I just spend a week at Social Media Week. My head is still spinning. It’s not your father’s internet. Its not the internet I grew up and helped build. Its an internet where words and websites and email are secondary. Its an internet of images and videos. Its a new internet where the second largest search engine is YOUTUBE. It’s truly a revolution when a website like Buzzfeed gets 75% of their traffic from social. Will Social replace advertising? When will the Social bots show up. I’m waiting for the Social Turing test.
What is social? Social is user generated activity which results in traffic to your site. A share is social, so is a like. Social occurs on numerous platforms. The usual suspects are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat and the messaging apps Face Book messaging app, WhatsAPP, Line and there are more. There is one called Peach. Content these days is visual triggers (e.g. (semi)nudity, money, wealth, pain/violence), outrageous click-bait, misinformation en memes (FB is filled with it). I don’t think this is good.
It seems to me to be more of today’s internet as a pinball game. More reaction, less thinking. More images, less words. FOMO, Fear of Missing Out. Its the world of paid, owned and earned media. Have your user spread your message. Its the world of influencers.
Many of the events at Social Media Week were great. You should attend next year in NYC or later this year in numerous cities or you can now buy a video pass www.socialmediaweek.org. I didnt get to see all the presentations but I liked, in no particular order.
Small Budget, Big Impact: How To Run A Successful Social Media Campaign Without Breaking The Bank
Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark: How To Measure Dark Social
The New World Of Social: How Publishers Are Using Messaging Platforms To Engage With Audiences
Building A Great Social Presence The Resourceful Way, Presented By BuzzFeed
Keynote: Funny & Buzzy – How Comedy Central Gets Fans Talking With CMO, Walter Levitt
Super sharers want to be influencers as they keep doing the work of others by sharing digitally their needs, wants, desires all in the world of FOMO, Fear of Missing Out. I really wonder what is happening to their attention spans. I wonder what their concept of an online friend is and how many of them are online bots. Is like a never ending volley of digital tennis. Maybe its Velveeta digital tennis.
in the spirit of social, images and video LINK to my YouTube Social Media Week Videos.