What is all this buzz about Social Media?

In recent times we have heard quite a lot of buzz about Social Media. I wanted to share my perspective so far with being involved in various Social media platforms. Needless to say, there is a lot of confusion about what it is and what it isn't.

Social Media is NOT about Technology. Now that is hard coming form a technologist :-) The reality is Social Media is all about having conversations, building a trusted network and enhancing relationships that are powered with Social technology platforms. The future is here and now (good reference below with Jeff Turner's Presentation)


Here are some examples of how Social Media has helped me in personal decisions I have made.

1. We have been in the market to get replacement windows for our home. I used my trusted network on Twitter and Facebook to get recommendations and have narrowed the selection to two (both came from the recommended list). I didn't bother to look at traditional advertisers and I am sure there are some good ones, but valued my trusted network over their advertising.

2. I recently got a Macbook Pro (Yes! made the BIG move...) and the couple of options I needed to decide on came from user opinions and informed feedback. I didn't pay much attention to Apple's opinions as much as user experiences.

In both these cases, I engaged in conversations on the Social Web with my trusted network to help me make the decision. This is just one aspect of Consumer Interaction but you should get the picture by now, that the web has become a conversational web (Web 2.0) from the Informative web (Web 1.0). Some traditional marketers are seeing Social Media as another marketing channel and IMO, they will learn the hard lesson that it is not just that. It is much more than that. It helps you have conversations with your past, present and future customers that will build brand loyalty and create new business. It is important to take the right step forward.

I think it is time for us to recognize that the traditional definition of ROI (Return on Investment) has changed to Return on Influence in the Social Media world. Traditional advertising does not develop Influence. I would recommend you read "Whuffie Factor" by Tara Hunt to understand Social capital. I first heard about Whuffie from @billlubin at RE Bar Camp PHL. You can watch the short video below for a quick overview:

The Whuffie Factor from missrogue on Vimeo.

If you could develop a large network and gain trust (or increase your whuffie!) by adding value and become a subject matter expert in whatever field you specialize in, it will lead to eventually lead to business.

If you take a step back and evaluate our decisions before the social media buzz started, we made a good number of decisions talking with our trusted sources. With the advent of Social media, we have used the same decision making process but with newer social strategies.

Now go earn some Whuffie!


Rajeev Sajja
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