDATE: I just ran across this and couldn’t leave it unremarked. Social networking has just passed porn as the most popular online activity.

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Spot on post…”niche”… The web (and social networks) will continue to go vertical. Just take linkedin as one example. As they populate any number of sub-categories (example they might have 500k users that are all MarCom professionals), they can easily spin-off that category into its own social network. The more targeted, the higher the CPM, and after all we are an ad driven world.

I have recently been using social networks without having to visit them… Friendfeed for example, I simply set it up with all my feeds (blogs,twitter account,etc) and it “self updates” - Now THAT’s the future of social networks.

www.twitter.com/A_F

Comment by Andy Finkle — September 17, 2008 #
I think there is a lot of truth in the idea of social media fatigue. People get overwhelmed and their online activity comes to a screeching halt.

For marketers, it’s important to stay focused on the social media outlets that deliver the best results. Rather than wearing yourself out trying everything, spend time where your customers are spending their time.

We spend most of our time on LinkedIn, creating groups and sharing valuable content our followers are interested in.

Thanks for sharing the good news about social media taking first place.

Comment by Marie Adams — September 18, 2008 #
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Social Media: You Are Wearing Me Out

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