Latest News
- I Can Has Cheezburger Goes Social
- Social Network Updates for the 2 weeks ending July 3, 2008
- In the Name of Grammar: Facebook Wants Gender Specification
- FriendFeed’s New iPhone Version vs. FF2Go
- Facebook/ConnectU Saga Comes to An End (Finally)
- Friendster Continues to Embrace Mobile with Text Alerts (for Asia)
- Where have I been?
- Social Network Updates for the week ending June 20, 2008
- Facebook Planning to Add Inbox Search
- FriendFeed and the Need to Control the Noise
Categories
- Advertising
- Analytics
- Applications
- Behavior
- Blogging
- Bookmarking
- Branding
- Browsing
- Charity
- Corporate
- Enterprise
- Events
- FriendFeed
- Good Read
- Jobs
- Measurement
- Mobile
- Networks
- Online Reputation Management
- Online Video
- Planning
- Plugins
- Portability
- Productivity
- Quick News
- Search
- Security
- Software
- Stats
- Strategy
- Tshirts
- Uncategorized
- Virtual Worlds
- Wordpress
Monthly Archives
Blogroll
The Future of Social Media: I’ve Got a Special Purpose!
Posted by Nathania Johnson
Enterprise social networking grew 191% in 2007, according to IDC. Reading the press release for this data really got the gears cranking in my mind. I have to admit that part of the lag in this blog lately is I’ve been a bit bored with social media lately. I feel a bit like a hamster in a wheel - like I’m seeing the same stuff over and over and over again.
But enterprise social networking made social media feel purposeful again, which may be a bit strange coming from someone who is a freelancer. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be participating organically in enterprise social networking anytime soon.
The idea of achieving a goal through social media is where I’m being drawn in again. I’m wondering if, ultimately, this is where social media is heading. There’s a point of saturation that web startups meet if they’re not innovative enough. That’s why Yahoo is having trouble while Google is dominating the search field or why no one talks about Friendster anymore and even MySpace and dare I say it - Facebook - are getting a bit tired.
Sure, it’s been fun to catch up with old friends from college and read fun Tweets, but I personally am at a saturation point. I need something more, and I seriously doubt I’m alone.
Actually, I know I’m not alone. I’ve noticed Twitterers who’ve said their questions are no longer being answered. I know the conversation on Twitter is not as good as it used to be. (Yes, already we can talk about the good ol’ days of Twitter - even though they were just 4-6 weeks ago.)
I could go on and theorize that the need for connectedness has been met and now we’re in danger of overconnecting, but I’m not quite ready to commit to that. There’s still so many people who don’t even *know* what Twitter is, for example.
In the meantime, I find myself a bit bored, a bit like John Mayer “waiting for the world to change.” And the most frustrating thing is - I’m not completely sure where we’re even headed.
But if enterprise social networking is any indication - and I hope it is - we might just be headed towards a social web that is purpose-oriented.
And that, my friends, is the stuff that dreams are made of.
One Response to “The Future of Social Media: I’ve Got a Special Purpose!”
Leave a Reply
May 15th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Indeed, each of us has a special purpose, but some are better at communicating strategically via social networks. These new platforms give us the potential to connect with people we never would have before.
However, it’s unfortunate that the majority of social media users don’t understand how to position themselves in a professional manner, and they don’t understand that their adding value to others can allow significant connections to be made.
I find Twitter to be the best means of making new professional connections. It’s less invasive than say Facebook/MySpace, and you can learn a lot about someone by the quality of information they distribute.