Cathy Brooks and Chris Heuer talk about the big issues affecting the social media industry today. This week, they are joined by Brian Solis to discuss his take on Social Media Club's Question of the Week #6, Is social media a popularity contest or is social media about genuine relationships? His blog post on Ashton Kutcher and CNN's race to a million twitter followers was a great exposition of this topic - "The Race to 1,000,000 Followers Sends Twitter and Social Media into Relevance and Irrelevance." You can listen to future radio shows by visiting http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Social-Media-Hour
"Things are changing toward the human," Brooks says. Are we learning to be better communicating using tech and how does that translate in the real world? Solis says that social media is opening new communication for many. Some haven't found their cadence or rhythm and others have. Some use social media to broadcast and self promote and many have used it as a way to pay it forward, spotlight others and for "good old fashion relationship building."
Heuer adds, "The more we use tech, the more we write, the more we Twitter - being forced to get those big ideas down into a Tweet have helped my writing skills." But, are you thinking in a 140 characters? Everyone is different, Heuer says, but, seriously, there are folks who don't even have a high school education and they're using these tools to communicate to friends and family. "We're expanding our overall media literacy."
Today's NY Times, front page of the science section, on "What are Friends For?" Brooks reads that friendship trumps friends and family. Now we're connected again to friends from high school, we're re-connected with our 9 year old friends. "For the most part," Solis adds, "I've used social networks to create relationships around social context, talking with people who share the same interests and passions." Consumption is an art of curating, an "attention dashboard - I still pick up the phone to communicate with family and friends."
"Social media is based on respect," Solis adds. Even if you have opposing views, you have an opportunity to express yourself, and you can walk away with different impressions and beliefs. Brooks says that a lot of her followers don't necessarily agree with her views, but follow her anyway.
Solis talks about the "race to a million" - @aplusk (aka Ashton Kutcher) wanted to have a million followers first on Twitter, to beat @cnn - and @oprah gets involved. Initially he was put off by the competition. Celebrities don't need to get that many followers to fund a charity. Ashton's video expressing the power of the experience was a good video. "You are going to be judged by your last 20 Tweets." Whether or not, these types of competitions might inadvertently change the culture of Twitter. It could change Twitter into a popularity contest, that is juvenile.
We have to talk about intent, Heuer adds. Though, celebrities are just now experiencing Twitter, and getting as excited as we did when we first came upon the tool. "Can you imagine if Princess Di had social media at her finger tips?" Another good reason for Oprah to join the social media fray. Interested to see if she will carry her brand onto Twitter.
We in tech are in a bit of a vacuum. But, actors like Ashton and Oprah are old school media types, Brooks said. Are they going to absorb us into the old school media world or are we going to drag them down into the weeds with us. "Can the statusphere save journalism?" Solis asks (as blogged about in TechCrunch). Instead of trying to get people to come to them, why not go to where the people are and build a community that represents them and get them to follow you. It's a great way to build a community around what you stand for, finishes Solis.
