Social Media Hype: The Great Debate

I recently posted a question on LinkedIn about social media hype… I asked, “There’s a great debate on social media being a lot of hype.  What do you think and why?”

Here’s the conversation… add your opinion too.

F. Feather: It is the dot-com bubble all over again.  Most of the SM sites will vanish.  There will be a few large players. Social media will evolve into something quite different, with different classes of platform, and segmented special interest platforms — as happened with old media.  But the way in which it is used will be quite different from today.

K. Harris: I think Social Media is becoming necessary for businesses to reach people they were unable to reach before. I think those that are against social media just don’t know how to use it effectively.

D. Shay: Hi Ford, I don’t believe it is all hype – the young generation lives by social media.
I have a saying that I like to share: “Social media will do for marketing and sales what the printing press did for newspapers!”

M. Retallick: Social media has been hyped well beyond its actual usefulness. Shakeout soon to follow.

R. Krastoshevsky: It’s half & half. People who know how to handle SM do it very effectively and get lots of sales from it. People who just “heard of SM” waste their time posting useless messages, not going anywhere. The majority belongs to the second category, because without the know-how SM is ineffective.

S. Hamer: Hi Ford, it is getting hyped up, and seems to have the dot com bubble feel about it, but that’s just a shallow perception of the truth, mostly by people who do not immerse themselves in it, and do not fully understand it…The difference is that it is a useful tool for individuals and businesses to share, inform, communicate and assist with marketing of their products and services. Therefore since it has a useful function it will thrive. What will change is the power of the user as the growth curve starts to level off.

D. Maskin: those who actually put the time and energy into social media and social networking sites can find much business success… The problem occurs when folks don’t understand that they must spend lots of time networking, which many aren’t prepared to do.

G Hedges: I agree that it will inevitably consolidate to a handful of social media (SM) sites but the social media world is here to stay. We are already seeing how sites like Yelp are integrating with FB and how tools like Twitter are integrated with several SM platforms. I believe several so-called SM sites now will just be functions and tools of the larger sites. Plus, it is true, the younger generations are plugged into it and their thought patterns, behaviors and habits will keep SM alive.

How have you made social media work for your business? Let me know what strategies have or haven’t worked or just sound-off by posting your comments below.