Comments on Building online communities for business: Excessive Exuberance is the Achilles Heel of Socia...

Hello again Vanessa, Thanks for your note. I want...

2010-02-03T11:51:12.985-05:00

Hello again Vanessa, Thanks for your note. I wanted to share something I wrote and added to my blog this morning. Thought it was related to "Excessive Exuberance"

Is there a Dark Side lurking in Social Media?

Yesterday morning I participated in a seminar discussing the virtues and benefits of using social media to help grow business. Ironically, later that evening while attending my last-ever curriculum night, I attended a meeting to discuss cyber bullying. Quite a contrast! The anger the parents demonstrated was intense, especially after the recent suicide by a high school girl at South Hadley HS. With all the push by “Social media pro’s” to grow your connections, how soon will it be that we hear that someone with wrong intentions is miss-using this ever expanding resource? Evidence shows that consumers will trust people (connections) at a much higher level than corporations. But what if those connections are not who they appear to be and what makes them the authority on the particular subject?

After I purchased my first computer in the early 90’s, I remember having to call customer service because my computer wouldn’t boot up or something. The first question the customer service person asked me was: “Is your computer plugged in?” With regards to Social Media, what if someone purchases your product with the assumption that they know all about it but it doesn’t work the way they anticipated. Some will call for technical assistance, but others may get angry and write a negative comment on Twitter. The point being that angry customer was not necessarily an authority but rather upset and not a fully informed customer who decided to vent their frustration.

Last night what I was seeing was fear in the minds of concerned parents. Was the fear founded? Most certainly. Was it warranted? Definitely. Is there a lesson to be learned here? I hope so. My concern is that crowd mentality can quickly turn into mob mentality. Perhaps one solution is to identify an easier way to qualify a response.

I am definitely getting more interested in the potential benefits of social media, and along with that, a strong interest a desire to keep an open mind. Bad people exist all around us. I hope that our exuberance to jump on the newest ship doesn’t result in a repeat of the same belief that the Titanic was un-sinkable.

Hi jgreen391, thanks so much for taking the time t...

2010-02-01T12:51:26.982-05:00

Hi jgreen391,
thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I actually do, in some regards, think that social media - new media- will cease to be a category unto itself and will eventually be integrated into the business process.. not just as a marketing channel but as a transformative part of the way business is conducted. But, in order to make sense of it all, we must start to treat it with the dignity (and staffing, support, measures, and processes) with which it deserved :)

I saw your discussion launched on Linkedin and thought it surfaced some great insights! Well done.

Having read a number of books and articles by so-c...

2010-02-01T11:52:04.982-05:00

Having read a number of books and articles by so-called Social Networking guru's, I do agree that these people are a bit over exuberant about value Social media. Many seem to proclaim that this new media outlet will overtake all other types of media.

I recently posted a group discussion if people felt the two could co-exist. The results were not surprising with most agreeing that the use of any type of media needs to match the overall objective and target market.