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Why I Hate Social Media - Advertising Age - DigitalNext

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Why I Hate Social Media - Advertising Age - DigitalNext
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Why I Hate Social Media

Because Media Itself Just Isn't That Interesting -- Not Even the Social Kind

At the risk of being branded a heretic or perhaps just being shown the door by my agency HR director, I have to say it: I hate social media. Why? Because it's just media. And since when was media ever interesting?

People are interesting. Ideas are interesting. Stories are interesting. Real stuff is interesting. Brands are interesting (or, at least, some of them are). Even ads can be interesting. But media? Media just connects those things. It's a conduit. Media is not interesting. Not even the "social" kind.

Far from being interesting (unless you enjoy following mutually referencing bloggers who blog about blogging), social media is just an excuse. It is, to be specific, the old marketing industry's latest excuse to waste more money on bad ideas and lazy thinking.

So let's ignore it. Let's get really radical and stop trying to keep marketing 1.0 thinking alive with Web 2.0 media (because copycat content is no Band-Aid for broken brands and lackluster products and services, no matter how cost-effective or powerful the social web may be). Let's forget the social media "revolution" and recognize that ignoring social media would be the truly revolutionary thing to do.

I'm not saying that we should ignore the social web, or the cloud, or mobile connectedness altogether. I'm not arguing that brands should underestimate the transformative power of the technology at their disposal, or their ability to connect with people and provide targeted, relevant offerings in unprecedented ways. And I'm certainly not denying the brilliance of value-adding web-based services or inspiring and engaging web-enabled campaigns.

Amazon makes it easy for people to find things they want, based on recommendations they can believe in. Local ...

Original URL
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=137393

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    • Rob Davis Rob Davis
      6 months ago


      I'm not totally clear on your message. However I do agree that the world is too full of brands, products and even services that need to be ignored! But for me that's the beauty of this Social connectedness...or whatever we call it. It replaces the monologue of marketing 1.0 with the dialog of web 2.0 media. It's exactly what will help us to know which forgettable companies to ignore. Just my Thinx
      Social media marketing
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First Posted By

S. Charles Balazs

First Comment By

Rob Davis

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